Patagonia dream=reality

Our first leg of sabbatical- and how this all, somehow, came to fruition!!

Signature Hike to Laguna de los Tres, via Fitz Roy Trail head

Ari Journal:

Argentinian Patagonia 2022

Cris and Ari, 2/14-2/26/2022

It all started 15 years ago when Cris was pregnant, about to start her job at Kaiser and I was hoping to get a job at Kaiser soon thereafter. Although we knew nothing about what lied ahead for us with 2 careers and a family, we somehow had the foresight to talk about what we wanted to do in life as parents and physicians. We both came to the same conclusion that we wanted to live somewhere outside the US to expand our horizons and those of our children. This idea has lived with us for 15 years, and we have revisited the idea periodically.

As we realized we really enjoyed our careers at Kaiser and moving to another country would disrupt our careers (honestly it’s Luna and Winter that really kept us in the US), we morphed this idea to a leave of absence and the opportunity to travel. When we realized once Linden was in high school, taking her out of school may be damaging to her academically, we moved quickly to see if this could work. We initially tried to wait until the COVID pandemic was over, but quickly realized this was not going to happen anytime soon. So, we gathered the courage to ask our departments to support a 5 month leave of absence and somewhat surprisingly, they both supported it! Initially, Linden and Asher (Linden especially) were reluctant to be out of school for a quarter, but with courage and open-mindedness, they are now excited for the opportunity.

We knew that our colleague, Tom Barsch, had done the same thing with his family in 2006. We had him and his wife over for dinner and they gave us a slide show and told us about their experience taking 5 months off and travelling the world. Tom’s advice was, “Ask for the leave of absence, and if they don’t give it to you, quit. This experience is that important.” This gave us the motivation and the resolve to make this happen.

We then talked with Peggy Schreiber, our general surgeon friend at CPMG who has volunteered in a small hospital in Mwandi, Zambi for the past 20 years. She came over to our house and gave us a presentation about the hospital and Mwandi. She talked about the orphanage and all the things we could do there to help the community. This became the anchor of our trip as all 4 of us were excited to volunteer in Mwandi after this wonderful discussion with Peggy.

We began the planning during fall break for the kids. We each focused on one thing we wished to do during the time off. Linden decided to do 2 weeks of volunteering at an animal orphanage in Zimbabwe (Chipangali—through goeco.org). Asher landed on going to Pearl Harbor and Normandy (he wanted to go to Hiroshima, but Japan is closed because of COVID). Cris decided to do a bike trip, likely in Europe. Finally, Ari decided that a trek in Nepal was at the top of the list. These ideas became the backbone of our planning and led to many iterations to make it all happen.

Our schedule became clear once Cris and I realized that 1 month off without the kids would help us ground ourselves, plan our trip, and do a trip to Patagonia and hike, something the kids may not want to do.

So, that brings us to Patagonia! We flew out on 2/14, and arrived in El Calafate on 2/15 without our bags (they were left in Houston as our DEN-HOU flight was delayed and we barely got on the HOU-Buenos Aires flight). We arrived in El Calafate and rented a car from Nunatak Rental Car, Esteban helped us. We got a tiny white car named a Chevy Agile. We stayed in El Calafate on 2/15 and Hotel Kelta. As our bags were coming later on 2/16, we decided to stay in El Calafate on 2/16 and drive to Perito Moreno glacier (1.5 hours). This was gorgeous, a metal walkway around a peninsula with unreal views of the 230 foot high calving glacier into Lago Argentina (about 60 mile long lake). We spent the majority of the day there listening to the calving glacier and gawking at the views.

After getting our bags in El Calafate airport (delayed 2 hours, got them at 8 pm), we drove to El Chalten the night of 2/16. As the sun sets at 9 pm, and it doesn’t get dark until 10 pm, the 2.5 hour drive was great. We saw about 20 guanacos on the way, super cool.

