26 hours by bus to spend 1,5 days in el bolson.

el bolson = "hippie town" of Argentina


hippies seen in el bolson: 3. more or less...


I came to El Bolson expecting a town full of stoned hippies. I came and saw a mini town full of average argentine people who might make a bit more "homemade jam / pastry / chocolate / honey..." then the rest of Argentina. Maybe all the hippies were swept away on the wave of marihuana trips after they had come to El Bolson in the 1970's. Or maybe I just saw too little of El Bolson. I don't know it actually...

However, a few hours after having left hippie town, apparently a "Fiesta de Marihuana" should have taken place on the main Plaza.

All in all I didn't do a lot here. The two most exciting things were that during the 26 hours bus ride from El Calafate (the berrie town) to El Bolson I met one of my Torres del Paine trekking hell mates with whom I "enjoyed" the "90% all the same landscape" bus trip and when checking in at the hostel in hippie town I met once again my Italian girls :)

With those Italian girls (Leila + Giulia) and the French brother (Pascal "Sweet") with his sister (Marion) I spent a day at the Lake Puenia (or something like this) and cooked pizza together :D

Initially I wanted to stay longer in El Bolson but I decided spontaniously to hook up to them and take the bus to Bariloche (2 hours) where we checked in a pleasent hostel far far away from the centre. (We did not know that it would be SO far from the centre when we booked it...)

by the way:

Bus trips in Argentina

Some of you may have dropped open their jaw in amazement when I they were reading about 28 hours bus rides. To be honest, before having sat in a bus for such a long time, I would have done it too.

However, it's not so horrible as you might think. (Okay... sometimes it is... But only on the 20 hours + bus trips)

BUT buses in Argentina

1. are extremely well organised

2. usually have comfortable seats (but you might forget about the comfortability of the seat after 10 hours not having moved your butt from the same place)
There are different categories: "Cama ejecutivo" or "Cama primera clase" is the most expensive and best one, "Común con aire" is comparable to airplaine seats and is NOT recommandable for any bus trip longer then 5 hours. There are other categories in between.

3. have really nice staff

4. sometimes offer good meals

5. give you the chance to meet new travelers


I learned that as long as you can find some sleep on the bus trip, it is really okay. But if you can't sleep and get mad about the fact that you actually spend more then a day just sitting in a bus, it ... yeah, you know what...


By contrast, the local buses differ a lot from that. For me, used to the calm, decent Austrian bus drivers, a trip in a local bus in Argentina means always a rush of adrenaline. They pass other cars and in 70 % of the cases they do NOT stop at the bus stops. They only slow down and you really have to JUMP OFF the bus. If I wait at the bus stop I am always afraid of missing it because it's not just a thing of being at the bus stop. You have to make clear, that you want to get on the bus by waving your arm. And if you succeeded in making your intention clear to the bus driver you should take care of not being driven over by him.