Along Ruta 40 to El Bolson

Monday, 27 December

I left El Chaltén by bus. Direction: north, along Ruta 40, along The Ruta, Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, known as Che Guevara? The Motorcycle Diaries?... A long long ride, but I was very happy and not bored - the landscape is sometimes argentinian pampa, sometimes you see estancias, sheep, gauchos, guanacos, argentinian steaks in their alive form... I had the best place, right in a front of front glass - despite I booked my ticket two days earlier and not like some of people one month in advance. How to explain this - no idea.  Just a good luck. So I could documentate the different faces of Ruta 40 on the way to the North Patagonia...

Passing the cues with names of places I visited along Ruta 3 on my way to the south, along the argentinian coast: Piedrabuena, San Julian, Puerto Deseado, Trelew... I felt a bit sad, pictures of these places and people I met there were in my mind and in my mind I was saying goodbye to them. Never say goodbye, say: see you again! This said always Ditza and Heim, cheers guys :)).

At the late afternoon I changed the bus for a trip to Cueva de las Manos - UNESCO Word heritage site - polychrome rock paintings dated from about 7370 BC. Paintings show imprints of human hands (80% of them are left hands, one with 6 fingers), drawings of guanacos and a few hunting scenes. Great! The visit to this archeological site we closed with a trek along the Río de las Pinturas in Cañon de las Pinturas, ending with a marvellous sunset.

We all were there

 
Tuesday, 28 December

After short sleep in a small city Perito Moreno I spent the second day on a bus along Ruta 40. Great views... we started at 8 a.m. and I have arrived in El Bolson at 9 p.m. maybe. Bit later as planned, because our bus get stucked for 2 hours in the middle of nowhere. Actually, the oil was licking since the beginning of the journey yesterday morning so that during the whole journey we stopped every 20 km to fill it, but finally we just rozkraczylismy sie and get stucked on Ruta in a place where the mobile net was not existing. So the driver had to 1. catch a car 2. go to the place 50 km to the north where he could catch the net and call 3. hope that the company has a bus available e.t.c. And after 2 hours we already sat in a new bus, which for these circumstances I have found as a really great organization. There were people on the bus who were complaining, but, sorry, what can you do about it. Finally at leat I wrote my diary, wrote 6 postcards (for my family only, just in case for those hoping...), slept, read and so on. What can you do. One guy was playing De Ushuaia a la Quiaca from Motorcycle diaries...

always look at the bright side of your life, la la, lalalalalala...

El Bolson


I felt strange going with my backpack in the dark to my hostel  along the Very Dark Wood which I have reserved before (normally I do not, but El Bolson is such a small place that it was better to do it) but El Bolson is a very cosy and safe place. I stayed in hostel Refugio Patagonico where I could participate a bit in interior design if it. I draw for him a choique, patagonian bird similar to nandu (for a photo of a male choique with planty of chics please see the posts below) and Ariel, the guy from hostel, will use it as a model to pain the walls. Cool, I am waiting for a picture of his-our work.

Proudly presenting choique

Wednesday, 29 December

We (israelan-polish-german) team did a short under normal conditions, but a big longer in dust, sun and heat trek to Cabeza del Indio, a rock resembling the stereotypical profile of an indian guy. It was like 30 degrees in shadow and after being before in windy, fresh when not sometimes cold gouthern Patagonia I got almost a heatshock.




The Valley of Rio Azul

Kissing the noble profile of Indio

Thursday, 30 December

After great coffe in one Cafe where the waiter was feeding me for the second day with free medialunas I visited the hippie market in El Bolson, again both some stuff which 1 I have to carry around and how it came out later 2 hardly fit in my baskpack... and than went to lago Puelo in Parque National Lago Puelo for relax. A bit stony beach, but enormous views...Aha, and finally I have my own mate.

My favourites: sun, latte macchiato, diary, writing postales

How Maradona started his career

Mate is a bit to bitter, but with sugar is fine.
The only thing I am missing now to be a professional mate trinker is a thermo bottle

Here comes the rain again (in fact it did nor reach us)

On the 31. December I went to the north: to Bariloche, situated in National Park Lago Nahuel Huapi and at the shoreline of a lake of the same name , for enjoying a New Years Eve here.

In my hostel everybody prepared a one dish, some of them from the countries of origin of the cook. I have done 20 pancakes as a  postry... After a very tasty meal and having fun in hostel we left for a party and danced till the sunrise.

Feliz año nuevo!