We checked into Los Cerros Hotel, and went to sleep. On 2/17, we wasted no time and headed out on the signature hike to Laguna de los Tres via Fitz Roy trail starting from El Chalten. This is a 15 mile, 3500 vertical round trip from the hotel (~13 miles from the trailhead). It is quite popular, and rightly so. When you get to the lake, you are treated to the ultimate view of Fitz Roy and the glacier and the 2 turquoise lakes of Lago Sucio and Lago de los Tres. When we first arrived, the tops of the mountains were in the clouds, but as we stayed there, everything cleared and the views took our breaths away. I will never forget that place. We spent 2 hours up there, and then returned around 7 pm, something that would become a habit for the rest of our time here: hiking all day and returning just before dinner.

The next day, 2/18, Cris wanted to get the highlights checked off the list, so we headed to Laguna Torre, which has views of the second famous set of peaks dominated by Cerro Torre. This is an 11 mile, 1500 foot vertical roundtrip to a milky white lake with icebergs with gorgeous views of the glacier and the peaks. We couldn’t see the very tops of the peaks, but it was unreal. There is a tyrolean traverse over the river at the lake, so remember to bring your harness next time!

On 2/19, it was very rainy, and we had a quieter day. Cris wandered the town and relaxed. I went on a hike/jog loop around Laguna Torre trail to Madre e Hija to Fitz Roy trail back to town (~14 miles, 2000 vertical). It was special because the rain kept the people away and I had the area to myself. Madre e Hija lakes are clear lakes with shale at the bottom and the beaches—gorgeous.

On 2/20, it was still overcast and sprinkling, so we drove down the road to Los Huemeles reserve about 45 minutes down a rocky road—exciting in the little Chevy Agile, but doable. We found a hidden gem, a reserve that is privately owned and limits the number of visitors. We hiked to Laguna del Diablo, Laguna Verde, and Laguna Azul (~12 miles, 2000 vertical) and were treated to a pristine, quiet forested trail that is soft on the feet and the soul.

On 2/21, we headed up to the best view of both the Cerros and Fitz Roy: Lomo Pligue Tombado, a ~5000 foot high peak overlooking Laguna Torre. It is a 12 mile, 3700 foot vertical smooth trail through the woods with thousands of caterpillars followed by tundra hiking with the treat of unobstructed views of Cerro Torre, Torre Egger, and Fitz Roy. Once again, unreal views in a place that is hard to describe. You are also overlooking Lago Toro and Paso del Viento, the gateway to the South Patagonian Icefield. This is the first half of the 4-5 day Huemul Circuit trek. This got me thinking about the possibilities for the next day. I really wanted to see the Icefield, but we were not wanting to camp out.

On 2/22, Cris had a “quieter” day and went to the Mirador, a 30 min hike from the ranger station to see Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre, and then went to Laguna Capri for an afternoon stroll. I decided to try to see the South Patagonian Icefield and go to Paso Del Viento and back. Cris dropped me off at ~8 am and my goal was to be back at 9 pm. The trip involves a Tyrolean Traverse across the river and a glacier crossing spanning 1 mile. I tried to rent a harness, but they were all out. I was told you can walk through the river, so I took my running shoes in my pack and set off. It was an absolutely perfectly clear non-windy day (despite the name of the pass). I was treated to wildlife including a green parrot looking bird, multiple birds of prey including condors, hundreds of cows, and breathtaking views. The trail was empty until getting to the first camp at Lago Toro (10 miles). After that, the next 5.5 miles to the top of Paso Del Viento had multiple backpackers going to camp 2. I was happy I didn’t have one of those large packs on. At the far end of Lago Toro, was the river crossing as I couldn’t to the Tyrolean Traverse. It was DAMN COLD!!! My legs were numb after just 30 seconds wading through water just above my knees. Then to the glacier—unbelievable. I fell on my ass multiple times as the glacier is NOT snow, but rock solid ice and quite scary. However, it was super fun and a great place to get more water straight from the source. I arrived at the top of the pass at 1:30 and was overcome with emotion when I saw the South Patagonian Icefield. It is a gorgeous place with unobstructed views of hundreds of square miles of ice, the South Patagonian mountain range…it reminded me of our precious Winter and how much I missed that girl who shared my love of the snow and taught me how to enjoy it. After an hour of bliss and emotional catharsis, I made the journey down. The walk was uneventful with the exception of the realization that after a day of sunshine on the glaciers, the glacier fed rivers seem to grow in the afternoon. This made for an interesting crossing of the river, with water up to my crotch. This typically wouldn’t be an issue, but I realized that if I fell in ice cold water, I could be in a bit of trouble. Luckily everything went well, and I returned at 8:30 happy and tired after a 31 mile, 7300 vertical foot hike through paradise. Next time, I want to do the whole circuit so that I can spend time hiking along the icefield and seeing the Viedma glacier calving into Laguna Viedma. It would be ~6 miles longer and ~2000 additional vertical feet, so about 2 extra hours (leave at 6 am). Or, do it as a trek….

