Lavender, Hippies, and Blue water

We arrived in the evening to the hippie paradise of El Bolson. First impressions: there’s an artisan market with tons of handcrafted goods, slack lines are set up in the square with a high line across the little pond in the center, people are lounging in the lawn in the shade of the trees. Someone is spinning fire within a drum circle. Half shaved heads, dreadlocks, headscarves and lots of crystals, a hippie town indeed!

We came to El Bolson because there was a volunteering posting for a permaculture project that we were interested in. Through a bit of what is maybe bad luck or maybe just the way things are, we ended up helping this guy pick lavender for a couple days. Sickles in hand, we moved through the field, shooing the bumblebees and gathering flowers. It wasn’t all bad though – for starters, the view from the field was breathtaking! The property was near a river, and a plunge into the cool river water was quite a wonderful feeling. The other volunteers were all awesome to hang out with, and Mel and I cooked us quite a great taco dinner, a bit of California/Mexico to share with the south. We made the tortillas from flour we ground earlier that day (as in we put whole grain into a little grinding machine), which was a pretty neat feeling. Also our dirty clothes smelled like lavender, so were they really dirty?

After our little lavender adventure, our stomachs were feeling a bit strange, so we stayed at a really nice cabin for a couple days and rested up. The cabin was at the foot of El Piltriquitron, a name which means “mountain that hangs from the clouds.” The mountain and its wild jagged ridge glowed red in the sunset light as we soaked in our in-room jacuzzi. Then we moved to a rad “Earthship” hostel when we were feeling better. The “Earthship” was constructed a couple years before in just two months by a group of 70 volunteers. The building harvests rain and sunlight in such a way that the temperature in the building is comfortable both when it is hot or cold outside, and the bathrooms run entirely on rainwater which is recycled to grow plants. Our beds were in a little yurt next to the earthship, and the hostel provided solid group vegan dinners. The space also had a large vegetable garden, a greenhouse for tomatoes, apple trees, and many cozy nooks to relax in. It was a wonderful space and a great reminder that it is possible to live sustainably.

While we were staying at the earthship, we took a day trip to Lago Puelo. The lake is the beautiful turquoise blue that we’ve been spoiled by on this journey. Along the shore, locals, Argentine tourists, and foreigners alike lounged on the rocky beach, enjoying the view and drinking mate.

Near the beach, there was a small vertical cliff, about 50 ft tall. We carried our climbing gear over and enjoyed fun climbs at the lakeside crag. The rock quality was great, and the routes were almost perfectly vertical to overhanging, making for interesting, technical and powerful climbing. Boy did it feel good to be on the rock, over the sparkling lake with the beautiful mountainous background! On our return, an older man asked us to take a video of him cliff diving. When we told him we were from California he shared that Arnold Schwarzenegger was his idol and inspiration. Apparently there’s a YouTube video that Schwarzenegger made that really inspired this guy to get in diving shape. We need to find that video!

We also did a hike to Cajon Azul. The hilly trail follows the blue river, eventually arriving at a deep underwater canyon. The surrounding valley was lush and green with vegetation. It was pretty hot and we enthusiastically gulped down some slushies when we got back to the trailhead.

Now we’re on a bus, on our way to Piedra Parada!