El Bolsón

Our trip to Argentina's lakes district ended in El Bolsón, which was a 2 hour bus ride from Bariloche. We hadn't planned to stay so long, but we were both so enamored by the small town (populated by 30,000 hippies) that we kept extending our stay. El Bolsón has amazing artisans, craft breweries, an incredibly clear river, lakes and waterfalls, and the town is nestled between the Andes that border Chile and the mountain Piltriquitron (pronounced pill-tree-key-tron). After visiting, we'd both rather live there than Buenos Aires, but unfortunately unemployment is very high.

When our bus arrived in town on Tuesday (Dec. 8), the two owners of the hostel we had booked generously picked us up and gave us a mini-tour of their town. They run a cute hostel called "Pehuenia," out of the house they live in with their two children. The hostel had a very friendly, laid-back vibe, which definitely contributed to our enjoyment of El Bolsón. The day we arrived, the hostel was hosting an asado, a traditional Argentine barbecue. We gorged ourselves with loads of steak, sausages, lamb ribs, blood sausages, bread with chimichurri sauce, and wine for less than $5 USD a person. The hostel owners hold an asado every three days, and we stayed there so long we participated in another one. For that asado, we were able to go to the butcher shops to learn about how to buy the right meat.

On our second day, we shared a remise up part of Piltriquitron mountain with a woman from Israel that we had met at the hostel. We hiked up the rest of the way to Bosque Tallado, which is a collection of more than 30 sculptures that were carved into trees that remained from a forest fire in 1978.

Four times a week, El Bolsón has a Feria artesanal, where all kinds of locally produced arts and goods are sold. Compared to the various ferias we went to in Buenos Aires, this feria had better quality goods and a greater variety of things for sale. Local artists were selling glass jewelry; art; puppets; homemade soaps; woodcarved housewares; hand carved mates; hand carved pipes and hookahs; shawls, scarves, hats and vests woven from sheep's wool; homemade soaps; regional foods; microbrews (with samples!) and homemade jams. El Bolsón is also crazy for organic foods--so almost every kind of food there was fresh and organic. We enjoyed the feria so much, we made it there everyday it was open and managed to buy all of our christmas gifts for our families there!

75% of Argentina's hops are grown in this tiny town, which has resulted in numerous breweries. We visited the El Bolsón Brewery with some beer-loving Americans from San Diego who we had met at our hostel. This brewery is the largest craft brewery in the area, and we were able to try several unique beers there including a hot pepper beer that literally includes a pepper in the bottle, a honey beer that really tastes like honey (kind of gross), a raspberry beer, and gluten-free beer brewed from corn.

One afternoon, we went rafting on the Rio Azul (blue river) in duckies. Duckies are smaller rafts that only hold 1-3 people--they seem more like inflatable kayaks. Because of their size they are much more agile on the water, and you can "play" around with them on the water. We were on an excursion of 6 people (including 3 instructors) so we got plenty of time to play on the rapids. Jill was pretty nervous at the outset, as she had never been rafting before, but felt fine after the first few minutes. She only fell in once, and was the only one to fall in. The water was so fresh and clear that when we were thirsty we would just lean over the side and drink.

At the end of our week in town, we decided to visit Refugio Cajon del Azul, a large cabin up in the mountains where you can eat fresh lamb and vegetables from an organic garden, drink homemade beer, and relax. We were a little sketched out when our taxi that was supposed to take us to the base of the Warton hiking area broke down about 2 kilometers from the base, but it worked out well since we ended up getting half our money back. From there, we hiked 4 hours to the refugio. We ran into some gauchos taking the route on horseback and some other hikers, but most of the time we were completely alone with nature. There were some parts that were a little scary, like the rickety footbridge that really looked like something out of Indiana Jones, strung across the rushing river with wooden slats falling off of it. There was also a part where we had to climb up ladders over rocks because it was so steep. When we arrived we found a completely self-sufficient farmhouse with sheep, horses, and organic garden. The refugio used only a small amount of electricity in the evening from sunset until midnight. We ate and drank well, played scrabble in Spanish, spent the night on the cabin floors and hiked back the next day, stopping to take a swim in the river.

