El Bolson - There and Back Again

Having felt that the Bariloche pond was fished out of cheap fun, I was keen to explore some of the other nearby towns on the fabled Ruta 40, the highway that snakes along the Patagonian Andes. Luckily, my Basque friends felt the same way, so we booked a bus and hopped on over to a little place called El Bolson. The bus only cost $7 for a 100km trip, outstanding.

Cute bus station doggo - sleeping, not dead
A fun fact - in the Spanish translation of Lord of the Rings, Bilbo Baggins is translated to Bilbo Bolson, the surname the same as the town, meaning 'large backpack'. The friends I had with me were all from Bilbao. Residents of Bilbao are known as bilbos...therefore we had four Bilbo Bolsons! However, they insisted that me and another Kiwi bloke that had come with us were the real hobbits, being from Middle Earth.

Dawn over El Bolson
We planned to hit a trail in the early morning to avoid the manic speed of our last trek, so we planned an early morning meet up. Despite a bunch of mild inconveniences which included some dick setting up a live reggae set in our weird hippie hostel at midnight, we actually did manage to meet up in the town centre at 7am...only to decide it was too sodding early and opted for a slap up breakfast while we watched the sunrise mop up the dregs of a lively Argentinian Saturday night.

The carb load - toast and jam, medialunas, coffee and Mirinda
The trail itself was fantastic. Not as wild as my previous trek to Refugio Frey, but challenging and beautiful nonetheless. The route followed a glacial river up and down its valley, and led us to a large rock formation next to an incredibly deep, clear bend in the river. Which of course, we jumped in with our kit off. Such relief after the sweaty hills.

(PG pictures to come as soon as I get them off my other camera)

We went along a bit further and found an amazing little canyon which had been carved out over by the river. We also found a few rare Patagonian lizards, and I got a snap with a little baby one. 

A cute lil lizard and me at my lesbian best
After that it was time for a cheeky beer and the bus back to Bariloche. Overall, El Bolson was a nice looking town in a beautiful setting and I kinda wish I could have stayed longer. However, this town is also a hippie magnet for some reason, and I personally can only take them in small doses. It is also expensive, even compared to Patagonia which is already pricey. Worth a visit, but not a long one.
This adorable little shit pissed on me when I picked him up

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