Estancia Cristina and Big Ice Hike

Ah Estancia Christina! First and foremost we want to say a big thank you to everybody’s favorite Chilano, Bryan, not only for recommending Christina to us and convincing us to go, but for the total hook up with the staff and most importantly for the amazing champagne welcome! Muchas Gracias!

We were picked up at the hostel at 7:15 Wednesday morning and headed to the port right outside El Calafate. The boat ride took us across Lake Argentina, up through the Boca del Diablo straights, past Eco Upsala, right up to the edge of the longest glacier in South America, Upsala Glacier (named after a Swedish University which was the first to sponsor research there). Upsala Glacier has the biggest surface among the Patagonian continental ice, in spite of its big retreat over the last years, and is the 3^rd largest glacial plate in the world after Antarctica and Greenland . This glacier is retreating, you can see it clearly in photographs taken as late as 1986. The length of the glacier is 60km and its surface is 595 km. The depth of the lake in front of the glacier is about 1000 meters (yes, that is no typo), and the glacier reaches about 900 meters below the surface. Navigating the waters close to the glacier really made us feel like we were Leo DeCaprio and Kate Winslet (OK, maybe Rawson felt like Kate; Leo’s a punk). The Eco Upsala is a large ice berg that has a hole right through the middle, see pictures. Again, the colors of these bergs are truly amazing.

After being totally awe struck we headed up the Canal Christina to the Estancia. As we disembarked the boat we looked around for the ramp or dock or something, but alas there wasn’t one. We walked across the water hoping from rock to board etc until we reached the shore. The Estancia is in the middle of the Parque National Los Glaciers and covers a small portion of the northern end of the park. By small, we mean some 5000 acres. There are 3 lodges with 4 rooms each and a shared living room, total 12 guest rooms for the entire estancia. Oh, and there are about 25 on staff at all times, not a bad guest to staff ratio. Our room was VERY nice and the bath tub was a warm welcome for Rawson, yippee! She actually did come out of the bathroom a couple of times to enjoy the estancia. Juan Pablo (aka Juan-“pi”), our host, met us right when we arrived and guided us to the Octagonal Building where we checked in and discussed the next 3 days. His first words were “Chicos de Bryan”, so we knew we were in good hands. Juanpi explained the entire property to us and what the estancia has to offer. He then made some recommendations based on Bryan’s favorite activities and we eagerly agreed to his schedule. Once we got settled into our room it was time for lunch. We headed to the lodge, where lunch and dinner are served, for lamb parrilla served with grilled sweet potato and grilled pumpkin! Oh did we mention that this is an all inclusive estancia, so we were pre-advised to drink up (thanks Bry!). Juanpi introduced us to our guide for the next 3 days, Francisco (very appropriate). Francisco said we’d be heading out at 4:00 for a ride, on horseback of course. So after a hearty lunch we changed clothes and saddled up to explore the grounds. Rawson hadn’t been on a horse since Camp Chattooga (age 14), but did pretty well anyway. Francisco and Terry (the 6 month-old shepherd mix) lead us across the meadow and 2 rivers, up to an amazing peak to view that side of the estancia. It was splendid. We stopped at one of the rivers to view the spawning schnook salmon. At this time of year they are at the end of their life, only fighting for the right to mate and then die. They are HUGE and very aggressive, but not for catching or eating. After a 3 hour ride we all galloped back to the stables and were thoroughly exhausted, again. Oh, sidebar, Charlie lost his jacket along the way and Francisco had to ride back to find it. We actually caught a great picture of him getting it. Sadly for Francisco, it was SO far away that you need a “loop” to see him in the photo! Did we mention that Charlie (being the “expert rider from his Sanborne-days) bruised a rib re-mounting ever-eager-to-run horse after a bio-break? No, well, he toughed it out regardless and cantered along only to curl into a ball in the estancia and use copious amounts of Aspir-cream and libations. Ah, to be advancing in years!

Tea time is from 5-8 at the estancia, so we were just in time for the last leg. Tea here isn’t cucumber sandwiches and scones. We had a welcome cup of hot tea and a cheese board filled with jamon and queso and all of the compliments, nuts and dried fruit (not that we actually needed to eat again but whatever). Afterward we headed back to the room, Charlie for a snooze and Rawson for a hot bath, of course. The view from the bay window in the room is across the meadow to an expansive view of snow covered mountains, we’re just waiting for Robert Redford to show up somewhere. Dinner was at 9:00 (amateurs we are), so we walked up to the lodge for dinner and sat at our table, completely exhausted and not hungry at all. We were able to down a full meal in spite of ourselves. We skipped the postres and had a coffee instead and filled our wine glasses and headed back to our lodge to look at the stars, wow! When we finally got back to the room the staff had prepared an amazing atmosphere for us with champagne from Bryan and chocolate covered walnuts etc. Sadly we were so full, tired and full of wine that we had no more room, not to mention that the lights at the estancia are shut off at 11PM, it was 10:30. We decided to save it for the next day, after our hike. As advised the power went out promptly at 11:00, and it’s pitch black out there.

