Blogs from El Bolsón, Río Negro, Argentina, South America - page 9

Hit El bolson for some even more relaxed fun. Didnt think we could find anywhere even slower than the rest of Argentina. The norm in Argentina is waiting at least 45 mins for a toasted sandwich and about 30mins after you ask for it a second time everywhere.This was even slower!! Its was cool down here cos its the way everything is. The place is placed in a valley with Chilean mountains on one side and Argentine ones on the other. The hostel Athlos Del Sur was a bit out of town up a mountain but it was nice. The owner was cool and we spent the next few days just drinking and chilling. The second night we built a fire out the back, drank wine and sang some tunes with the Irish girls we met ... read more

Given that the mountains around Bariloche were snowed in, I decided to head south to the town of El Bolsón ("the handbag"), named so because it sits at only 200 m elevation surrounded by lush mountain ranges. This town became sort of a hippy haven starting in the 60s and is now famous for its microbrews, ice cream and chocolate. I couldn´t have been happier... After resting a bit at a hostel outside of town, a group of us (Kati from Germany, Oscár from Buenos Aires, and David from San Diego) headed up into the mountains for a 3 day hike. Having eschewed the luxuries of refugios up to this point, I decided to at least buy dinner in them, although I insisted on carrying my tent. The first day´s hike was a thigh burner with ... read more

I´d been in El Bolson for a few days enjoying the warm sun and friendly vibes, but was ready to move on and discover some of the great local camping I´d read about. Not having any idea where to start, I decided to pack up and head for the lake, when I met a group of Argentines headed to a place called Cajon de Azul. They were doing an over-nighter at this refugio, which turned out to be the first of three along a 25km trail that ends at the Chilean boarder. Kindly, I was invited to join them, but they were leaving in 5 minutes and I had to dump weight to do the hike, so I passed on their offer. Also, they were only staying for a single night and I was looking for ... read more

I have reached my next destination of El Bolson (between Bariloche and Esquel). The bus ride from Bariloche to here was amazing. The mountains grew closer and closer. One covered in snow, some rocky and jagged, other were almost hills of trees and grass. The valleys between the road and mountains were rios or river with bedrock. Very beautiful. The trees resembled pines and furs. The soil was dry, rocky and dusty, but covered with shrubs, trees and other greenery. We passed small shanty towns on the way. Kids running in these dusty streets. Plywood houses about the size of a San Francisco apartment. It was a different side of this area. One I had not seen. I noted a guy on houseback waving to a man tending to his garden. Simple and good people. The ... read more

It was time to say goodbye to gill, maya,wes naiomi and danny that hannah and i have traveled with for the last month, We spent our last day here in el bolson which is a really cool place. There was a hippie market on so we did some shopping for hand made stuff like bags, belts, neclaces cheese boards etc like you do and then sat in the park with a can (ok a few cans) of quilmers and watched some live bands playing their guitars and saxaphones...what a chilled out day ....was abit blurry by the end of it he he ....said bye to the lads, was really sorry to leave them, ive had a really good time over the last month dispite the trecking in the p*ssing rain, the blisters, gils sandwiches, mayas bloody ... read more