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Day 180 cont....El Bolson: Far out
When I got to the bus station, I saw that there was a bus due to depart one minute later, and so after a very quick decision, I found myself on my way to the nearby town of El Bolson. The trip past lakes and over mountains was really scenic, and it was a beautiful day for it. I arrived in El Bolson two hours later, where it was unseasonably warm and almost t-shirt weather. I wandered the streets looking for accomodation, and having tried one place and taken a wrong turn, I stumbled upon a small house-turned-hostel a few blocks from the centre of town, and checked into a dorm there. I'm not sure if it's a good sign that the hostel dog, a permanent fixture outside the building, is also called Emma (which is proving to be a bit confusing). Nevertheless, it was an absolute bargain, so I dropped off my things and went into town to get some groceries ready for dinner.
The hippy vibe of El Bolson is rather apparent, with an abundance of people wearing wrap-around trousers and thick knit jumpers, and the sign in the park welcoming
you to 'El Bolson, a non-nuclear zone'. I had a nice evening at the hostel with a couple of Aussie hippies (favourite expression: far out) and an English girl (travelling with tambourine) staying there. Although it's nice to be surrounded by vegetarians for a while, I own enough beaded items, and reckon I can only do the hippy vibe thing for so long before it all becomes too much, so think I'll just stay for a couple of days, before moving on to another town and throwing my chakras into dissaray.
Day 181: More than a bit wooden
After a lazy start, and having eventually crawling out of bed at half-eleven, I mooched about the house for a while before heading into town for some brunch and a wander around the park. At three o'clock, I joined three Argentinian women (on holiday), and Diego, our driver/guide, on an excursion to a mountain near El Bolson. After thirteen kilometres uphill in a four-wheel drive, we arrived at a carpark, and from there, we had a couple more kilometres before we reached our destination, Bosque Tallado. Since two of the women in the car weren't really the walking-kind, it
wasn't really the hike that I'd hoped for, as we progressed very slowly up the mountain. That said, the views out over El Bolson were great, and it being autumn, it was lovely to walk through the red and orange covering the mountainside. After much puffing and panting, we finally arrived at Bosque Tallado, a gap in the woodland caused by fire several years ago. Rather than just leave the land to goto scrub, sculptors from the region (and further afield), had made lots of woodcarvings out of fallen trees, and they were exhibited at various points on the mountainside. They were all rather good, and by-and-large, quite unique, making for an enjoyable, and slightly different afternoon stroll, before we managed to descend the mountain a little faster than we had climbed it, regrouping at the bottom, for the trip back down the long windy gravel road to El Bolson.
Having been trying my best (and often failing), to keep up with the conversation all day, I was looking forward to getting back to the hostel to relax a bit. This proved none-to-easy, with a large number of people crowded into the relatively small kitchen to prepare dinner. Although
I was pretty much all-spanished out for one day, I found out that one of the couples staying at the hostel were from Costa Rica, and so I got to pick their brains about my future travel plans to Central America, where I should go (and where to avoid). It turned out to be quite a useful conversation, they even drew me a map and planned an itinery for me. Maybe I don't need to buy a lonely planet after all!
Day 182: Witches, woolens, imps and incense
Being a Saturday in El Bolson, I couldn't leave without attending the town's famous market. I'd been realiably informed that the market started at ten, but on heading down to the park bright and early, there were only a few stalls set up, with a number of others, in the process of being assembled. It was obviously going to take a little while for things to get going and so I killed a bit of time, sitting in one of the local cafes, drinking cappuccinos South America-style (that would be with lots of cream and chocolate)! When I finally emerged from the cafe two hours later, there was definitely
a bit more activity around the park, with the surrounding pavement now completely lined with market stalls selling all manner of things that I wanted but didn't need. After passing the umpteenth stall selling ornamental dwarves/wizards, I stopped for a bite to eat; not all the food on offer was typical veggie-fare, but I was quite happy to have a waffle coated in melted cheese, closely followed by a couple of scoops of homemade berry icecream. I'm certainly loving the food here!
Knowing that I would soon be in warmer climates (and then returning to England, where by all accounts, it's not meant to be freezing cold in July and August), I managed to refrain from buying any snuggly woolen items, although they did look quite tempting, particularly the hats, with very long dangly bits that covered your ears and could be wrapped around your neck to form a cross between a hat, scarf and balaclava. Great idea!
After a while, I escaped the bustle of the market, said goodbye to Emma (the dog), and made my way down to the bus stop, where my transport to Esquel eventually turned up half an hour late.
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