Thursday (3 weeks from SF departure), we were awakened at 7:30 when the power came back on and all of the lights came back on as well. We opened the blinds to watch it get light over the mountains from our bed. We went for a fabulous breakfast at 8:30 and Francisco met us at 9:00 with back packs filled with lunch for our hike. We had Augostin drive us in the snorkel-rigged “dually” to our starting point. We crossed 3 rivers in the truck, one was up to the windows. He dropped us at our starting point and the three of us headed out, in the rain. We started at about 400 meters above sea level and it was sleeting, hard, in the face. We took shelter in a building constructed years ago for the researchers and climbers by the parks department. We tried to wait out the weather, but it wasn’t letting up. So we tightened down our rain gear and headed back out, destination Upsala Glacier’s edge. In case you were curious, it’s cold next to the glacier. From there we hiked to Fossil Canyon, which Francisco explained is not actually a canyon at all but that it just sounds better in the brochure that way. Francisco is extremely knowledgeable in geology, and this is a special place with lots to know. The ground is covered with slate shingle and the mountains are an array of colors and textures. We made it to the fishing lagoon, but it was too windy for fishing, so we just had lunch under a tree before walking back to the snorkel truck to head back to the lodge. A hot bath and a nap were sounding pretty good after the horseback riding the previous day, ugh. Of course, another huge dinner and wine was still requisite before retiring before the 11pm lights out campers!

The next morning we had arranged to go on the “long ride” with Augostin. There are several Gauchos on the ranch, but enquiry informed us that Augostin is the real-deal. Brought up in a region west of BA, close the mountains, there is little else there but horses and ranches. His family has been in the horse business for generations. Although Spanish was the required language for conversation, Charlie muddled through as interpreter for the day. Augostin was amazingly knowledgeable per horses and the history of the region, always delivered with a wry smile that made you think he had a funny secret he wasn’t sharing. The ride was about 3 hours out to an overlook at the top of the valley to the north of the estancia. At a shelter built from logs and stone, Augostin whipped up an amazing parilla of steak and grilled veggies while Rawson and Charlie lazed about, drank some wine and ate an inadvisable number of Calafate berries. The legend is that if you eat the Calafate berry, you will be fated to return to Patagonia some day. Eager to ensure this is fulfilled, Charlie got a little over eager in his picking skills. Needless to say our horses were happy to oblige in eating the extras (well, actually only Rawson’s horse, the others turned up their noses). The view from the refuge was incredible. The weather had gracefully cleared for us that day and we could see several glaciers in the distance over the ranges out in front of us to the west and south. This is truly a place of stark mountains and sheer beauty. After 2 ½ hour ride back down, we had to hustle to board our boat back to El Calafate. We had an incredible time and owe a huge thanks to Bryan for the recommendation and the hook ups and of course, to all of the amazing staff at Estancia Cristina. Thanks folks!

Perito Morreno Glacier Big Ice hike:

In the interested of consolidation, we including our last activity in El Calafate with this same post. The BIG ICE hike on the Perito Morreno Glacier. This one day excursion run by the Heilo y Adventura travel company was surpassed in beauty only by the absurd price and lack of including anything but transport and guide for an all day affair. We won’t go into the details, but let just say it is a monopoly on the glacial hike and MUST be owned by one of the many relatives on the Kirchner political family who seem to have stuck their beak into every business in this beautiful country. Think Italian mafia without the overtly violent side.

This hike is the only one that actually allows novices to throw on some cramp-ons (metal spiky platforms that attach to your boots) and hike around on the glacier itself. Hard to describe how alien and surreal this environment feels. It’s not like hiking in the snow as the glacier surface is jagged and even flat surfaces are rough and almost sharp. Our guide, Luis, insisted everyone where gloves (not sure who wouldn’t want to on a flippin ice flow, but..) in the event you fall as the surface cut literally cut your hands like rough glass. That said, this is a perfectly safe activity and the guides know what they’re doing. Although not attached by life-lines, everyone is outfitted with a harness in the event you fall someplace less than ideal. On our hike at least, no one fell, but better safe than sorry. If the views of the Glacier showed off the amazing colors from our previous views, this blew it away. We must have blown though an entire memory card taking pictures. Don’t worry, you’ll just be seeing the final cut.

After stopping in a relatively sheltered spot to eat our lunch (not provided by the tour), we wondered deeper in to the glacier before circling around to hike out and catch our boat, then bus ride back to El Calafate. In all (including side trips) we’ve spent 10 days in this amazingly little town in the heart of Patagonia. But, it’s time to move on. Our last night was very chill as we head off in the morning to meet up with everyone’s favorite Chilean and we know well enough that such a reunion usually includes a beverage or two. Off to Puerto Natales and down to the Chilean park of Torres del Paine! Cheers!