Un Piltriquitron y un Volcan

After heading down to Bariloche, at the top of Patagonia, we headed further south to Bolson. Known as the hippiest city in Argentina, El Bolson is a charming little town, with an almost daily crafts' market, set between a river and a 2500m mountain, the tongue twisting Piltriquitron.

Piltriquitron from the main square of El Bolson

There we enjoyed the chilled out vibe, while camping in a campsite just outside town, where some of our fellow campers included, chickens, a mama and papa pig and their baby piglets, some horses, two dogs and a kitten.



The first night we were there, we realised we were extremely under equiped for the cold patagonian night time, and had a pretty rough and sleepless night, during which I repeatedly dreamt (might have been visions I'm not quite sure) that Ryan Gosling showed up with a blanket. We managed to arm ourselves with a couple of quilts for the second night, not before agreeing that if we were to go any further south we would require some heavy winter clothes, which we weren't really prepared to pay for; hence the decision to head back up north. But not before going on a hike up mount Piltriquitron. After hiking up to about 1500m, we stayed at the refuge for the night, where we managed to catch an amazing sunset. The next day we made our way further up, where we got some more amazing views of the valley bellow and the surrounding Andes. Then, a 5 hour walk back down the mountain, left us with cramps that lasted all the way into Chile. It was sad saying goodbye to Argentina, but we're comforted by the thought that we will be making our way back there further up north, plus Chile's charms are not to be underestimated.

The refuge

Our first stop in Chile was the student town of Valdivia, which, along with its many chilean students, is populated by fat, terrifying yet kinda cute sea-lions, that laze around the city's river. Although there's nothing extremely remarkable about Valdivia, it was a nice start to the chilean part of the trip, and what made it trully memorable was the discovery of a second hand clothes store, where absolute gems from the 80's and 90's were being sold for 80 cents.

Me and some sea lions

We are now in the small town of Pucon, which is quite touristy due to it's positioning next to a pretty lake, and one of the world's 10 most active volcanos. Tomorrow we will be hiking the ice covered volcano, and hope to live to tell the tale!