Freedom of Movement

Amber writes:
We have transportation! Yesss!! That´s right, we rented a car for a week to explore the mountain scenery around Bariloche.

Ice dripping from branches in a stream

With Emma and Gabriel (see last post) we embarked on our automotive journey from Bariloche on Sept 4, driving to the little hippie town of El Bolson. Along the way we paused to walk around wherever our hearts desired, a luxury considering usually we travel by public buses. Every awesome lakeside lookout, every ´mirador´on the side of the road looking across a vally, we stopped and marveled. We stopped in La Colonia Suiza, a tourist destination with great souvineers and chocolate, and I had the best chocolate yet in a beautiful store.

Chocolate store in La Colonia Suiza

We tried to visit Mount Tronador to find it temporarily closed, but we drove down the road towards it and went for a nice little hike next to the most turquoise-colored river I´ve ever seen. We enjoyed mini-snowball fights and the satisfying crunch of cracking ice beneath our boots.

Dad and I in front of the turquoise river near Mount Tronador

Dad and I stayed in El Bolson at a sweet little hostel next to a feild (Gabriel and Emma took a bus back to Bariloche) where there was no traffic noise! We slept great and enjoyed fooseball games with Mendu, the nice guy working at the hostel, and his friend Rafael, who is the best foosbeall player in Argentina, I bet. We had fun playing with them, but Argentina triumphed over the United States in the championship round. (They did win the Olympics soccer gold medal...)

Next day we took a quick drive to a cool spot that the tourist office reccommended us, a cliff natually weathered to the shape of the head of an indian.

See the Indian head?

We hired a taxi to take us partway up the road to Refugio Piltriquitrón (what a mouthful!). After driving on the potholey road for a while, we got out with our backpacks (you need sleeping bags for the refugio) and walked a tough hour up in the snow where we reached another one of Dad´s favorite ´power spots.´Bosque Tallado is a wooden sculpture garden crafted completely from tree stumps. The powerful brown of over 30 sculptures, ranging from abstracts to figures, contrasts beautifully with the stark white of the snow.

Our lunch spot at the sculpture garden.

We ate lunch at the sculpture garden and continued to the refugio, another half hour uphill climb through the snow. Once we were there, we summited a mini-mountain and were rewarded with a stunning 180 degree panorama of the Andes from the Andes! That night would have been peaceful, with the adorable young couple Juan and Magali and their 4 month old baby Cain watching over the refugio, except for the dozen drunk teenagers sharing the space with us. It was fine though, giving me insight into the social lives of teenagers in Argentina. (I think my friends have more fun without getting wasted.) Dad got us into the building next door so we didn´t have to sleep next to vomiting girls (yay for Dad!) and we had a great night sleep.


Yesterday we walked back from the refugio all the way to the hostel. ¨We dropped 4000 feet in 7 miles,¨ says dad. A lot of downhill, but it was nice talking with dad about his childhood, his dog ¨Scoot¨ and our family.

After a quick break at our comfortable hostel we headed to the center of El Bolson to the tri-weekly artisan show. I´ve never seen such talented hippies! Every booth had something unique to offer, from twisted, giant dreamcatchers to beautifully crafted silver jewelry to one of a kind knitted apparatus. I splurged and bought the most AMAZING dress. It´s knitted and earthy, with blues, greens, and browns. Intricatly detailed and totally hippie, it´s perfect for UC Santa Cruz! Patricia, the woman who sold me, told me the story behind it. She won part of the yarn in a contest and it started out as a sweater but she felt its energy and continued the pattern into a dress. Knitting for her is a form of art, the clothes she makes are absolutly unique.


Today we drove from El Bolson to Esquel, stopping to walk around in the national parks. We had a very creative and delicious lunch - bread from a local bakery, paté (meat in a tube but paté sounds more elegant... I bought it accidentally and we´ve been enjoying it ever since!), locally made cheese, and a special kind of jelly called ¨Fruta del Bosque,¨or ¨Fruit of the Forest¨which had a unique taste.

We read in our guidebook about a hostel in Tevelin, a smaller town south of Esquel, that was supposedly ´the best hostel in Argentina´so we called ahead and are now settled down there. We´re in an internet cafe right now - internet costs $5 pesos per hour, a little less than $2US. Just went to a local bakery and got a plethora of interesting bread and treats for only $3US.

Enjoy, and please leave us a comment!

Love Amber