El Bolsón (January 29th - February 1st)

El Bolsón is known as a hippie community and also a farming town, in which most of the countries hops are grown. So it is also known for beer making and also for its artisan market. It is also known for the many trekking options and refuges in the surrounding mountains. Last time Jeff and I were here we did a multi day trek in the mountain to a few of the refuges.

We stayed at La Camorra Hostel, which was one of only a few remaining options on Hostelworld when we booked. It turned out to be a really nice place, and we enjoyed our three night stay thoroughly. Especially enjoyable was being able to have a shower after four days trekking in Bariloche! The hostel was a few minutes walk outside of town, but right next to the big grocery store, La Anonima, so it was great for me!

The next morning we were slow getting going. We had to go and secure or bus tickets for the next leg of the journey, a 20 hour ride (South) on the desolate route 40 to El Chaltén. Kirianne also had to exchange money since she didn't do so in Bariloche. So we were sent on a wild goose chase, first to the gas station, then to the pharmacy, ending up back at the hostel, where she had to settle for a 12 to 1 rate. After all of our errands were taken care of, we set out for a vegan restaurant I found on Happy Cow called Madre Vida. We had to walk down some dusty back roads to get to it, and were a little unsure about actually finding it! But we were very pleased when we found the welcome sign. The owners have set up the restaurant in their own home and have tables set up under apple and cherry trees in the yard/garden for dining. They are only open 12-3 M-F, and we were there at about 2 pm on Friday, so we were real glad we caught it! The lady running the place was so nice and welcoming. They had run out of most options, so we so of got the leftovers, but what a meal it was! Mixed salad of beets, carrots, lettuce, brown rice, cabbage, peppers, tomatoes and beet dressing served with a huge slice of a savory pumpkin zucchini pie and fresh lemonade. And the bill was under US$15! Jeff and I can't wait to go back someday!

<Beautiful lunch at Madre Vida>

After lunch we got on the public bus and headed out to Lago Puelo National Park, only 15km away, but about a 45 minute stop and go bus ride. The beach was extremely crowded with Argentineans on vacation. We also found the beach to be quite dirty and littered, and sadly a forest fire had just started across the lake from someone's bbq! We walked a long walk to what was supposed to be a less crowded beach, which was really no better. We were surprised to see that it seemed to be quite normal for the girls to wear thongs, even on a day at the beach with their families! So we kept seeing butts left and right. We did a little swimming (which was nice) then got the heck out of there! I guess that's what we get for going to the lake on a Saturday. I am glad we went the first day though, because the forest fire continued to grow! Back at the hostel we had polenta with veggies (tomatoe, onion, garlic, bell pepper, mushroom and garbanzo beans) for dinner.

<crowded beach at Lago Puelo>

<Fire across the lake>

<we were able to block the fire out of view from a small cove called La Playita, this is where we swam. It took patience to get a photo with no one in it.>

The next day, Sunday we got a taxi up a crazy dirt mountain road almost to the tree line on the (approximately) 7,000 ft Mt Piltriquitron. We knew we wanted to hike to the top, but weren't really sure how long that would take or how we would get back without any way to call for a return taxi. It ended up being about a 7 hour hike, with a refuge along the way as well as an art forest called Bosque Tallado, in which fallen trees from a forest fire in 1980 have been carved into sculptures. The hike was pretty steep and a lot of it was without shade, so we all got trekking pole strap tan line. I was wearing a tank top because it was the only clean clothes I had left, and I would have just worn dirty clothes but we'd turned our dirty clothes in for washing at the hostel the day before and they were being very slow to do anything with them. Hiking down here the sun burns very quickly, sometimes it seems sunscreen doesn't help. Apparently we are under a hole in the ozone layer! My arms are already more brown than I would like, so I was quite pleased when I found a fallen t-shirt on the trail! It appeared to have been laying out in the sun for days if not weeks, so it's owner was long gone. Glad I could put it to use! Near the top of the mountain, it got quite steep and turned into a scree slope with some required rock climbing. Kirianne opted out of continuing to the top and waited down below for Jeff and I. The view from up top was quite expansive, we could see all the way to the lake and the forest fire of the previous day, the whole valley of El Bolsón and into adjacent valleys. Once back at the trailhead, we were lucky to get picked up and driven all the way back to our hostel after only 10 mins of attempting to hitchhike! It was an Argentinean family of 4 who gave us a ride, in a jeep like vehicle, along with one other hitchhiker that we'd met on the trail. The other guy was Argentinean as well, so we got to just sit in the trunk area while he sat up front with the family and did all the talking. It was about a 40 minute ride back, on the bouncy, winding, dirt mountain road, so we were very grateful we weren't walking. Back at the hostel we another made a meal of polenta and veggies.