We were sad to leave for BA at the end of the week since we loved El Bolsón so much, but our one solace was that we decided to upgrade our bus ride class for the 24 hour ride home--and it made quite a difference. The seats were wide and plush, we got pillows and blankets (the blankets we're big enough to cover us head to toe), the food was plentiful and the free booze was wonderful. Two out of three of the movies shown were decent, but the first of one was a voiced over Disney original movie called the "Princess Protection Program" where they also decided to play all of the extra specials features on the DVD, including interviews with all cast members, a music video, and a segment on what it's like to be a real modern princess. The whole time we were really wondering what kind of audience they were going for because there wasn't anyone on the bus who fit the demographic of 12 and under. We were surprised after having wine with dinner that we were also offered the option of champagne or whiskey as a nightcap. When the waiter came around to ask what we wanted we both said whiskey and he laughed a little and said "wow" as he poured our glasses. We slept very well.

Bariloche

The section of Ruta 40 (Route 40) between San Martin de los Andes and Bariloche is a famous route known as "la ruta de los siete lagos" or the route of the seven lakes. Some who are strong enough to handle the steep climbs of the mountains bike the route over a few days. The sharp curves have no guardrails, some of the road is unpaved and rocky, and bicyclists must cruise down this road alongside cars, trucks, buses and grazing farm animals. We decided to do it the easy way and took a bus, which took 4 hours! We made sure that we had seats on the right side of the bus as it yeilded better views of the lakes and the mountains. The views were spectacular--the lakes were a beautiful aqua blue and the streams were so clear you could see right to the bottom. The dirt portion of the road was very bumpy and somewhat scary as there were times when we were so close to the edge of the road that we couldn´t see it from our windows--it felt like we might tumble off the road. Halfway through the ride we passed the the small town of Villa la Angostura, a quaint little town between two lakes, and we were a little sorry we didn´t plan a stop there for a few days. As we pulled up to Bariloche the mountains were jagged and snowcapped, which provided a dramatic backdrop for the city.

We stayed at hostel 1004, which was on the top floor of the tallest building in the city--the view was the reason we chose to stay there. We ate breakfast on the balcony everyday, and one evening we timed dinner so that we ate just in time for sunset. The view of the lake, Nahuel Huapi, with the mountains behind it was incredible. The service and rooms at the hostel however, felt more like a college dorm than other hostels we´ve been to. It was very crowded, there were lines for the bathroom, the computer and the kitchen--a great place to meet new people, because when you´re all crammed in you really have no choice, but not necessarily a comfortable stay.

Bariloche was definitely bigger than San Martin and had a lot more to do in and outside of the city. In the center of town there´s a main street filled with shops--lots of hokie, touristy t-shirts and souveniers, overpriced outdoor shops, and lots and lots of chocolate! We sampled quite a lot while were there. We also spent some time juggling in the park and playing fetch with a rock and a horde of stray dogs that were very sweet and happy to be paid any attention.

Outside town we hiked Mount Campanario, rated in National Geographic as one of the top 5 views in the world. We went with two Australian women (with much longer legs, and seemingly larger lungs) who we had met at the hostel. There were no switchbacks on the hike, just a path leading straight up the mountain. But at the top there was a great 360 degree view of the area, and it felt like we were on top of the world.

Our favorite part of the trip so far was our third day in Bariloche, when we biked the Circuito Chico. It´s a very hilly 30k (yes, everything is in kilometers here) loop around the lakes. We didn´t love the uphills and usually just walked our bikes up the more daunting ones. The dirt roads we rode on for about 5k were frustrating as well, but this was definitely the best way for us to really appreciate the beauty of the area. The best parts were cruising down giant hills after steep climbs on a road skirted with wildflowers and surrounded by lakes and mountains. We made a few pit stops along the way--a short hike through the woods to a hidden lake, where we took a refreshing (aka freezing cold) dip in, and an old swiss village, Colonia Suiza. The only access to Colonia Suiza is by dirt roads, which didn´t appear to be maintained at all, which made for a very bumpy ride. On our way to the village we had the good fortune of watching a Gaucho and his sheepdogs herd sheep and lambs across the road two feet in front of us. We stopped in Colonia Suiza for a quick lunch at a naturally constructed building that looked like something out of Lord of the Rings (Jill was obviously enthused while Sara appreciated the natural construction). Our wild boar panini was super salty but delicious and exciting (a nice change from the monotonous food of Buenos Aires)!

