El Bolson - summer and winter

Hola,
this entry is still a few weeks late, but i'm getting really close to update you in real time.
it will also be short in words to make it more readable.
i arrived to El Bolson a nice and Tranquil town on the top end of Patagonia, Argentina.
again, i was still excited to trek the mountans and so i did. i joined 2 friends i met in the hostel, Marie, a french girl and Dan, israeli guy.
i planed to walk for 3 days, they wnted to do only 2. so we started the first day in great weather and a realy easy walk through mountain woods. reached the first shelter on the mountain.
all nice and comfortable. i even put my short pants on to celebrate the hot and sunny weather. shit, i look like a German Potz with those pants.
we spent a nice evening in the cabin, cooked dinner and had a good conversation with owners of the cabin who moved to live in the mountains 25 years ago and is living in some kind of solitude since then.
before night fell a young Austrian girl arrived to the cabin with a black dog. he walked with her all the way from the previous cabin. he slept outside and the owners of the cabin asked me to walk him back to his owners, whereever they are. i agreed.
woke up in the moning and the sky were were covered with clouds. it was drizzling. not raining... DRIZZLING. i love this word....
i had decided to keep on walking to the next cabin, a good 6 hours walk, 4 of them in an extremely steep climb. Marie and Dan stayed and headed back to El Bolson. i packed up and took the dog with me. his name for that day was "Chico". i tied him with his collar for just for the first 500 meters and then unleashed him. he was happy to walk with me and i was happy too to have such an hyperactive and quiet companion. we shared the leading.
i climbed the mountain and the weather had become more and more wet and cold. it was still only drizzling, but as i was walking in thick forest, i was comletly soaked after an hour walk. the nice day had chnged into a small nightmare. the small drizzle had tranformed to snow as i was climbing higher. Chico did not mind the weather at all and was as alive as before. i had started to feel too cold and a bit woried as the snowing became more intense. i was the only one on the trail and i couldn't know the trail condition ahead of me. i was still missing 3 hours to the end. i finished the climb and arrived completly wet and exhausted to a close cabin. it was inactive in this time of the year. i opened the cabin and found some dry wood to light the heater. i made some soup and ate bread with cheese. Chico was also eating a bit. he fell asleep snoring on the floor. i was so lucky to have him with me. he actually kept my spirits high on this hard walk. i took off all my clothes and dried them over the heater. by the time they were all dry i have noticed that time had flown and it was already 16:30. i had no more than 2 hours of light to walk to the open cabin. i packed again and open the cabin door. i was not happy with the looks of it. the snow was getting stronger and the trail had disappeared completely. all i could use to navigate to the cabin was the red markers hanging on the tress. we started walking on 50 c"m deep snow. wasn't so bad. i could see the markers well every 200 or 300 meters. after 30 minutes walk i saw foot trails on the snow. first reaction was happiness and excitment, there are other people here, but then i realized i was walking in circle. a small panic rushed through my brain. thank god i had Chico with me to consult him. i relaxed my self and with the notion that in worst case i will sleep in the closed cabin. i kept walking and looking for the right trail, which appeared after a short while. i was relieved and started rushing to the cabin as i was already late and close to dark hour.
finally i arrived and it was the sweetest arrival i have had. Chico was also happy to arrive, but it seemes that he does not have any owners. the cabin owner did not alow him to enter and he spent the night outside waiting for me.




The morning after brought excellent weather with it. Chico and me started walking and finnaly i could enjoy the magnificent white views. we went down from the mountain with sunny weather, but i still could not find anyone to claim back Chico. we almost arrived to El Bolson. i reached a horse ranch and decided it is a good place to leave him before entering the town. i didn't want him to reach the town because there were already lots of stray dogs on its streets. i left him with one of the workers and asked him to let him go after i disapear. sad moment i must say. i'm sure Chico is folowing some travelers right this moment.



i arrived to El Bolson and took the first bus to Bariloche. i had only one thing in my head. a 500 gram steak fillet in "El Boliche de Alberto", undoubtedly one of Argentina's best meat places.








next place --->>> back in Buenos Aires

here is the picture gallery of this entry:

http://picasaweb.google.com/eilonpaz/ElBolsonArgentina