The Chile to Argentina border crossing was easy as usual, and I actually ran into Haviv, the guy I hike with in Torres Del Paine, although he was with an all Israeli mini bus now (shudders). We set up plans to meet in a few days in the town of Barriloche, but if it was going to me and only Israelis, ehh we’ll see. On the Argentina side I screwed up and didn’t have any Argentinean pesos to pay the bus driver on their side of the border, but fortunately I was able to swap $5 with a friendly French couple or else I would have been really screwed!
At the next town I was about to book what I was told was the last seat to my destination, El Bolson, but despite advertising the Visa logo, they only take cash, noooo! I ran to the ATM in the bus station, waited like 15 minutes in line (there’s always a line in Argentina!) and then the ATM kept saying it couldn’t dispense cash, despite the locals in front of me being able to get theirs! Arghghg. As a last ditch effort I was able exchange my Chilean Pesos at a putrid, god awful rate, but got enough Argentinean Pesos to book the last seat on the bus!
After a few hours waiting around the bus station and a few more on the bus I arrived in El Bolson around 6pm. I read that it was supposed to be (or used to be) a hippie-ish town, but I didn’t really see many hippies, just a boatload of tourists. Unlike the little villages along the Carretera Austral, El Bolson is a proper town. You can’t just arrive and walk around for 15 minutes, see the whole place and pick whatever guesthouse suits your fancy! So after getting off the bus I found a beer garden with a live band and wifi (perfect combination) and looked up hostels. Apparently El Bolson is hopping this time of year, as almost everywhere was fully booked and there was only one hostel on booking.com with open beds, but it was 2 miles outsides of town. Not ideal.
I settled for a campsite a half mile away from the center. Having a tent in Patagonia definitely has it’s advantages! I also spent a good half an hour walking around looking for a working ATM, Argentina’s money situation is seriously messed up. I could only withdraw the equivalent of $35 at this ATM and paid a $10 fee; and that was after waiting 20 minutes in line! Literally insane. Previous ATMs I was withdrawing 45 dollars and paying an $8 fee, which I THOUGHT couldn’t get any worse, but nooo. My biggest mistake of the trip was not bringing down some crisp $100 bills to change here. The ATM stuff is crazy, but if you have benjamins you are in great shape! The official exchange rate is $1 for 60 pesos, but businesses will give you 70 pesos for a dollar or even higher on the ‘black market ’ rate if you want to call it that. Seriously have USD for Argentina!
So with the ATM situation I basically only will frequent places that will let me use a card, which is most of them, but still, it’s super annoying! And of course places like my campsite, buses, tips, street food stands and the like all require cash money. On the other hand, Argentina is very affordable right now because the Argentinian Peso has been so devalued in the last year or two. You have to feel bad for the locals because for them now it’s very expensive to travel outside of their own country. Which I’m assuming is why these towns are so packed with domestic tourists.
My plan for El Bolson was to get in an overnight backcountry trip, as there are lots of nice trails in the mountains outside of town as well as plenty of refugios/campsites to choose from. I picked a route that is a popular, easy day of hiking up a canyon called Cajon Azul, due to it’s very blue water, and then camping at the refugio. The second day would be a tougher one, 18 miles, including a side hike up to see an icy lagoon, but the last 10 miles would be downhill getting back into town.
Before I could start the hike I had some things to, all of which seem to take longer in Argentina. There was a huge line at the grocery checkout, a long wait at the tourist info booth (just to ask where the bus pickup point is!), and finally another line to register my hike at the trailhead. Then I could finally begin!
It was nice 3 hour hike up the canyon, mostly in the woods, but with some nice views of the river and a few places to stop off and swim. Around the refugio the walls of the canyon steepen, but there’s a handful of inlets that form natural eddies where everyone tans on the rocks and goes for a dip. Pretty cool spot! Lots of cute girls. So many butts! It’s very apparent that Argentinean girls are not shy about showing a little cheek with their bathing suits. I’m certainly not complaining. Although it felt kinda awkward seeing families with teenage girls sporting these popular Brazilian style thongs, but I apparently that’s pretty normal here!
swimming holes everywhere
When I got to the campsite I filled my name in the guestbook, about 30 Argentinians on the page and now one American. Not good for me! I thought there would be more foreign tourists around! At night everyone sat around the fire having a grand ‘ole time, a cool vibe, lots of young people, drinking and singing. Argentina definitely feels the most similar to western culture compared to anywhere else in South America. I don’t think they’re really too hot on Americans though. But yeahhh nobody spoke English and it was tough for me to communicate much so I had to retreat back to my tent and read my book, meh.
I was up at 7am to start hiking the big uphill before the sun came out. After a few hours of some pleasant, but not particular scenic forest hiking, I stashed my bag and hiked/scrambled straight uphill for an hour to see the hielo (ice) lagoon nestled in the snowy peaks. It was pretty, but I was kinda spoiled from southern Patagonia! After I went down and retrieved my bag it was a steep descent back to El Bolson on my least favorite type of surface, hardpan covered in dust. So slippery!
really nice forest hiking
Things like this look more impressive in person!
It’s not cardiovascularly exhausting, but it’s a knee killer! Seriously I don’t feel old, but on the steep downhill sections I certainly realize I’m not in my 20’s anymore. It’s about time for trekking poles I think. But at least the weather was fantastic the whole time. The only annoying part was crossing the cable ladder across the river – which was a bit sketchy I admit, and you could only do one at a time, but everyone was going soooo slow! This one older woman literally took 10 minutes to cross it, shuffling inch by inch, aghhgh. I practically ran across it when it got my turn, just to make a point, ha. Another two hours or so I was back in El Bolson, back to my campground where my all my other stuff was waiting for me.
I rushed over to the bus company office to get my ticket to Bariloche, as I’d seen what those bus lines were like! It felt like half of Argentina was in this town. After my turn in the queue the first bus I could book was at 4pm the next day. Later than I was hoping for, but yeah its peak season! It was a relaxing evening and then off to Bariloche the next afternoon.
Sorry for the lack of photos, while a nice place, I didn’t find El Bolson to be very awe inspiring : /