Where to start! It's been another busy week full of some more amazing experiences.
Having left Esquel and Cholila behind us, we arrived in El Bolsón (home of the hippy) knowing that there was some good hiking to be had in the local mountains, along with cosy refugios (bunk house style huts) - we definitely weren't disappointed!
We spent a couple of days in the local town, making the most of the good weather (apart from the minor downpour on the first day) local ice cream, empanadas, alfajores and other produce made by the local hippies. And once we had had our fill of incense and bongos we headed out for a three day trek, recommended by the most useful tourist information lady yet - the others have all been rubbish so this was a real treat!
We caught a local bus (which required some seriously ninja driving around the local 'roads') along with six argentines and got dropped in the middle of nowhere to start our adventure. To get on to our path, there were some slightly questionable bridges to cross - you know when only one person can cross at a time and you witness the person in front putting their foot through one of the planks that it's going to be an interesting 
crossing! We made it...just about, and the first day consisted of a long and hard uphill climb to the first refugio, which was just beautiful. Nestled in a woodland at the base of snow-capped mountains with a river trickling by and the sun shining, this picturesque log cabin with roaring fire 24/7 was hikers paradise. We spent the afternoon chilling out and then plucked up the courage to join the locals in the cabin for some traditional Argentine music. We attempted a few Beatles tracks, but decided it was best to stick to what they knew as one of the girls was pretty good at butchering just about every song - she was a karaoke dream!
We set off early the next morning in search of the local glacier, which wasn't quite as spectacular as Perito Moreno (perhaps we were spoilt), but the views at the top were breathtaking (once again). A scramble down and it was time to set off towards our next refugio. This time the path was mostly downhill, but what we weren't told was that it basically involved dropping of the side of the m
ountain. Three hours along what we aptly named the 'death road' later and our knees were just about giving way. Luckily we reached the bottom and spent some time chilling out beside a crystal clear river with some awesome plunge pools. A few more dodgy bridges, some homemade ladders and a bit of rock climbing more and we arrived at our second refugio, which was just as cute as the first. It also turned out our Argentine friends had made the same trek - another night of butchered Beatles songs and homemade brew later and we stumbled into our tents. The final day involved a not so easy trek out of the park with sore feet, legs and backs but it was so worth it!
After a good shower and a little washing of our clothes (Tim is quite the domestic goddess) we hopped on a bus to our next stop: Bariloche.
We only spent a day in the town as we were very aware that time was running away with us and the country side was too tempting to turn down. Never the less, we did find the famous St Bernards (at 70 pesos we declined a photo but cooed over the cute puppies for a while) and also the local chocolate shop (apparently the best in Argentina). We also got slightly swept up in the local anti-mine protest which was quite fun.
The following three days we spent around the lakes nearby, which are beautiful and a welcome change to the mountains we've been enjoying so much. We hired some bikes and took to the local circuit to take in all the views and see the famous Llao Llao hotel....very swish...but not as swish as our tent (now with 2 holes in it). After another eight hour trek the following day we decided it was probably about time we headed to Chile - as you do. So, in an hour's time we'll be hopping on the bus to start the next instalment. More stories to come!
