Blogs from Esquel, Chubut, Argentina, South America - page 5

Located north-east of Los Alerces National Park is a speck of a town called Cholila, which is where Butch Cassidy, Sundance and Etta resided from 1901 to 1905 (more or less) under the names of James Ryan and Mr. & Mrs. Harry Place. There they owned a small cattle operation, and appeared to go clean from their murdering ways for awhile. However, a woman who worked in a small tienda told us of an account when Butch ended up killing a Welsh settler in Esquel when he tried to rob his shop. The Welshman, named Llewellyn Ap Iwan, was armed (who was known to be a good shot) and refused to give them anything. That night the outlaws set fire to the Llewellyn’s house, badly burning his hands. The next day, the bandits returned to ... read more

After a 4 day orientation in Buenos Aires, a day spent in the Buenos Aires airport after my plane being delayed twice, I landed in my lovely little town of Esquel. I was so scared and excited at the same time to meet my family (well my little family of only a 29 year old women) and was relieved that she brang a friend to the airport with her who spoke english. Atleast now I didn´t have a 20 minute car ride of silence back to my house. One of the first things I noticed was that in my car the speedometre didn´t work but I´ve come to learn now that that´s common here, as is not having number plates... or all the seatbelts.... So my first few days in my house were.... different... an ... read more

So I arrived in Esquel on my own, looking for buses to El Chalten, tourist office of Esquel, then on to a hostel. On my way to the hostel, I bumped into a group of 3 that I met in the bus station. They could not work out their bus to the next town, so decided to stay in Esquel and were looking for a hostel. We joined each other looking for a hostel, which we found 2 blocks from the bus station. The group consists of 2 Isrealis (26 guy and 26 girl, and a 29 Nederlander or Dutch or Holland girl). We grabbed dinner together that night and they invited me to come with them to Chile (the Carterra Austral). I did not decide that night, but the we went to the National Park ... read more

WEEK 8 ESQUEL Buying a bus ticket in El Bolson is almost as bad a buying a train ticket in India! It took over an hour and most buses were already full for the next week. I bought a ticket to Esquel and another for next Tuesday from Esquel to Bariloche ensuring that I arrive in time to meet Felicity. Having a ticket in advance makes any journey stress free and enjoyable - and it is usually possible to pre-book a window seat from which to enjoy the wonderful scenery. Only a 2hr30min journey from Bariloche to El Bolson. The mountains and forests of the valley were beautiful. Once on the plateau the trees were replaced by small shrubs spotting the landscape and then back to the semi arid steppe lands. A rolling landscape this time ... read more

Well, here I am in a town of about 100 people on the only computer in town attempting to put this blog together. Im sorry for the lack of pics on this one. I had 30 ready to go on, but this internet connection is driving me mad. Im so frustrated I cant even see straight. Anyways I got the most important one on there of my big fish. As of my last blog I was pretty frustrated with the fishing situation and was lsing hope fast. My decision to head south paid ff big time as I found some beautiful rivers and a lot of fish that were dumb enough to let me catch them. I headed about 3 hrs south of Bariloche to the Los ALceres National Park. I had researched a river called ... read more