El Chalten is the BEST

Can you imagine a place with huge mountains, nearly extinct deer, lots of history, and crazy but beautiful weather? Can you? Can you? Yep, I'm talking about El Chalten in Patagonia, Argentina aka the best place on earth. We spent only 3 days there which was not enough so we will go back soon!

Today I'm going to tell you all about 1. that special deer that lives in Chalten called a huemul 2. Fitz Roy mountain 3. the Madsen family 4. cuckoo Patagonia weather, and 5. my new favorite drink Mate.

Huemul

This is a huemul. You pronounce huemul WA-MOOL. It is the largest deer native to Chile. Scientists think there are only 340 left in the wild. People are destroying their habitat and poaching them so they are now endangered. This is a picture from computer of the common huemul which we searched for but never saw.

We got very lucky though and got to see the one and only, one left in the world, Boomul. We even got a photo of it peeking out from behind a tree!

Isn't it so cool! We even got to keep it for a pet.

Fitz Roy

Fitz Roy is a mountain that was originally called Cerro Chaltén, which means Smoking Mountain in the indigenous language. A lot of people are trying to call the mountain Cerro Chaltén again, which I personally think is a better name because that is what the indigenous people named it and it is good to respect native languages. Do you see the taller peak behind us? That's Cerro Chaltén!!

It was called Smoking mountain because clouds often bump into the top of the mountain and stay there which looks like smoke. But don't worry it's not a volcano!

Fitz Roy was the captain of the Beagle which was the boat Darwin was on when they were exploring South America. So later Fitz Roy got the mountain named after him even though he didn't discover it. He did not even summit it. So I wonder why it is called Fitz Roy? Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why😡why why🤬!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Madsen Family

Andreas Madsen arrived in El Chalten in 1905 and built the first house there. I got to visit the house and have lunch there. The house is still a lot like it was when the Madsen family lived there.

I liked learning about the love story between Andreas and Fanny his wife. Before Andreas left Denmark and traveled to Patagonia his family had a going away party and he said "oh who will ever marry me?" And a little girl named Fanny who was 7 said "I will marry you!" Andreas left and when he came back 13 years later, 20 year old Franny was there waiting to marry him. So they got married him and moved to Patagonia and they had four kids!

This is me in the house. The chair on the left is new but the chair on the right was built by one of Andreas's and Franny's sons named Peter. In the top left you can see their family photo! We also went to the family cemetery where the family is buried. It was very pretty and also sad.

Patagonia Weather

The weather here is crazy. One moment it is sunny and beautiful and a second later it is windy and hailing. What the heck? I know what you're thinking that this doesn't make any sense at all. So let me explain. The weather in Patagonia is determined by the Andes mountains, the ocean currents in the Atlantic Ocean, and the winds from Antarctica. So there is always a lot happening. Most of the times we start our hikes in the sun and we usually end in the rain even snow!

There is something here we call the Patagonian rain cloud. The closest I can compare it to is the cloud of doom from the Wayside School books. Once you see it appear in the sky, you have to get out of there because it is about to storm your head off. I've seen it twice. Both times is appeared out of nowhere and was huge. Both times we stopped what we were doing and ran for our lives!

Mate

This is my new favorite drink, MATE!! Mate is a South American tea usually shared between two or more people. A way to tell someone you love them is to face the bombilla (the special straw you use to drink mate) toward them when you hand it to them. If you want to break up with someone through mate you face the straw toward you and hand it to them.

I am going to teach you how to make mate!

1. Take your cup and put the bombilla in

2. Add any additional herbs to make your mate taste better

3. Add the Yerba mate. Fill the cup 3/4 of the way up with the Yerba.

4. Add the hot water to the brim and drink it or let it sit depending on how much flavor you want.

I know it may sound strict, but the most important thing is not to move around the bombilla or else you will get tea leaves in your mouth. This is my bombilla!

In conclusion, I loved El Chalten and cannot wait to come back. When I come back I hope I get to see Juliana our guide and her daughter!

I miss everyone sooooooo much!

Love Ginny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!