<View from the top of Piltriquitrón looking toward Lago Puelo.>

<View from the top of Piltriquitrón of El Bolsón>

<The last climb to the summit of Cerro Piltriquitrón.>

<A meadow on the way back down the mountain, looking away from El Bolsón.>

<Refugio Piltriquitrón, at 1500 meters and less than an hour from the trailhead.>

<A wild boar carving in the Bosque Tallado, about 45 minutes from the trailhead.>

<Bosque Tallado, one of many more statues in the forest, we were told there are over 200, but we didn't find that many!>

Our last day in El Bolsón was spent lounging at the hostel and waiting for the departure of our bus to El Chaltén. While we waited, we made a delicious stamppot consisting of potatoes, carrots, onion, canned peas, garlic, mushroom and tomato. Potatoes can be bought for only $1 per kilo! We were also able to find soy milk in the grocery store next to the shelf stable juices! I probably would never have found it or thought it even existed if it hadn't been for a comment I read in the review section for a restaurant in Bariloche on Happy Cow.

<Some crunchy rice and corn bars we found in the grocery store, they were not really very good, but not bad, and variety is always nice!>

<The soy milk was really good! It made our overnight oats very delicious and we hope to find it again soon. Nice to know it can be found in regular grocery stores! Before I left I learned it could be found in Chinatown in Buenos Aires, but we never went there.>

We were very excited to find upon arrival to our bus that it was a double decker and we had the front window of the second floor! Except that some wise guy and his girl friend had stolen our seats!! I asked him to move (in Spanish) and he made some excuse about there being a problem with his seat, so rather than argue with him, I got the driver, and luckily the driver made him move. (: He turned out to be a very demanding and unruly passenger for the drivers to deal with the rest of the ride. We nicknamed him Señor Purple Pants, because we was wearing striped purple hippie pants, even though he looked like a tough biker guy or marine or something like that. We suspected he was also Italian. 

Jeff and I have always wanted to sit in the front row of the double decker! It was neat to be able to look out at the road from the perspective as if we were doing the driving, especially for such a long ride! The road was in pretty rough shape in some areas, and a lot of it was under construction with the temporary dirt sections and we also saw a few animal crossings of sheep and guanaco (like llamas). Most of the ride is through desert like landscape, only passing though a few small towns. We were given full meal service, snack, dinner and breakfast, which we weren't expecting. I didn't eat any of it, but Jeff had some. We brought rice cakes and homemade hummus and veggies along and overnight oats and fruit for breakfast. The bus ride was worlds more comfortable than the previous time that Jeff and I took this trip, but it could simply not compare to the full bed bus we took to Bariloche, and we found it hard to get much sleep. 

<Jeff and I sitting in the best seats on the bus!>

<This is what it looked like most of the way, and it stays light out til about 10, so we had lots of time to look enjoy the view.>

In the morning we were awarded stunning mountain views on the final stretch into El Chaltén. It appeared we'd be having great weather again, just like the last time we were here, and apparently clear mountain views are rare! Chaltén is the trekking capital of Argentina and that's just what we have planned to do with our time here!

<The last stretch of the ride on the spur road into El Chaltén with the Fitz Roy Range in full view.>