EL CHALTEN IS A PARADISE FOR HIKING

In the autumn of Patagonia, when orange, yellow, red and green leaves dazzle me, I go to rest with some knee pain. I slowly recover from the place known as "la casa de ciclistas", the house of cyclists, where I usually prefer to stay. You can come across these "la casa de ciclistas" houses in South America.  Although I am told that I have to rest from my knee and waist because I push myself a little too hard in the autumn cold, it is very difficult for me to stand still in the district where there are such trekking routes. It seems that in the next week, I will both rest and reward myself and renew myself with plenty of nature walks. The place I stay is a hostel and the family that runs the hostel also stays there. Some parts have been completed, but some walls are plastered, as always, there is a barbecue "asado" section. In fact, luckily for me, they make a nice asado on the first day I come. Relaxing and spending time with nature in a place where I will find myself in a friendly intimacy in a few days is a truly unique reward for me.

When the owner of the house went to Mexico for both sightseeing and business purposes, the house was left to Don Pedro. He worked in Germany for a certain period of time. He had Turkish friends and occasionally called me turkai. Like every patagonia Gaucho, we have our breakfast with mate. I am exploring El chalten, and he takes care of the construction, maintenance and routine work of his own hostel. Actually, he knows that there is a difference between El Turco and Turks, but he has not met Saz yet. He has heard his voice many times in movies or songs, but he has never met him physically. When he saw him on the bicycle, he asked, and when he heard that he was with me, he was interested in traveling with the reed and bicycle. Several times he wanted to hear his voice from my own hand. It was really interesting for me to have such a close conversation with Don Pedro, a former Gaucho, about the instrument. It was the first time a gaucho had been so interested in the saz I carried with me. He told me that musical instruments have deep, long stories, such as languages, beliefs, and cultural symbols. Over time, the strings may thicken, maybe each region may have its own touches, but he generally gave it that what he wanted to say could be transmitted in a common place. In the later parts of the conversation, we agreed that the concepts of culture and nation were very intertwined and that cultural symbols were now identified with national symbols. Maybe that's how it seemed to me. After all, Don Pedro didn't like to talk very much.

El Chalten is truly an incredible paradise. If you like to spend time in nature, your time here can end in the blink of an eye. The park, which consists of two main routes, turns into a park of 60-70 km in total with almost 8-10 different combinations and side branches of these two routes. You can also join daily tours. You can organize it on 3 to 5 day tours in the form of tented camping. I thought one week would be enough. Sometimes I wish I had stayed a little longer. My advice should definitely be at least two weeks. The most famous of these tours is the "Sendero a la Laguna de los Tres" route, which includes Cerro Fitz Roy. About 25 km. Although the last 2 km of the Fitz Roy climb is a bit challenging, the view it welcomes you at the end is beautiful enough to make you forget everything. The second route is the Sendero a La Laguna Torre route, which has slightly less elevation. With the vast glacial landscape that greets you at the end, maybe it can convince you to camp for a few days. Overall El Chalten is expensive. It's also expensive when you consider the Patagonia average. There is a certain reason for this for the people living in the region, and that is that it has turned into a tourism-oriented district only.

After a few days of nature walks, my body and joints are slowly coming to their senses. I have a pain in my knee, but it has turned into muscle pain that I am sure will go away on the way and that I have been familiar with before. We drink our last mate teas, which are described as washed (llavado) and taste no longer like water. It came to my mind for the last time and I asked Don Pedro. 

 -How do you feel when you hear the sound of this instrument? 

-Calmness (tranqilo)