chile:el.bolson.

unfortunately the trend of sleeping cold was carried over to argentina…but it helps us rise early! we had kind of a lazy morning just hanging out at the hostel, reading and journaling, etc. this is our little cabin:

i took a shower which was also not warm and then right when i got out augustin came over and showed us how to turn on the hot water. bad timing on my part. we decided to just walk around and explore el bolson for the day because tracy had some skype dates with colleagues to take care of. on our way out we met nina, a very very fat black dog who really enjoyed having her belly scratched. as soon as we started she just rolled over and was in heaven.

look at that happy face

we got a better look at our surroundings this morning, and we took a walk around augustin’s gardens some. he uses recycled bottles for barriers for his planters. cool idea.

we found out there was a craft fair going on in town so we walked in to check it out. this gorgeous view was on the way.

el bolson literally means “purse” or “bag” in spanish, and the town was given this name because it is surrounded by mountains on all sides, it is just a little bag hidden down inside.

the fair had lots of cool jewelry, wood carvings, hats and scarves, pottery, and food. we were starving because we didn’t have any food at the cabin for breakfast so we improvised. truckee settled on an empanada, i got french fries, and andy had a beer and a chocolate waffle. he was a happy camper.

we met back up with tracy and walked around town a bit. there were really cool art installations and sculptures everywhere. el bolson seems like an artsy, hippie little town, i really like it.

we went to a couple of health food stores to pick up some stuff for dinner. i had to buy ginger candies because my stomach does not like the back of tracy’s truck on bumpy gravel roads.

one thing we noticed at the craft fair was the abundance of troll figurines. then we saw this

so we had to go inside and ask about it. apparently the little trolls are called “duendes” and they live in the forests around el bolson. funny.

we saw this on the walk back home

i’ll definitely need to come back to el bolson, it is breathtaking!

we made some pasta for dinner and the sauce was supposedly just mushroom marinana but it was SO spicy. still delicious though. halfway through dinner we heard meowing outside and when we opened the door to see what was going on a little black cat just darted into our hut. we made a friend.

after dinner we tried this weird digestive bitters alcohol that is apparently what all the argentineans drink. it was mint flavored, it was bright green, and it was disgusting. tasted like mouthwash. no thanks.

we did dishes and decided to go to the brewery instead so truckee andy and i set off while tracy went to sleep. beer was much better than branca menta.

we made a kitty friend at the brewery too, it was tail-less and decided to sit on truckee’s lap all night even though she is the one person allergic to cats. we named him nubbers, and he was not pleased to be kicked out with us at the end of the night. on the walk back home we took our time and enjoyed the stars, they were so clear and bright—probably the most stars i’ve ever seen at once. so amazing.