Endless Sunset

by Cecilia Balvidares (Argentina)

I didn't expect to find Argentina

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People rarely go blindly to a new place and I wasn’t the exception. I looked for pictures of this place and my excitement grew a lot with the days passing by. But my happiness turned out to be an eternal feeling after discovering what El Chaltén really is. This small city is located in the province of Santa Cruz, which is part of the south of Argentina. This place is a town surrounded by mountains, but there is one that calls everyone’s attention: Fitz Roy Mountain. It’s a natural masterpiece and as soon as you see it you want to climb it till you reach the top. When I arrived to El Chaltén I was finishing a book, but closing it and opening my eyes to this place made the whole experience a lot better. It was around 10 p.m. but the sun was still there, hiding a bit behind the mountains, showing my family and I the beauty that was welcoming us. First, we stopped by a viewpoint that allows you to appreciate a paradise with the only road that takes you to the city centre, which goes alongside a river. The colours of the mountains and grass seem to invite you to stay there forever. It was 11 p.m. when we realised what time it was and there was nothing left to do but to fall asleep to see what the day was going to show us in the following morning. Around 8 a.m. we were all up having breakfast and enjoying the view through the hotel’s windows. It was a cold morning of course, because you can never trust the weather in the south of Argentina, not even in summer. But as the time passed by, the temperature went up in a such a smooth way that I never noticed the sun was leaving the shape of my clothes marked on my skin. My cousin and I did trekking till we reached the base of the mountain that gave us a wonderful view of the Fitz Roy, its glacier and a blue sky without any cloud to be seen. We stopped at Laguna de los Tres (Lagoon of the Three, referring to the peaks of the Fitz) and just sat there to capture what nature was offering us: a dreamy place which makes you smile just by being there. On our way up and down we walked through rocks, trees and met people from around the world. Many tourists get to this town to enjoy the few but huge things it has to offer. And not only the mountain and hills are breath-taking, the local people treat you kindly, whether it’s at a hotel or restaurant, they know how to welcome everyone and it’s clear how prepared they are to give you their best. It was 5 p.m. when I took a moment to rethink what I have been witnessing all day long. I walked a track in a hill, which its top let me observe the road that leads you to the city. I remember taking a picture of my feet and all the landscape beneath them, it looked like I was flying somehow, but luckily, that day wasn’t a dream at all.