After returning from the hikes at Lago del Desierto, The Wandelgek spend the late afternoon and night at a restaurant in El Chaltén’s Avenido San Martin.

But before that he had a bit of time to just walk around El Chaltén and see how much this once tiny village had developed into a true hiking capital.

In the southern area of the town, where Avenido Güemes (the access road coming from the bridge over Rio Fitz Roy) meets with J. Antonio Rojo and Lago del Desierto, is this little roundabout…

 

…and in its center is a welcoming sign to El Chaltén, capital nacional del trekking ? …

From almost everywhere in El Chalten, Mount Fitz Roy is visible…

Avenido San Martin ended in the south at Lago del Desierto. On Avenido San Martin, were really a lot of restaurants, bars, breweries, take aways, fast food restaurants, etcetera…

It is a rather long street. Hotels and B&B’s were located in other parts of the village and in side roads, as was the Kalenshen hotel where The Wandelgek stayed.

The Wandelgek however was mainly interested in the local microbreweries which only served 1 to a maximum of 3 beers. He did try some and although they were good, they didn’t match those of the La Zorra brewery which he had tried the night before.

However, one of the microbrewies looked promising enough to have a go at and it even had a biergarten??.

This photo was taken just before it opened its doors…

After some drinks The Wandelgek decided he wanted to go for dinner and afterwards return to La Zorra for some really good beer. However, the evening would turn out different and he deviated from his plan.

The restaurant he visited was:

Patagonia Rebelde

Address: San Martín 430, El Chalten, Santa Cruz, Argentina

It had a cozy, warm interior, the menu looked great, the beer menu was reasonable but the wine menu looked excellent… oh poor Wandelgek??. There was also a live band which was playing Argentine traditionals on authentic traditional instruments.

The interior was decorated with beautiful elements reminiscent of historical figures and symbols, such as Simon Bolivar or Che Guevara, the restaurant exudes a politicized vibe of rebellion and revolution, like e.g. in the wall text below, signed by Che Guevara…

But the definitive reason to sit down here and not in any of the other locations, which were plenty available, was the name. Although Bandidos Patagonicos had an intriguing name too, The Wandelgek had read about Patagonia Rebelde before, when he was preparing for his journey.

Patagonia Rebelde (or Patagonia Trágica) (“Rebel Patagonia” or “Tragic Patagonia” in English) was the name given to the uprising and violent suppression of a rural workers’ strike in the Argentine province of Santa Cruz in Patagonia between 1920 and 1922. The uprising was put down by Colonel Héctor Benigno Varela’s 10th Cavalry Regiment of the Argentine Army under the orders of President Hipólito Yrigoyen. Approximately 300-1,500 rural workers were shot and killed by the 10th Cavalry Regiment in the course of the operations, many of them executed by firing squads after surrendering. Most of the executed were Spanish and Chilean workers who had sought refuge in Argentina’s Patagonia after their strike in the city of Puerto Natales in southern Chile in 1919 was crushed by the Chilean authorities, at the cost of four carabiniers killed and the offices of their union were burned by the police and the military on July 27, 1920. At least two Argentine soldiers (privates Fernando Pablo Fischer and Domingo Montenegro), three local policemen (sergeant Tomás Rosa and constables Ernesto Bozán and Juan Campos) and a number of ranch owners and their relatives also died during the strife. Several of the captured women were raped in the uprising as the rebel forces fought for control of the territory.

The wine menu by far exceeded the beer menu so it was about time to try an excellent Argentine wine and The Wandelgek decided to go for the Don David Malbec from 2021, which turned out to be an excellent choice…

It has tones of dark olives and allows some fresh leafiness to the black plums and dark cherries. It thus is a very smooth red wine with creamy tannins and juicy fruit, which give it a lot of immediate appeal. Simply delicious.

A trio of Argentine musicians started to perform some beautiful Argentine traditionals which gave a lot of color to the evening…

A sizzling hot stew dish was served, filled with potatoes, vegetables and tender meat…

… and the band kept playing …

The food was excellent as was the chosen wine…

… as was the musical accompaniment …

… where the guitar player and the percussionist remained faithful to their instrument, the lead singer changed constantly from flute to a banjo like instrument to a violin…

… and so the evening passed by and it became late. The food was more than sufficient and the wine began to take its toll …

When he left Patagonia Rebelde, The Wandelgek knew, with a bit of regret, that he would not visit La Zorra again. The wine had settled in and the next morning The Wandelgek wanted to rise early to still be able to do some walking … and something else which was quite exciting too …  before leaving south …