Bariloche and El Bolson Hiking –

Two Towns Great for the Outdoors

28/01 ~ 01/02

Argentina

Sat (28/01) – Bariloche

Today was a relaxing day. I did my usual laundry and shopping to resupply and I wanted to make pizza for dinner as I was craving it big time. So I bought ingredients to make two of them later at the hostel.

I went to a place called Manushka, which had amazing ice cream varieties and got a huge tub full and went for a walk. A figure approached – Danish Martin! “Well I’ll be….” I said, and shook his hand. This was about the fourth time we met now. We exchanged our last parts of the hike which differed as we went opposite directions. I told him I didn’t know if I wanted to go south via Puerto Varas in Chile, or El Bolson in Argentina. He was staying at some Christian campsite reach out thing. We laughed at his ‘need‘ for charity haha.

By the time it came around to dinner, I got my ingredients out of the fridge, but someone ruined one of my pizza bases, and I had to run down to the bakery to get another. Tomato, onion, capsicum, salami, prosciutto, parsley, cheese and pizza topper spice. I got asked if I was Italian by some Israeli guys haha. I ate most of a pizza and zip locked the rest for lunch and dinner the next day.

I intended to leave the next day and booked a bus to El Bolson, and a hostel just out of town. I was recommended to travel here from fellow travellers.

Sun (29/01) – El Bolson

The wait for the bus took forever, but eventually it came late. On the trip you really get a feel for the dry almost arid feel of Argentina, as I was always looking to the east. I arrived in town and walked to my hostel. I knew it was far and up a hill, and a taxi would be ideal, but I’m hiking the PCT soon, this was nothing. On the walk up I found ciruela fruit bearing trees (yellow plums). I didn’t know what they were at first but after a curious taste, I knew what they were. I ate about ten – delicious!

El Mirador hostel was perched in a forested area. It was well-designed with a large outdoor BBQ area and a small lookout. The facilities were great, and the owner Mario was very helpful and spoke fluent English. I rested on the first night. There was a famous Argentinian accordion played in town that night and all the Argentinians there including Mario went, in which he entrusted the hostel to me and gave me the key to the beer fridge. I had the hostel to myself! They had invited me out, but I just wanted to rest.

Mon (30/01) – El Bolson Hiking

I had a standard breakfast – bread and dolce de leche (a sweet caramel-like spread famous there) with coffee. My plans included hiking the Cerro Piltriquitron summit behind my hostel, it was a common hike in the area, and I was in a good position to start it. On the way is an area of forest that once burned down in the past, and wood sculptors from all over the world carved the trees there. It is called The Carved Forest, and is quite famous in the area and I thought I’d head there first.

Most people drive up to that point, but I walked. The trail on my app led through a private property fence, but I took it anyway. The walk was a continuous uphill with no switchbacks, making it fast but draining. After around two hours I made it to the statues. It was pretty cool there!

Further up the mountain led me to a Refugio. I refilled water there from the sink and then continued up to the peak. The climb up to the peak was dry aside from one small trickle of water running down the side of the trail briefly. The side of the valley was pretty barren and there were no trees at all beyond the Refugio. I’ll admit it was a tedious climb. Dusty, rocky scree slopes are never overly fun to climb.

It got cold and windy towards the summit, and very steep. I only took drink breaks when behind rock walls to avoid the cold. I got to the summit – 2160m, the highest I had hiked on this trip by about 100m. The panoramic views were bewildering. I was told you could see Mt Tronador from there on a clear day, but some clouds loomed in the distance to the north blocking the far distance view.

Tuna paste on crackers behind a rock was for lunch, but I started to get numb hands from the cold. ‘I wish i brought my gloves and beanie!‘, I think. It didn’t take long before I started hiking back down, I was running at one point. Luckily I only had my daypack! Let’s just say the trip down took about half the time! When I eventually got back to the road I tried hitching to no avail, so just hiked back down. I arrived back at the hostel, the whole trip taking seven hours in total.

One thing I noticed in El Bolson from my brief time there was that everything was made from barrels! It was quite amusing! 😛

At the hostel, I met a guy from the US called Jeff and an Argentinian (forget name), and we chilled out over some beers and talked for ages about the film industry (the Argentinian worked in the field). I enjoyed the chat, but I would rather talk about something more related to travelling. Sometimes non-hikers were a little boring to talk to outside of general chit-chat because they can never offer recommendations or insight to future travel. Still, they were good company for that brief moment.

Tues (31/01)

My big decision today was do I want to hike across the border from Rio Villegas to Cochamo Valley, or keep heading south. I really wanted to visit Cochamo, but chose to head south in case I ran out of time. I booked a bus to the town of Esquel. Whilst waiting for the bus, I chilled out at a great bar and had delicious beer and ‘loaded’ chips, and then wandered the main square where the hippy markets were.

Esquel

Esquel was a town of no major interest to me other than to link another bus to cross the border back into Chile. There was a national park I’d like to visit one day, but tomorrow was the only bus for a few days to cross the border, so I stayed one night in a small hostel, and planned to catch the bus first thing in the morning.

Wed (01/02)

I met a Peruvian guy (Armarno) and a US girl (Keren) whilst waiting for the bus in Esquel, and we were all going to the same hostel. The bus trip took about two hours to the border, where we got out and showed passports. The green scenery when returning into Chile was a breath of fresh air.

Trip Summary

The Good:

• Fresh fruit trees everywhere in El Bolson
• Panoramic views from the peak above El Bolson
• Ice-cream in Bariloche!

The Bad:

• El Bolson was recommended to me several times and is renowned for being a hippy town, but I didn’t really feel the atmosphere there much.
• Dry dust everywhere in Argentina!

~ Continue my Patagonian travels with ‘Futaleufú White Water Rafting & Coyhaique – Patagonia‘ ~

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