DAY 20 RIO GALLEGOS to EL CHALTEN (456km – 283 m)
(Hotel Patagonia to LUNAJUIM HOTEL)
El Chalten only founded in 1985, in a rush to beat Chile to the land claim . It is still a frontier town albeit an offbeat one , featuring constant construction, hippie values and packs of roaming dogs ( quote from Lonely Planet)
Cerro FitzRoy (Mt Fitzroy) El Chalten is the original Tehuelche name meaninmg ‘peak of fire’ or ‘smoking mountain’ Perito Moreno and Carlos Moyano renamed it after Beagle’s Captain FitzRoy.
On finding the Petrol Station…..it is a BLUE SHIPPING CONTAINER with a pump! A Classic.
On way a lunch stop at at Estancia la Leona where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid stayed for one months after robbing Banco Rio Gallegos and then escaped to Chile. Our generation friends will remember the movie starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.!
MG Pan American Highway 2015 