The magical town of Lago Puelo

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From Bariloche I took a famous comfortable Argentinian bus to the town of El Bolson - or so I tought...

El Bolson is a very pleasant village. not that big, with some hippies wandering around and some will say that its easy to find over there someone to smoke with. There are also good treks around town and I thought maybe doing one of theme (although I was still tired from the 9.5 hours of walking to lagona negra a few days earlier).

I have also visited El Bolson during my first trip to Argentina - 10 years ago, and I had very good memories from that town (non related to smoking by the way), including a great half day of cycling to a beautiful waterfall and spending a day and a half with a very cute girl from walls. But, someone up there planned differently for me, and so I have missed the stop for El Bolson and could not go back. My only option was to drop off at the next village which was even smaller then El Bolson and which I know some but not much about.

The name of that village was Lago Puelo and it is one of the greatest places I have visited in Argentina. Its a small village yet a known one as it by the side of the famous rood number 40 - ruta 40 which leads down south to the end of Patagonia and toward the most southern city of Ushuaia. lago puelo is also known for the farms around it, one of those is called "the Israeli farm" and the opinions on this place are not equal. So, I dropped off the bus at lago puelo and knew two things - that I'm not going to the Israeli farm and a name of a different farm which was recommended and that was manged by a former Italian-Israeli woman.

So, i took a taxi and got to this farm with the promising name of "rey sol reina luna" - "king sun, queen moon". I have entered the farm to see if there are rooms available but the place seemed very quiet. i didn't see any other guests besides some dogs wandering around. I saw a young men that told me he can call for the owner - that former Italian-Israeli woman. she said that there are no guests and I was not sure if she wants guests at all. I understood that I have arrived at the end of the tourist season but eventually she said that I can stay at one of the shared rooms if I want. so I stayed, for three nights in total, and enjoyed every minute at the farm and in general at lago puelo.

It turned out that there was a center for holistic and alternative treatments in the farm and I was lucky enough to enjoy some very special treatments and classes. I also hiked a little to the near by lake with the same name of lago puelo and in the magical forest around it.

the Jewish holiday of Passover was coming and I had decided to go back to Bariloche for the holiday dinner ("sedder pesach") at the local Beit Chabad (house of the "chabad" movement). later, I felt a bit bad for not staying longer at the farm. I could have skip the holiday dinner to earn some more time with Ghila - the farm owner, which turned out to be a very special person and an amazing hiller. also, I missed some more time with the farm staff - all young guys and very nice, also from the alternative medicine field. I also missed some more time with the amazing animals of the farm - very special dogs, cats and a horse, I'm not kidding, they were all very special and warm.

And so, I returned to Bariloche and spend there a night for the holiday dinner - "liel haseder", and then move on for my next adventure in Argentina - the city and area of Mendoza.

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