On 2/23, we both took it easy and wandered around El Chalten. This is a fascinating town with few cars, tons of walkers/trekkers wandering around town. The town is a party town at night, and everyone eats dinner around 9-11 pm.

2/24 was our final day in El Chalten. We decided to celebrate by doing the Laguna de los Tres hike from the other side, El Pilar. It’s a 40 minute drive and goes by Laguna Piedras Blancas—a deep turquoise lake fed by a stunning overhanging blue glacier. We got to Laguna de los Tres around 10:30 and surprisingly only 5 other people were there. That is the time to go as the light on the mountains is perfect. We spent 2 hours there (we always spent a lot of time at each place as time flies when you are enthralled by your surroundings), and then headed down. Once again, 13 miles and 3,000 vertical feet later, we were back at the car.

Bottom line: this place is indescribable. It is a quaint, small town without cars at the base of arguably the most beautiful mountains on earth. The trails are smooth and well marked. The food is great. The water it potable, not only in the tap, but in all the rivers. This is a place to find yourself by wandering through heaven. I hope to return, either to El Chalten and do the Huemul Circuit, or possibly to Torres del Paines, but not sure about the regimented trek…something I hope I’ll have to ponder in the future.

Lastly, I was fortunate enough to experience this place with my favorite person on earth. Every experience I have with Cris makes me appreciate her more. We are growing old together and weathering the beauty and growing pains of doing so. She is patient with me I think I am with her. I hope we can continue to support one another as we have over the past 22 years.

I am also ready to go home. I miss my wonderful family: Asher, Linden, Luna, dearly. Despite the beauty of Patagonia, the true beauty lies within those I love. They are my lifeline and I want to see them.

Notes for next time in Patagonia: 1) Do not need ice axes/crampons/gaiters. 2) Do bring harness with a 12-15” quick draw, locking carabiner, webbing, and a small ~20 ft rope to do the Tyrolean traverses. 3) Consider bringing a climbing helmet. 4) Do not need a water filter—can literally drink straight from the streams! 5) DO THE HUEMUL CIRCUIT! The kids would probably love it as there are 2 Tyrolean Traverses, 1 glacier crossing, and incredible views. Either 4-5 days of camping or just a 1 day, 13-15 hour hike/jog with boots and shoes to alternate so that your feet don’t get too sore.

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Cris "deep thoughts" of Patagonia

So, our epic journey to Patagonia is coming to close. My valiant, patient and kind husband made the last 2-hour drive in the cute rental chevy Agile from El Chalten back to the Airport in El Calafate. It was a beautiful sunrise drive with hot pink and red colors and views of the Fitz and surrounding mountains behind us, Lake Viedma to the side and the sun straight ahead! It made it quite challenging to spot the Guanacos! Ari managed and I “helped” on a very limited on/off basis in between my heavenly early morning naps in the Agile. Yet again Ari is the most amazing travel partner! I am so lucky to have a husband and best friend to travel with and grow old with! So grateful for my “guapo” and despite the beyond handsome Argentinian staff at Los Cerros, they do not even begin to compare to Ari.

