After 9 days hiking and trekking near and around Bariloche, I took the bus south to El Bolson. The bus leaves the main terminal every hour or so and costs 250 argentine pesos. The bus ride takes approximatley 2h 15min. Arriving at the small town, I booked a hostel for one night, left my things there and took a look around. There are many camp sites to choose from and as the weather was sunny and hot, I thought it best to look for an ideal location before setting up camp. The camp sites near the town across from the river Quemquemtreu seemed the nicest to me and there are many to choose from. I spent the first two nights at camping Ninada, a huge camp site with lots of room to set up your tent, either in the field or forest. They had a progressive psytrance festival there which I only visited shortly, as I am currently not into partying. Apart from that, the campsite was mainly filled with couples and families and wasn't the ideal place to meet similar minded travellers. The next day I found a more suited place, the camp site El Rustico. It's much smaller but has direct river access. The facilities were also much cleaner there and the people more my wave length. I ended up spending 10 days at the camp, occasionally taking to the town to buy groceries and visit the amazing artisanal market featuring art from hippys all around Argentina. The market in in the center of town surrounding a small park. In the late afternoon this park fills up with young people, mainly argentinians comencing in phylosophical or political discussions and sharing mate or a joint in the shade of the trees and bushes. Travelling solo, I sat down in the park with my book and a flask of hot water and always found people to share a discussion. On days that I didn't go to the city, I either hiked short trails in direction of rio Azul or spent the day at the camp site with the others trying out new instruments or preparing an Asado for the evening. During my stay at El Rustico I made lots of new friends and learnt quite a bit about the history and current economical situation of Argentina. In the thirteen days I spent there it only rained once, otherwise the weather was a steady 30 degrees and sunny.
El Bolson - Useful Info
- The bus from Bariloche arrives and departs every hour and costs 250 pesos one way
- The artisinal market is set up Wednesday through Sunday in the center of town
- There are many cultural centers and activists offering workshops talking about ecological living, sustainablility or politics you can take part in
- El Bolson offers a variety of trekking options and refugios, the most famous being the Cajon Azul or Cerro Piltri
- Campsites cost around 100 - 250 pesos a day
- The smoking of marijuana is very common in the hippy town and they smoke it everywhere. Because of that, the police isn't very strict about it and they just look away when they see someone smoke.