After the summer heat of Southern Patagonia the sun in Esquel was even more demanding. The mornings start cool but late afternoon the sun gives off powerful rays that always seem to be beating down on the back of your neck regardless of which direction your walking.
On our first day we took a trip across town to visit the Patagonian Express train, also known as 'La Trochita'. Unlike Europe, trains are a relatively rare sight in South America, and a lot exist only as part of the old freight networks. La Trochita still runs but only as a tourist train and is famous for and takes it's name (La Trochita means Little Narrow Gauge) from it's very narrow track. The track is just 75cm wide, so the train appears to sit very top heavy on the track, a suprising design considering the strength of the Patagonian winds.
The following day we took a trip to the nearby Welsh settlement of Trevelin. Although pleasant enough Trevelin doesn't really provide much other than a few Welsh flags and some quaint tea houses. Although in hindsight not sure what more you could expect from a foreign settlement whose home country is famous for leeks, sheep and Ryan Giggs (in the most respectful way).
On our final day in Esquel we took a short hike to a nearby Laguna which offered a pleasant place for some piece and quiet and a picnic. In fact on our way there we hardly saw another person.
The following day we set off for Argentina's 'hippy' city, El Bolson. Although heavily populated by hippies from Buenos Aires in the 70s the town is very laid back and commerce is centred around homemade breads and jams, and hand carved wooden intricacies. We stayed in a great hostel outside of town which had lazy hammocks outside for the hot days and a roaring fire inside for the cool evenings. Whilst at the hostel we had a wine tasting night for 40 pesos (£6) and had a long evening learning about and trying wines from Mendoza and Patagonia.
During the days in El Bolson we hiked the six hour return trail to the Cajon Del Azul. Several Indiana Jones style bridges and 10km or so later brought us to some stunning natural rock pools for swimming. The water however beautiful to look at is chilled to an incredibly fresh single digit temperature.
A trip to El Bolson also requires visiting the thrice weekly artisenal market, browsing only for us, except for the produce side which included a raspberry, cream and dulce de leche topped waffle!
Not exactly what we would call 'hippie', if the term truly exists in the 21st century but a relaxed town with a young, fresh and relaxed feel.
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