El Bolsón, Argentina

Two hours South of Bariloche along Route 40 is the town of El Bolsón where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid lived for a few years in the early 1900's and where hippies flocked in the 1970's to bask in the positive ions that purportedly emanate from surrounding peaks. The town has only a few paved roads, but the park in the center is enormous. Three times a week the half-moon street of the park invites the locals to set up shop and sell their goods. Everything is hand-made, from cutting boards to lucky gnome dolls to wheels of cheese.

A local artisan making a bowl in the shape of a leaf

A blurry shot of Rachel dancing in the streets on the night of our arrival

We stayed at Hostel Pehuenia, and we highly recommend it for anyone passing through the area. The couple that runs the hostel live in the house and have two kids, dogs, and plum trees in the backyard which they use to make the jams for breakfast. They were extremely nice and accommodating.

Our Hostel

And here is a dog that lives at the hostel. He is a riot. I never actually saw him in any other position but this.

On a rainy day, the hostel owner took us for a ride and told us the history of his town.  Despite the rain, we decided to get out on a mountain peak and walk around a bit instead of driving home. Up the hill a short way was a rock face that the locals call the Head of the Indian. After that, we tried looking for the Hidden Waterfall. That waterfall was pretty well hidden, too, because we got lost. To our credit, the only signs we saw were arrows on trees that pointed in both directions. Knowing the direction from which we'd come, we always chose the opposite... and headed two hours in the wrong direction.

Here are some pictures from that very wet day:

Clearly marked trails...

Rachel with the Indian Head in the background

Finally, at the end of the day, a sign...

Originally, we were only going to stay in town for three nights, but we enjoyed it so much and met such nice people that we stayed for a week. Our next part of the trip was Cerro Piltriquitron, a two-day hike to a 2,284 meter summit that looks down not only on El Bolsón, but on the surrounding mountains of both Argentina and Chile. The views were incredible.

More on that later, though.

Cheers,

Tom