Northern Patagonia II

It´s only 120km South from Bariloche to El Bolson, these ¨low milage¨ days are a luxury, I´m able to have a long stop for a coffee, and a bun, with no worries ! There is a superb looking timber framed hostel in El Bolson but it was, surprisingly, full. They re-directed me to a manquy hostel in town. In the best traditions of manquy hostels a drunk guy arrives at midnight and spends the whole night, on his back, snoring very loudly...
I´m not particularly charmed by El Bolson, the town itself is ugly, there is little sign of the hippy community mentioned in my guidebook, there seem to be a million teenagers prowling about.

El Bolson with it´s mountainous ¨wall¨

To the East of town is a high "wall" of rock, Mount Piltriquitron. Next day I ride my bike half way up this ¨wall¨, it´s quite a ride, 13km up a steep bumpy track, I probably should not have done it, but once started, it´s hard to stop...  At the top there is one hour´s further walk, through the snow, to Refugio Piltriquitron. Where I have lunch, enjoy the view and turn around and bump all the way back.

Hostel cat at Esquel...

I ride the 160km to Esquel down Ruta 40. This time there is nowhere to stop, there is nothing there, except ¨Pampas¨. The forecast says there is a 40% chance of rain, it gets ominously dark but does not rain. At one point I can actually see the westerley weather ¨throwing itself¨ against the western andes, but not getting through. There is a comfortable HI hostel in Esquel, just as I arrive an Argentinian Classic Car Ralley pulls into town and completes their daily stage, it´s fairly noisy for a few hours but a great spectator event. In Argentina, generally, there is no MOT (or annual inspection) which means that there is a really eclectic collection of old crocs still on the road !, I´ve seen several (unsafe at any speed) Ford Falcons, Ford Taurinos, Renault(s) 4,6,12  (1000s of these),18, Citroen 2CV, 3CV (never made it to UK) Visas, Ami 8´s and loads more, cars not seen in the UK since the 70´s, and all mixed up with the enormous latest generation Toyota Hilux´s (sadly, everyones car of choice here, it seems, literally double the size of the old ones...).

Next day I head to the "Parc National Los Alerces" to the West. The road peters out into ripio (gravel), so I bounce up this, inside the park, for 25km. There are free campsites here (they turn out to be the only ones "open" anyway). I find a site with a superb view (below) amd camp by myself, by the time it gets dark there is no-one else there, anywhere, even on the track nearby.
I realise that I´m allowed to have a fire, there is dry, dead, wood everywhere from the Winter storms, so I do. The wood goes up like a bomb and I soon have a roaring fire to sit next to for warmth and gaze at...

On the way back I stop for a night at Trevelin, this is one of those peculiar Patagonian towns which was founded by Welsh people and they still speak Welsh in the town ! (orginally founded for religious freedom). It´s a very rural little town, very quiet, but in any direction there is a fantastic mountainous backdrop. There is also the best hostel I think I´ve ever stayed in, it´s like a 4* hotel, wonderful, and for the first time of the entire trip they accept my HI hostel card (YHA card), great !, but it is valid for just 2 days more....

After a lazy day it´s back to Esquel for a day´s skiing !! Something I feel has to be done so that I can say I skiied on this continent. Remarkably a day´s skiing, lift pass, equipment hire, and transfer comes to just $45 US !! It has to be done.   The resort is "La Hoya", it´s not half bad, it´s the last 10 days of the season so the snow is pretty sketchy, but at the top there is enough, and when the sun has melted it a bit in the afternoon, it´s really good. After a few hours, my level is back where I was 3 years ago, so I´m chuffed with it.

When I get back to the hostel I´m knackered so I make the perrenial mistake, I ¨lie down for a bit¨. I wake up at 8.30ish (I thought) and go into town for some food. Strangely, nothing is open, not even the supermarket, so I return to the hostel, frustrated, and find the kitchen is locked. Then I check the time, it´s 01:30am, oops.....