Day 102 - Back at it

So, a lot of time has passed since I've written. To save the obviously exhaustive entry required to account for the time, I will bring you back with my arrival in El Bolson, where I am now. It's a hippie enclave, of sorts, with not so much hippies as alternative-lifestyle folks. For the map, I am in south, central, western Argentina, haha, basically on the northern edge of Patagonia. It looks like somewhere in southeast BC, with the huge, rocky snow capped peaks of the Andes to the West, and hills and valleys to the East. It's green, and for once, it's cool, whereas everywhere else has been uncomfortably hot.

So I arrived in El Bolson from Bariloche, home of Argentina's chocolate makers, and a total tourist trap, so I decided to get out after 2 days. Got a ticket and sat in the bus terminal eating a sandwich, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, life was good. Bus ride was quiet and uneventful, there were a group of Israelis, who felt it necessary to jostle for position to have their bags loaded into the luggage bays, not something you do in Argentina, where the vibe tends to be a little more mellow. Woke up halfway through the bus trip and wondered where I was. Arrived in El Bolson, had the kid unloading the luggage ask me for money, not kosher. Without map or any idea how to get to the hostel where I was booked, I bought an ice cream and sat in the main plaza and waited for the city bus. Sitting there, I met Silvia, a German woman, who, by coincidence of a low number of hostels in El Bolson, was waiting to get to the same hostel. She's come from the south, heading the direction I've come from. We determined that there are several public buses in El Bolson, but only one goes around the town itself. Got on and the driver was kind of enough to stop at the end of the hostel driveway. El Pueblito, is basically a big property involving the main wooden building, sheds and other utilities for the projects of the 3 men that run it, and gardens of rocks and trees. Got shown around by Baltazar, Argentine hippie character. It being a lazy Monday afternoon, sat out on the porch with a good book, and later ended up chatting with Fernando, a psychiatrist from Cordoba, and sharing mate with him. Over dinner, met a couple from Toronto, who'd been out on bike trek all day, Paul kept complaining how much his ass hurt. Things wound down early, around 1 am. This morning got up and sat around listening to all the strories of hikes and trips everywhere. I went out on a hike with Silvia to find some waterfalls late this morning. Everything started out well, but I guess, we took a wrong turn, and we ended up on this dodgy path, I had the ground give out under me, and we got thorns in our hands and arms. Eventually, we managed to get out and found a different path, which did in the end take us to the waterfall. Went back to town and had a cold beer in the afternoon sun! Yep, so life is good.

Merry Christmas!