Rio Foyel to El Bolson

November 6, 2025

I slept pretty well in my bivouac. With its plastic pole creating a small hoop over the upper body and head its like being in a small tent. However, I woke up feeling a little cold. I think I'll have to use my sleeping-bag liner to try and up the warmth factor of it, though even then with a 600 gram bag intended for a climate that gets no where near as low as zero degrees, I can see me waking up cold a lot in the few months ahead.

There was only something like 35 kilometres to the next town El Bolson, where I plan on stopping the day, so I was in no rush but sat drinking mate as the sun rose over the mountain to the east, warming up my riverbank campsite. I spread out the sleeping-bag and bivouac over a large rockface out of the shade of trees to dry off damp condensation.

I wheeled the bike back up the horse trail to the road at 9 and began pedaling across the long bridge. It was a gorgeous day. There was near enough not a cloud in the sky and already so warm that, a few kilometres on, I pulled in to take off my fleece. At first it was a steady climb away from Rio Foyel with great vistas of the Andes off to the right until the road levelled and began a long steady downhill the whole way to El Bolson.

Nice wide gravel shoulder to crunch along upon. There isn't much traffic, but when there is its coming fast.

I got a selfie. I use a large stone to set the phone on and a smaller stone to prop it up.

The way into El Bolson with sign for a Cerveceria (microbrewery) to the right.

I arrive in the centre of town around 12 and call at Jauja which is a popular restuarant and artisanal ice-cream place estabished in about 1975. It was recommened in my Lonely Planet guide in 2004 that also explained the short history of El Bolson as a hippy colony where lots of long haired Argentine youth in the late 1960s moved to for an alternative lifestyle growing there own food and making a livimg from handy craft. The legacy today from what would've been quite a rural hamlet connected by a rough track to the outside world then, is a town spread over many square kilometres with lots of homemade jams, locally grown fruits and thriving craft beer companies.

At Jauja I have steak and mash potatoes for lunch. They put on the table a basket of delicious olive bread with a humous dip. I finished off with an ice-cream for desert before heading to Refugio Patagonio hostel, a place I first stayed at in on my second Patagonia trip in 2006. That time I went on a 2 day hike to Glacier Linda with Israeli Liohr, a hiking enthusiast and really nice guy.

With such a large garden, big enough to go for a walk in and watch Ibis walk by.

Once I had checked in I was looking forward to an hour and a half catching up on BBC podcasts, but was dismayed to see the App has disappeared. What a bummer.

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