- El Chaltén
El Chaltén is a small mountain village in Santa Cruz Province,
Argentina . It is located in the riverside of "Río de las Vueltas", within theLos Glaciares National Park (section "Reserva Nacional Zona Viedma") at the base ofCerro Torre andCerro Chaltén mountains, both popular forclimbing . For this reason this village is well-visited by trekkers and climbers.The nowadays "National Trekking Capital" was founded in 1985. The village is located 220km north of
El Calafate ."Chaltén" is a
tehuelche word meaning "smoking mountain", as they believe it was a volcano for its peak is most of the time covered by clouds. Other visited tracks and sights are "Torre Glacier", "Laguna Capri", "Piedras Blancas Glacier", "Chorrillo del Salto" and "Laguna de los Tres".The village provides free camping and national park information for visitors, as well as commercial camping (with showers) and a very limited number of beds, catering mostly for backpackers. The tourist trade has spawned a few restaurants and basic shops in town, and some of the accommodations provide internet and phone access and show regular movies. Other than that, the town is fairly far removed from the normal flow of news and communication, even during high season (November-February). The town is nearly deserted during off-season (the southern hemisphere winter).
External links
* [http://www.guiachalten.com/ Information about El Chaltén] (English/Spanish)
* [http://www.elchalten.com/ Tourism] (English/Spanish)
* [http://www.patagonia.com.ar/santacruz/elcalafate/chalten.php Description] (Spanish)
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