Overall, we appreciated the outdoorsy parts of Bariloche, and the constant spectacular view, but we didn´t love its commercialism. We´re excited to be moving on to El Bolson, which is full of hippies and supposedly much more laid back.

San Martin de los Andes

We hopped on our double-decker semicama bus out of Buenos Aires on Tuesday evening. A semicama is Argentina´s coach class version of overnight buses--there´s plenty of legroom, the seats recline 140 degrees, and they feed you one hot meal and a couple of cold ones. They don´t, however, let you choose your beverage (Sprite was our only option) or give you pillows or blankets (luckily we had a blanket). The bus ride was 22 hours long-- and we spent the time watching the beautiful scenery change from dry grassy plains with tumbleweeds, to red dirt and rock with buttes and plateaus, to fertile farm land with streams and hills to rugged snow capped mountains with streams and lakes. Taking the bus turned out to be a really good way to see how varied the landscape is in Argentina and it reminded us a bit of what driving across the US might look like. We spent the darker hours of the ride watching cheesy music videos and bad US movies with Spanish subtitles. We finally arrived in San Martin de los Andes on Wednesday around 6pm and headed to one of the few hostels in town.

San Martin is a mountain town of about 26,000 people. The town booms with tourists during winter and summer, but we came at the end of spring. The town and hostel weren´t very busy, which meant we had a few nice relaxing days there. But it also meant certain buses that take you into the national park weren´t running and some activities weren´t available (we couldn´t rent a canoe or kayak to take out on the lake).

So we spent only two days in town. We spent part of our first day walking around downtown window shopping--most of the stores were closed since they close at about 1pm for lunch and siesta and reopen around 5. Afterwards, we hung out on the beach of the lake. The water was perfectly clear and beautiful, but way too cold to swim in. We also juggled a bit and ended up trying to teach a little kid how to juggle with our broken Spanish (Jill did a great job with this).

The following day, we went on a hike to the Mirador, which was a nice vantage point that allowed you to look out over the town and lake. The hike was relaxing and pretty. When we got to the top we could see how far the lakes and the mountains stretched-- all the way to Chile! To get there, we had to pay to enter the land of a Mapuche tribe. We walked around their village for a little bit. The parts we saw included a school, a restaurant, several houses, and lots of free range farm animals.

We spent 3 nights at the Babel hostel, where we met some nice folks from Mexico, Spain, and Denmark. It was really interesting to talk with them about culture and language differences, as well as politics. Now we´re in Bariloche, which is a much larger town, so we´re hoping more activities will be available to us!´

We´ve had some difficulties uploading photos, so we´ll get more posted as soon as we can!

Getting Out of the City

A couple of weeks ago we found a great apartment in the Palermo barrio in Buenos Aires. It´s a great area, really close to the rose garden and this big beautiful park with a pond and paddleboats and swans and so much green. We´re very excited to be near a place like this - we even saw people riding bikes and rollerblading without fear of the crazy drivers in this city, it was inspiring. We´ll be moving there in the beginning of January. Until then, we´re heading out of Buenos Aires for 2.5 weeks! We´ll be visiting three towns in the lakes region (southwest of Buenos Aires), including San Martín de los Andes, Bariloche, and El Bolsón. We expect to spend time hiking, biking, eating and enjoying the beautiful scenery of the lakes and the Andes. When we return to the city, we´ll spend two weeks with Sara´s family - showing them around town, taking some day trips, and making the holidays feel a little more like home!

That´s our quick update for now, we promise to write again soon with pictures and maybe a vlog from Jill about our vacation.


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