The Travel Chica

Live Simple. Consume Less. Experience More.

Eating Like a Queen in El Chalten

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Maybe I am exaggerating a little.

But since I’ve been on the road again, I am back to cooking most of my meals in hostel kitchens. These meals are usually quite simple because I am not the best cook nor do I want to buy a lot of ingredients that will get thrown out when I move on to the next stop.

Another reason I cook most of my meals is because typical Argentine food in restaurants is not worth the price in my opinion.

That is why I have been pleasantly surprised by the food in El Chalten.

When you are trekking several hours a day, you want to be eating healthy, and you want enough energy to get through each day.  The Argentine diet is not the healthiest.  This is the land of empty carbs.

The Patagonian Trail tour includes breakfast every morning in our hotel, as well as a box lunch that we take with us on trekking days.  Then we are on our own for dinner.

Power Up With Breakfast

The buffet-style breakfasts at our hotels have had a great variety of healthy (and some not-so-healthy foods) to power up before our treks.  They seem to know how to service international clientele.

The breakfast buffet at La Aldea in El Chalten.

There were so many options, it was hard to choose.

Biggest and Best Box Lunches Ever

Even though we are burning a lot of calories on our 20km treks, our box lunches are too big to eat all at once.  Lunch usually includes a sandwich, two empanadas, an apple, a granola bar, AND dessert.

I am usually not even hungry for a big dinner after the trek.

And the best part is that everything has been delicious.

I usually save my dessert for when I get back from the trek. The alfajores they included in our lunches in El Chalten were the best I’ve ever had!

Along with my nice cold beer.

Not included in the box lunch.  But it is a requirement after a long day of trekking.

Yes, my friends.  That is a good IPA.  A REAL IPA.

El Chalten’s La Vineria has the best selection of craft beer I have seen in all of my travels in Latin America.

Great Restaurants

I did not expect a town that has about 1500 residents and absolutely zero cell phone service to have good restaurants.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Most evenings, our tour group goes out to dinner together.  Since our Adventure Center guide knows the town well, he makes excellent recommendations.

There are awesome vegetarian options at many restaurants.

This veggie pizza was way better than we expected, especially in Argentina where potatoes are considered the main vegetable in everyone’s diet.

There are even some restaurants with fancy, creative options like this lamb curry.

Have you had great food while trekking in a remote location?

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This post is part of a series about my experience on the Patagonian Trails Tour with Adventure Center.  I was very impressed by their range of tour options from light to extreme adventure all over Latin America and the rest of the world.  There really is something for everyone.  Adventure Center handles all bookings with Peregrine for North American clients.  

 

 

Comments

  11. The food looks delicious! It must be tiring to come home after trekking the whole day and cook your own meal! Those alfajores do look amazing- I don’t remember when was the last time I had one!

    • It had been a while for me too because I try to eat healthy and save money by cooking my own meals. I never thought of putting empanadas in a boxed lunch, but I think if they are quality, they don’t get soggy and are still delicious hours later.
      Stephanie – The Travel Chica recently posted..Welcome to El Chalten

  16. All the food in here looks delicious. I don’t know if it is the photo angle but the empanada looks giant!!! Well, who cares. I bet it is super good.

    Great to see you are getting big lunch boxes. I have done some jungle trekking and the food in the lunch boxes does not even feed a kid well.
    Ruth recently posted..Brazil’s Dusty Azure: Day 4

  29. Wow theres so much food. you will never worry about food anymore after hiking.

    Great post, thanks!

    gonna grab some pizza now, and gonna put some corns, brocollis and who-knows-what i will find in the fridge.

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