El Bolsón

Our plan to leave Bariloche on Wednesday didn't happen because Dwayne noticed that since they had to "MacGyver" the shocks to fit Vanna there were some rubber pads that were cut to fit and should not have been, so now they are splitting and moving outwards. Going to cause us problems later on down the road. So we drove back to the mechanic and showed him, and he agreed it would have to be changed. But he was working on a vehicle so couldn't do ours until 5pm.  So we thought we would go to the propane place and see if we could get our tank refilled in the meantime. But when we got there, it turns out to just be a tank exchange place. He did give us the address of someone who might be able to help us. 

Since it was now 1pm we stayed and had our lunch before heading back into town. I had made some cream of mushroom soup this morning because the mushrooms I had bought just yesterday were going soft. So cleaned them up and made soup :) Also made creamy of celery soup yesterday that I had a little left of so finished that off first and then had some cr of mushroom soup. Both pretty yummy if I have to say so myself LOL!! Actually Dwayne agrees with me 😋

Then off to check out the other propane place. Once we got there it was closed. So many places here close from 1-4! Guess we'll try again tomorrow. Because now we are going to head to a hike since we have a few hours.

This hike is 1.6km one way which goes to the upper station of the chairlift. Shows that the hike is "moderate" so should be good. But the trail is very dusty! Doesn't take long before my nice clean pink runners are dirty!  It's such a fine dust and when someone passes it creates alot of dust. Plus this is a very steep climb. Its shows when we got to the top we climbed 65 floors!! Wow no wonder I was sweating! LOL!!  Took us 40 minutes to get to the top, where Dwayne said "you mean we could have taken the chairlift up??"LOL!! Forgot to tell him that 😂 We spend a few minutes looking at the views then head back down in 25 mins. There was one couple that ran by us (very young couple!!) Which is pretty tricky considering all the roots they have to jump over and all the bigs steps!! They would stop every so often to take pictures then run again! Laughing and screaming going down! Crazy people! LOL!! 

Finally at the top looking down the chairlift line

Pretty rough in places

Tree Hugger!! LOL!!

Pretty dirty!!

Once we got back to Vanna we had an hour to get to the mechanic's shop. So enough time to stop for an ice cream cone for all the hard work of hiking :) 

When we got to the shop it was only about 10 minutes before we got in and he started working on the shocks. We were there until 7:30 - with Dwayne keeping a watchful eye on their work. Which he wished he had done yesterday instead of going for lunch because this problem would not have happened. When it was done there was no charge, even though he had to buy new rubber discs for replacement. Not sure if the mechanic owned the shop since he was pretty young plus he had a helper so we still gave them a thank you tip - so they could at least go out and some some pizza and beer :) He wouldn't accept it saying it was to much but we kept at it and he finally took it. Now lets hope we have no problems down the road.

We end up staying at a nearby beach when we drove by and saw a few motorhomes parked there. Hoping it won't be a party night for the locals 😳

Thursday morning got up after a not too bad of a night. No parties but lots of people just seem be driving by late at night. After we had breakfast we head over to the propane shop but find he is still closed! Oh well there is another shop we can stop at on our travels south today. 

Once back on the highway we see lots of backpackers try to hitch a ride. That's one thing we see alot of here and that's hitchhikers, and not always backpackers. We continue driving thru the national park so still seeing lots of lakes and pine covered mountains. Plus lots of Argentinian RVers. Since school doesn't start until March, families are still out on holidays.  We are now leaving the Lake District and entering the Patagonia area which we'll be following all the way to Ushuaia.  The scenery is still very nice along this highway. 

Extreme fire notice

Now in the Patagonia

We get to El Bolsòn which is suppose to the the 'hippy' village of Argentina. Well guess there are some hippy looking people here, but it's at their market stalls where you can buy the right 'herbs' 😉  We stop to get propane at a place and it was easy peasy to get the tank refilled in 20 mins! That's a record, we didn't even have enough time to finish lunch before the guy came over to tell us the tank was filled! As we were waiting a big old bus parked by us to get his tank refilled. Dwayne was talking to him - the family of 4 are from Australia and are travelling with no timeline - just said they are free to travel for as long as they want. The 2 kids - saw the boy who is about 7/8, are probably being home schooled.  Can't believe the old bus has gotten so far, he said they spent 6 months in Brazil. Looks pretty rough. But they are probably having the time of their lives:)  Lisa & Ryan here's what you need 😁

Then it's time to find the laundry place and drop off our stuff. A little expensive here but has to be done. No self serve machines here. Will be ready for pickup at 7:30.  So we then drive to a small park near by and park Vanna. We go and walk around but EVERYTHING is closed! Other then the main grocery store and a couple of veggie stores! Closed from 2-4 at least if not 4:30. Feels like the place is deserted! And all I want is to find a nice little cafe and have a latte.  We opt to just buy a couple of pastries from the only bakery we find open and walk back to Vanna and I make my own latte!  We take out our chairs and sit in the shade and enjoy our pastry and latte, plus do some reading.  Around 4 the traffic gets busier, more people are walking around. What a difference! We decide to check out a spot for the night near the river and on the way stop at the firehall to get water for Vanna.  

Watching a parasailer coming down - there were quite a few in this area

National Park Entrance

The grey mountains look so cool against the blue sky

Another one of those funny looking birds

We continue on to the spot and it will be perfect! Right next to a small but rapid flowing river.  Just love that about our travels in SA, we can wild camp anywhere we want, pretty well. We have supper here and enjoy the view. Can't eat outside though because lots of wasps around! We had a rotisserie chicken at lunch so before I made supper I made chicken broth with the bones in the pressure cooker. Which were now cooled off with still a little meat attached. When the stray dogs appeared I gave them a nice treat. Yes the bones are soft from being cooked again, plus street dogs everywhere will eat chicken bones or any bones they can get. I remember our dog Meika when she was probably about 2 yrs old and out for a walk in a new development in St Albert and she found a box of KFC bones left behind by workers, and she had those bones eaten before we could get to her to take them away! She never had any problems. 

Beautiful river to camp next to for the night

After supper I put on my runners and sat by the river trying to get them cleaned up. But think it will take a bucket and soap to get these looking pink again!  Then we headed back to town to pickup the laundry. 

On the way back we find another part of the village where the markets are. But the place is jammed packed and parking is hard to find. Plus we have to pick up our laundry since we need the sheets to put back on the bed and we're not sure what time the place closes.  Oh well I'm sure we'll find another market somewhere along our travels, it's not like we were looking for special herbs 😉

Got the laundry, stopped at the grocery store and then headed back to our spot by the river and enjoyed a nice quiet night, with just the sound of water rushing by.