El Bolsón, Argentina

I got into El Bolsón around 2:30pm on September 15th and got picked up by the Casa del Viejero hostel owner, and he told me about a hike I could do right from his backyard up to a waterfall, then up around a ridge where you can see the mountains. The city, and surrounding area is gorgeous. It's situated between two steep mountain ranges, and I can see why it was a popular place for people to migrate to in the 70's.

The town is about 18,000 people and is situated right along the Quemquemtreu River.


The waterfalls I got to after climbing around some steep sides of the river.


Views from behind the ridge near the town.

The people in my little cabin were really great and we kind of formed a little family of travelers. There was a Australian teacher who was taking a year off to travel, and a french couple. We all would do are own things during the day and talk about our day's adventures at night.

The next day I woke up to temperatures below freezing, with all my clothing on and still feeling a chill, but happy about the clear skies and anticipation of a good hike. "There was ice on the bird bath" by grandpa would have noted. The Aussie lady who had been in El Bolón for about a week reccomended the hike I was about to do. It was a beautiful day and by far the most enjoyable outdoor expereince I had on my travels so far. I got a taxi out to the "trail head." It was more like a long driveway that went to a shady bridge that led to a trail head. I hiked up for about four hours and stopped by the River Azul for lunch. I waited a few minutes for the sun to come up over the trees to warm me up, and as I sat eating I realized the pool of water next to me still had ice on it from the night before. What a great hike.

Early morning river crossing.

Walking in the woods.

I couldn't complain about the scenery.

Lunch break in the valley, about 600 meters up.

The view on the way back home.

Now I'm back in Santiago, and have been enjoying the celebrations.