Patagonia

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Patagonia!!

It is the busy season now and this town was packed full of people. This town reminded me a lot of Banff. Mountains, lakes, lots of overpriced shopping, and numerous chocolatiers. There was also some strange fascination with Saint Bernard dogs. We rented a car and quickly escaped. The drive down to El Bolson was unbelievable. We stopped by a lake for a dinner of dark beer, fresh strawberries and calibrasi and cheese in a baguette. The mountains have a very sharp jagged appearance quite unique to Patagonia. Like shark teeth.
That night we saw a little dirt road going down to one of the lakes and we decided to drive in to check it out. It was such a nice location that we decided to set up camp. We did make sure to camp at least 100m from the no camping sign. We also weren’t totally prepared for this and Dana and I had to share a 1 man tent and 1 sleeping bag and we had no mat. We were able to squish in if we both lay on our sides, the hard ground digging into our hips. But the fresh air and peaceful surroundings made it all worth it.

The next morning after Nutella and bread (you know, I’ve never had Nutella before, thinking it was similar to Cheeze Wiz and was gross processed chocolate, but wow. It really is amazing) we were off to El Bolson which was much more low key. It was originally founded as a hippie colony and did they ever pick a great place to live. We drove out to a lake nearby and hiked that day to the edge of Argentina and camped overnight 2 m from the lake shore. We again feasted on wine, calibrasi and cheese. The following day we finished our hike into Chile and returned the full way back to the starting point.

After several nights in the 1 man tent and only salami and cheese for food, we moved into a beautiful little cottage and had steak and Salmon for dinner.

We cruised slowly back to Bariloche, stopping wherever we wanted. I really enjoyed the freedom having your own car gives you. A much more personal experience than being on the bus provides.

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Photos

Patagonian lake: Lago Puelo
Could be in Canada eh?

Even the gas stations serve espresso
Good too!