El Bolson

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Hola!

We reached El Bolson and decided to do a hike to a refugio, Cajon del Azul with the Danish couple. We got organized, had lunch and then made our way to the start of our trek. This hike was much less intense than our trek to Mount Tronador, but equally beautiful views. The hike goes up a mountain alongside this beautiful turquoise river. The water looks perfect for swimming, but is very cold! Nearing the refugio, there is water holes and rock face where you can swim, sun bathe, and just enjoy the views. It was just over 3 hours to the refugio where we set up camp. The refugio was a very quaint log home in a green field. The next morning, Mona and Jacob (the couple we were travelling with) introduced us to their favourite danish board game, Partners (kind of looks like our Sorry! game) and then spent the afternoon at the waterhole where we very quickly got in and out of the water, and sunbathed (until we were both tomato red burnt). I (Laura) got a pretty bad burn when we trekked Mount Tronador not realizing how strong the sun is when you´re ontop of a mountain and the sun is reflecting off the snow. This left her with a very burnt and peeling nose. Our sunbathing resulted in MORE burn and peeling...not such a good idea. We hiked back down and all started packing our bags and getting organized for our bus ride at 11pm to El Chalten that we had booked in Bariloche. We had dinner, and then went to the bus stop to wait...and wait...and wait. When you´re travelling it is very easy to lose track of the days, and sure enough, all four of us forgot what day it was, and it turned out our bus wasn´t leaving until the following night. So we scoured the town looking for a hotel, hostel, anything to stay at for the night (again its high season, so most things are booked solid). We finally found a hotel and stayed there for the night. The next day we hung around uptown, ate lots of helado (ice cream, its very good here!) and got mentally prepared to take our 33 hour bus ride to El Chalten...our longest ride so far. Our longest ride and also the only bus we´ve taken that doesn´t offer food service, so we´ve got to hit up the grocery store beforehand (beer nuts, chocolate, crackers, buns, jam...maybe some fruit if we´re feeling healthy...sounds about right!).

Until next time, CHAO!
Laura and Greg

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