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Published: January 21st 2007
Old Patagonian Express
A lot more fun than I originally thought it would be! El Bolson, a hippy town 2 hours south of the touristy Bariloche was a treat to say the least. Beautiful warm and sheltered microclimate and a ´tranquillo´ atmosphere made for a relaxing two nights spent here. While Mom and Scott lived in luxury at a small hotel, Laurence and I camped in a small campground, which was more than adequate. The highlight of the town was its market, held on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, which was a great cultural and gastronomical experience. The micro climate affords El Bolson an incredible crop of strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, fresh honey and backed goods and a smattering of artesian chocolate, all at bargain basement prices. We filled our bellies on the most delicious strawberries I have ever eaten, which seemed as though they were covered in sugar, but weren’t. In addition to this sweet treat, I gorged on Raspberry licuados, a blended mix of ice, berries, water and sugar and I drank until I could drink no more.
That same afternoon of the market, we made our way 70 km out of town to El Maiten, home to the famous Old Patagonian Express, the title of Paul Theroux´s epic novel depicting his
rail journey from the US to Patagonia. This fun little train, traveling on narrow 75cm rail gauge was a fun afternoon ride. The slow pace of the train and the nostalgic feel of its cars, coupled with galloping horses, soaring condors and towering Andean peaks made for a memorable afternoon. Highly recommended day trip.
After leaving this pleasant little town we headed to the Parque National de los Alerces. This park was supposedly home to remnants of a gigantic forest of Alerces trees, similar to California´s Red Woods and a forest which I had learned a lot about during a university class. I had high hopes of seeing the 2600 year old Él Abuelo´ or Grandfather. Arriving we found a nice site for the two tents in a privately run park, near a beautiful lake. While the campground was pleasant, it was unkept, overpriced and a bit sleazy. I only hope that BC´s parks don’t follow the same path towards privatization.
After setting up camp, my mom and I headed down to another lake where we had been told that we may be able to purchase tickets for boat trips heading to El Abuelo for the next day.
Along the way, we encountered a 300 year old Alerce and I was shocked to be completely unimpressed, seems that we may be a wee bit spoiled in BC for big trees and they just don’t seem to build them as big down here . This 300 year old specimen was not majestic and looked rather like a sickly prepubescent cedar tree, barely 40 feet tall and maybe the width of a man. Home came to mind on his visit to Australia when after ordering one of those famous giant beers, he conceded that it was big, but not as big as his dreams had lead him to believe. I was similarly dissapointed and headed to camp for a cold beer to ease my pain. Having failed to secure tickets at the port anyways, we decide to save our money, avoid the touristy boat trip and go for a hike the next day instead. Good Choice.
Spectacular hike to a hidden lake afforded us great views of the valley and got the blood working. It was also a great prep for our planned hikes in the Fitz Roy range, and proved that we were all fit enough to hike
anywhere in Patagonia.
Left the park, relaxed and ready for the next step in the road trip and our main push down the Ruta 40. Loving the freedom of the truck and looking forward to El Chalten
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