After Bariloche, Dor and I headed south to a small town called El Bolson. We spent two nights here doing a lot of nothing..and it was really nice! The town doesn´t have much, is known as a hippy area that brews its own beer, makes cheese, has a hippy market...
During our time, we stayed at El Pueblito which was a really cute hostel, a log cabin with hammocks outside on the river´s edge. During our time here, we enjoyed some local stand food, the local brewery where I sampled a chocolate beer (yum!) and a raspberry beer (kinda yum), icecream in the park, and spent some time relaxing in the park reading our books. Dor was
trying to read a book, and I was desperately trying to finish Jane Eyre (ugh) so we both enjoyed the hammocks by the water. After a night of feverishly reading, we both successfully finished our books! I switched mine in the book exchange for a Steven King novel, by the way. :) Before we left the next day, we checked out the outdoor market. It´s pretty famous, but it was in setting up mode while we were there, so we didn´t get to fully experience it. However, I did buy a silver ring at the market, so I was content. :) From El Bolson, we took our LOVELY 28 hour bus ride to El Calafate! Of course not too much to report about that bus ride except eating, movie watching (I watched 3 in one day on the bus!), i-pod, journaling, reading, and of course napping and sleeping. And lots of reflecting on the trip and thinking about my life... ;)
In El Calafate, we instantly made some friends, Keith from England, and John, from Colorado. The next day, we went as a group, now with two new additions, Monica from NY and Dana from California, to see El Perito Moreno glacier! This was one of the things I was most excited about on my trip, as the pictures I had seen previous to my travels were so amazing and simply like nothing I had ever seen before. We did a little tour from our hostel, so it started off with visiting 
a little farmhouse where we got to see little lambs (see me feeding one a bottle!!), goats, some other animal that I don´t recall the name, and a baby ostrich!! So random, haha. But it was fun trying to pet the lambs and the ostrich was following us around and stuff. haha.
From there, we went to see the glacier, Perito Moreno. W
ow! It was HUGE! We did an hour boat tour and got to see the glacier up close. Then we went to a different part and got to visit all the viewing points to see if from different angles. The big thing you want to see when you go is to see the glacier breaking apart a little, which causes a big splash and a very loud, almost thunderous noise. We got to see several, so it was pretty awesome! The glacier is supposedly bigger than the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina...massive! It´s special too because it´s one of the few glaciers that is advancing (making new ice everyday) unlike many which are suffering from climate changes. It was really amazing to see something so different and so big...definitely a cool life experience!
From El Calafate, we went to El Chalten for a few days. 
This is basically a nothing little town, more like a jumping off point for nearby treks. During our time here, we camped two nights, and stayed in a hostel our final night. It was me, Dor, Keith, and John that did the hikes and camping together. It was fun! I felt good hiking, rented some trekking poles which help the hiking-and I was really glad I did because we had some REALLY windy weather, and carrying a big backpack and being blown around isn´t the easiest thing! Hiking and camping are quite new to me, so I felt really good getting fresh air, "le
arning" how to correctly camp and hike, and really starting to appreciate exercising outdoors (rather than the gym) and that I actually quite enjoy nature! The peacefulness of the forest and the woods, and seeing the peaks of Fitz Roy mountain, were all nice experiences.
Of course there´s the dirt, some wind, some rain, some coldness, that after 2 nights convinced me I was ready for a shower and "civilization" but I think it´s a good start for me :) I hope that if I do choose to live in a nicer climate, or wherever I do live, that I will continue to develop an enjoyment for hiking and camping!
You look like you have been doing it forever. Wish we would have had a chance to hike while you were out. This is probably the part of the trip that I would have enjoyed the most. You look like you are having an amazing time. Enjoy it before you have to pack all your stuff and move back there.... Merry Christmas Mel.
ReplyDelete