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Published: August 6th 2007
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Is it possible to poison yourself with too much lemon meringue pie?
I am piling on the pounds in Bariloche at the moment - the food options in Argentina are solely comprised of steak or cake - and I am washing it down with large amounts of beer and finding it hard to do up my trousers. I will have to try to pick up a parasite later on in Bolivia or somewhere!
Although, after Chile, I am also happy to be somewhere which understands the beauty of cheese. And even happier that they have chutney (homemade and organic)! The Argentinians are truely a civilised nation!
When I left Puerto Madryn, after waiting unsuccessfully for the Orcas to show, I went on to Esquel which was a nice little leafy place. There wasn't a lot going on but it gave me a chance to practice my Spanish (got stuck next to the local nutter while waiting for a bus!) and chill out a bit.
The first hostel I stayed in was really bizarre place, it was a old building with a suposedly happening, wild west style bar, it was certainly very interesting in a dark and dingy way and was
more like my image of a 1920s sanitorium. Anyway after one night I moved to the HI hostel which was quiet but much more normal.
Just next to Esquel is a little Welsh village called Trevellin where I went and hoofed down a Te de Gales (with cold milk which is a revelation in South america), whilst a male voice choir CD played in the background (although they only turned it on specially when I walked in they were probably listening to Ricky martin before that). I also went a did some tree hugging on a grand scale, there is a 2600 yr old conifer called El Abuelo (The Grandfather) in the national park nearby. I had a bit of a farcical journey to get there though as the boat company in the town sold me a ticket for a day when there was no bus to get there. In the end I had to get a taxi and the taxi driver ended up coming for the boat ride too so I got to spend a whole day speaking spanish - even the botanical tour of the forest was all in spanish.
Next stop was to El Bolson, a
town full of hippies and organic fruit and veg.
I stayed at El Pueblito which was a great little hostel, the first night I stayed there they had decided to have a party and were just going off to get the booze, so having just been on the phone to Em and Rony back home in Blighty who were having a BBQ, I persuaded everyone to get Gin and tonic.
We started the party in British style around 8pm and by 11pm we had managed to kill the guy from Paraguy (he spent the rest of the night in the bathroom and the next day in bed) and we were all fairly drunk and heading to bed shortly after midnight!
My Lonely planet doesnt say much about the best bits of El Bolson - there is a artisan market on certain days in town but I found it a bit disapointing, it is really the surrounding walks which I fell for. The town is in a valley and to the East is a really spikey looking ridge where you can take a taxi up the first bit then walk to the summit or just go up the first hour
to the refugio for home made beer and pizza. The views were fantastic and the beer wasnt bad either. There is a also a load of carved trees on the way up if you are in to that kind of thing. We also got a bus to the lake one day for a picnic (you can also get to Chile by boat from here), and then I went off to the other side of the valley and hiked up to Refugio Hielo Azur, spent 2 nights there and then hiked across the top to R. Cajon Azul and back down a beautiful valley to the town again. El Bolson would definitely be worth a return journey in the summer as there were some stunning campsites along the river there and some high peaks which, frustratingly, I couldnt get too because of the snow.
So now I am in Bariloche and have had a hangover for the last few days. I had big plans to do lots of trekking and boat rides etc here but so far have spent most daylight hours in bed. I did manage to go out to the lake on the first day, had a bit of
a walk and then went to the most expensive hotel in Argentina for high tea. Seven pounds fifty for all the tea, coffee, juice, sandwiches minus crusts, and patisseries you can eat between 4 and 7pm! With a great view over the lake to boot. I spent an afternoon there trying to hide my dirty walking boots under the table.
Anyway after that day I decided the boat rides were not worth the money and I found out that all the refugios are closed and so gave in to the party and have been whooping it up in the bars instead. I purposely chose a hostel full of young party animals and I´m loving it (for a while at least), I´ve had a fairly quiet 3 months in Patagonia so I think I deserve to live it up a bit. No one goes out much before 1am here and then on to the club around 3. I didnt get to bed until till 7:15 the other day and that was a Tuesday night, cant wait till Friday!
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