So today we had a sleep in and got ready for our paragliding excursion. We were told we'd get a phone call in the morning to see whether or not the weather would be suitable for a flight. The wind was too strong in Bariloche so they suggested we drive to El Bolson instead. It was now too late for the morning so we were told to be ready for 2 p.m. In the meantime, Leah and I decided to take the city bus over to Cerra Otto mountain. It was a lovely drive along the lakeshore and when we arrived [View Full Entry]

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El Bolson is a tiny town nestled in the mountains about 2 hours from Bariloche. It has a warmer microclimate so there is lots of farming here and its also famed for its artisan beers, cheeses and preserved fruits, and handicraft stuff made by the hippy community that live near here. We arrived at our hostel "el gaucho" and were given a warm welcome by the owners Claudio and Christina. Its quite usual for guys to kiss each other hello here but Jim isnt quite used to it yet! The hostel is lovely and they have an adorable little girl so [View Full Entry]

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Myself and Pat hit the road at half nine in search of the Salmon of knowledge. Little did we know is that our knowledge wouldn’t catch us a thing. We had an adventure to say the least. We arrived at the lake and set out in search of the point where the shop said to fish. The guy said we would need to cross a river the would be barely knee deep. Bu****it. We arrived at the point to find it was a little bit deeper than he had said. Pat was undeterred by this and put on his shorts and [View Full Entry]

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We have stayed in the coolest hostel so far, here in El Bolson. It is called El Pueblito, which means little village. That is the feeling the owners wanted to get in there hostel and they have pretty much succeeded. It is a wooden house near a river and away from the road. Our room is a little garden shed out the back of the house and surrounded all sorts of fruit trees. They also make there own beer (very good), jams and cheese’s. It’s basically a hippie commune for travellers. You get to know everyone who stays here and the [View Full Entry]

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Lazy days in the sun, I'm so glad they exist as well. Lago Puelo gave me the perfect break from trekking in the rain (which i do enjoy very much) by showering me in sunshine. This national park in the El Bolsón region is very laidback, you can go for some treks and small, granny-friendly hikes, but you can also just lay on the beach and watch the snowcapped mountains rising out of the azure lake. I went for the last option, pitching my tent on the free camping (most of it got washed away by the river, but there's still [View Full Entry]

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Hoi hoi, We zitten nog steeds in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego (Vuurland). Land waar de indianen vroeger het gehele jaar naakt, maar goed ingevet met zeeleeuwen vet, rondliepen. Nu is er nog één 80 jarig omaatje die dat doet. Afgelopen 2 wkn flink wat Spaans geleerd in de prive school hier. Nog een paar dagen hier en dan vertrekken we weer naar warmere oorden, naar Isla de Chiloe (Het eiland Chiloe in Chili) om 't geleerde allemaal in de praktijk te brengen. Maar vanavond eerst nog een feestje met medestudenten bij onze lerares thuis. Ben benieuwd. Maar goed eerst even terug [View Full Entry]

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Hi everyone, A very important thing has happened since we have last made contact.Yes, i have become a thirty year old. I feel wiser, not necessarily as wise as a thirty year old but hey. But i definitely don´t feel like i am thirty, still feeling like a twenty something year old. Not necessarily looking like a twenty something year old. Oh its difficult! Right straight to or back as we have to rewind, to new years. We had a great night.A very fancy dinner and some lovely wine. Then the ozzie couple we met up the mountains came to the [View Full Entry]

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A strange title for a blog entry you might think. Especially when I tell you that 5 of my 8 days in El Bolson were spent walking in the foothills of the Andes. But personally, I think it's the perfect title, and soon you will too. I knew that Murray and Joyce, friends of my parents from yesteryear, lived around Bolson, and after a bit of effort, I had managed to get in touch with them. So after a couple of days camping in Bolson itself, Murray came to pick me up, and we sped back to Mallin Ahoghado on his [View Full Entry]

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El Bolson is about 2hours south of bariloche and is famous for beeing a hippy settlement where the likes of janice joplin and jimmy hendrix and others liked to escape to after a hectic tour. It was a really charming place and the people were EXTREMLY laid back and friendly. It was also surrounded by many lakes and mountains with great hikes. On the saturday there was an amazing local market with loads of crafts, food, locally made beer and lots of music. [View Full Entry]

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Day 646 (4.01.09) After our relatively short bus ride to El Bolson, we walked around to find a place to stay before dumping our stuff and starting an aimless wander around town to get our bearings. After a bit of a search around we found the local artesan market and strolled through to see what was on offer. With a stop at the famous Heladeria Jauja for a superb ice-cream (we can highly recommend the lemon pie and white chocolate flavours!) we finished the day with a bit of planning and catching up on the very slow internet. Day 647 (5.01.09) [View Full Entry]

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