The 9 night stay in El Chalten, Patagonia was a dream or rather a goal becoming an actual reality! Ari and I had planned on doing this trip “someday” and that day surmounted both of our expectations. I am so glad we opted out of the Chilean trekking routes and started out our 5 month sabbatical the right way with intense day hikes, on average 12 miles/day , AS WELL AS beyond comfortable accommodations at Los Cerros hotel which included a perfect breakfast options (as well as enough to “steal” some pastries and cheeses for trek lunches) / dinner restaurants galore in the town (note- dinner is very LATE in Argentina). Aside from 2 overcast days we also lucked out with perfect hiking, perfect vista weather. Some come and also leave El Chalten without seeing the Fitz and the peaks due to clouds. We were so lucky to gaze at the Andean peaks daily for over a week! The winds also can be quite intense in the area, and we were lucky to have only moderate winds and sunny 60/70 days.

El Chalten

Day one- Hiked to lago del los tres**, Las Cavas dinner!

**(journaling from day 2 embedded) Well I never seem to find the time to write but when I do I feel sooo much better. To recap, to debrief, to summarize our short stent on this glorious planet brings clarity and humor to life.

Ari and I are socked in for the day- meaning I am in the Cerros hotel room with a rainy but spectacular view out the big window on the tiny mountain tourist town of El Chalten and Ari is exploring. Earlier today he walked to the local "REI" for intel and bought the only climbing helmet they had and now to drive the AGILE (tiny rental) to the National Park Service station. His goal- to find a way to access the South icefields of Patagonia. My goal- rest my aching feet!! We covered some ground over the last 2 days.

First day in El Chalten- thursday- we did the "must do" senda (pathway) to the lagos de los tres. Although we could not see the Fitz Roy peak at first- We were lucky enough to have the clouds part and there is was!!! At the base of Fitz Roy were two amazingly blue lakes! The trail was perfectly maintained but long. From Hotel to trailhead and back to hotel we covered over 15 miles! The only "good climb" was the last 45 min to the lake- the rest was fairly flat yet beautiful to stroll through new forest trees for us and listen to spani

Day two- hike to the other obligatory hike to lago del Torre. Los Cerros (el viento) restaurant.

Day three- sore feet, I also rolled my ankle so I took a rest day/ wandered the town and Ari did another run/walk alone. Techado Negro dinner. Ice cream at Domo Blanco. I think that was the only day we went to the hot tub too!

Day four- back in action! We drove this very stone filled dirt road along the river (rio de los vueltos/ highway 23) about 40 min to Huemels private reserve. spectacular yet cloudy day hike to Laguna diablo and it’s glacier. La Fuegia restaurant

Day five- another back in action day with an epic climb (Colorado style with more rapid elevation gain) to the lomo de pliegue tombado. The views of ALL the peaks were the best here! I think we ate at the VEGAN restaurant that night… with Lilly from California. Very funky place with a cool wooden lift to get the food from the first floor to the 2nd floor attic where we were seated with Lilly.

Day six- I was tired, my feet sore (again) so I opted for a slower day although still did a nice afternoon hike to the mirador de Fitz as well as the lago Capri and Ari did an ultra…. Yep! Ari headed out to see the icefields of Patagonia! He hikes over 31 miles to see the ice and then back! Amazing!!! And he still had energy to head out to eat and celebrate his feat! The pictures were breathtaking! Pizza night at Patagonicus. One of my favorite parts of day 6 was being alone to wander and mentally practice my Spanish. I even practiced some of my Spanish on the trails too with all the beyond friendly portenos (peeps from Buenos Aires)! I sat at the Lake capri for over an hour and eavesdropped on all the Spanish tourists.

