El Bolson

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March 10th 2011

Published: March 10th 2011

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El Bolson

El Bolson is a town 2 hours south of Bariloche. It is described as very hippie, which I would agree with because it was extremely laid back and full of people with dreads. However, getting to El Bolson was anything was laid back...not surprising though considering our luck with buses. We arrived at the bus terminal in Bariloche an hour early in order to make sure we did not miss the bus. The ticket window,however, was not open for the entire day so I spent a lot of my time asking people about our bus and being sent to other people. Finally I found out that our bus would be arriving an hour late (1 pm). At 1 Pm still no bus...I am told we just need to wait. At 2 pm...still no bus...still told we just need to wait. Finally we became friends with a bus driver who was waiting for his bus to arrive and he tells me to ask so-and-so...who I had already asked. Then he told us we should just buy a ticket on a different bus which will only be 23 pesos...we spent 40 pesos on our tickets and evidently were charged at least 100 pesos

Lago Puelo

Love this photo!! It was so beautiful

extra on our other tickets because we bought them online. Sad Day. So finally at 2:30 pm we decide to buy a ticket on another bus, and once we buy our new tickets and walk back outside, what pulls up? our original bus "Rapido Argentino." So now we have two tickets and two buses to chose from. Our bus driver friend tells us we can only get 60% of what we paid for either ticket back. So we decide to go on our original bus, which we soon find out needs to make a 2 hour pit stop 2 blocks away to fix a flat tire. Finally, after sitting at the tire store for 2 hours and watching the entire movie "The Expendables" we are on our way to El Bolson. We originally were supposed to arrive in El Bolson at 2:45 and ended up arriving there at 6 pm. It is ironic that the bus company was named Rapido (aka Fast) Argentino for obvious reasons.
After this fun bus trip our time in El Bolson was very enjoyable. We laid in hammocks, tried locally brewed raspberry beer, hiked, and found some of the best ice cream I have ever

El Bolson

Wooden Fence

tasted at a place called Jauja. Heide got mint (boring) and I got Lemon pie that literally tasted exactly like lemon meringue pie (amazing). We spent one afternoon exploring the town and the local open air market where local artisans sell goods and food. We also spent a day at Lago Puelo, a local national park with a gorgeous lake and fresh berries that were along the hiking trails. We also made some new friends at our hostel who we played table soccer against. One of the guys liked Heide so much that he said she was his muse and he was going to build a monument of her. He then spent the rest of the night begging me to convince Heide to go to a bar for a drink with him (because evidently I am in charge of her decisions? it was odd). She could not be convinced as he was not up to her high standards 😊.
The bus ride back to Buenos Aires was not as eventful but not very much fun. It took 25 hours and half-way through the trip they ran out of water and toilet paper.
Anyways our time in Bariloche and El Bolson