Day seven – REST day for us both. We napped, read some, journaled some and basically overheated in our amazing room #3 at Los Cerros with a near Chenango sized sunlit window heating the room! So then we ventured out to wander the town, get a latte, purchase some souvenirs, light lunch, etc. We finally made it to the Tapera for dinner. We had tried a couple of nights before and it was already full each time. It was good but not our favorite. But all the restaurants were good with no lack of simple salad options with vinegar/oil, typically lots of lamb and beef options but still most had at least a couple of veggie options as well as trout, occasional salmon for me. Meals all came with bread or rolls to start with a buttered sauce (like with garlic or pumpkin even). Meals were big! And typically, with a side of grilled veggies like squash, pumpkin, onions, eggplant, peppers and potatoes. I loved the food overall esp the pumpkin soups to start the meal and man were they HOT!

Day eight- last day on the mountain so we made it count! We got up early, “swiped” some breakfast items and a coffee for the road and took that AGILE back on the bumpy ruta 23! 40 min drive to the OTHER trailhead start to lago de los tres. We parked at the GEODOMES lot (accidentally) and not the actual EL PILAR trailhead and hiked yet another soft, well-planned trail back up the hill! A shout out to APN (Argentinian Parques National) on the trail systems! This route was my favorite as there was NO ONE on the trail up! The other fitz trail is super crowded. It was long, my feet were beginning to ache some but with the 7:30 start we summited to the lake around 10:30 and it was breathtaking yet again! Being that close to the Fitz with the most turquoise lake and blue color filled glacier too! The colors are worth mentioning again! The river we followed (piedras blancos) truly had “BLUE” water. It was so unique and the same color as the hue of blue above us at the glacier. So cool to see! The fitz view was perfect, there were not many people when we arrived, and we even got to view the start of a rescue attempt. A helicopter flew all around the top of the Fitz and then landed just below our vista to drop off two personnel. On our way down we saw many “search and rescue” looking troops heading up. We will have to do some internet research to see what happened when we are back in the land of “reliable WIFI”.

That night we drove (yes the main street is close but it was cold and my feet were sooo sore) to dinner near the Fitz trailhead. El Muro was not my favorite, but it gave us an insight to the rock climbing /maybe local culture. It was chaos though with over hour wait for food, unsupervised local toddlers at the bar, the music pumping and one rude server and I was ready to leave. Certainly, ready to leave El Muro and also ready to say goodbye to this amazing mountain town. These BEYOND amazing and perfectly constructed YET LONG trail systems in and around the lakes, glaciers, rivers and mountains of the Argentinian Andes. I am so ready to be with my people. I echo Ari …as “I am ready to be back with my people at Chenango”- see his video of this. So ready to be with Luna, Linden and Asher. So ready to be home…..

Day NINE- Back to where I started my journaling today. We left early at sunrise to catch our flight home to our people. Can’t wait to see you Linden, Asher and Luna. Can’t thank my mom and Ari’s parents as well as Michelle for allowing us to take these 2 weeks off to travel, hike and be inspired by the Patagonia destiny. Small perks go a long way with me! I’m seated in Row 8 first class to Buenos Aires right now! Not sure why we are in first class but the leg room and service is quite nice…

Asher and Linden STEPPED up with lot of driveway shoveling while we were away!

Siesta at Laguna Torre (note small iceberg delivery thanks to Ari)

Laguna Torre

Please don't drop that on your head!

Laguna del Diablo at los Huemeles Reserve

Lomo Pligue Tombado hike

Siesta atop Lomo Pligue Tombado

LOCO!!! 31 mile day trip for Ari to see the South Patagonian Icefields (he did it for Winter, of course) REST IN PEACE Winter Ballonoff (3/2/07 - 1/22/22)

Laguna Capri

Buenas Aires Airport (8 hour layover)

The Fitz and 2 happy hikers!