Heading South from Bariloche

I had to make some hard choices this morning. I am leaving the Bariloche region and can’t be leaving bags at reception anymore. With my new gear, I had too much to carry. I brought items from Canada that haven’t been and won’t be useful to me, so I left them behind; clothes that are impractical and my old backpack. It’s hard to say goodbye to the backpack – it’s literally been around the world with me. It’s still in good shape too, considering. It has a rain-cover that doubles as a duffel bag, and that duffel took a lot of abuse over the years - I’ve patched it many times. Many years ago, on a bus ride in Southeast Asia, the duffel got splattered with battery acid while in the luggage compartment. The acid burned holes in the duffel, but the backpack was fine. That duffel was brilliant, and I’ll miss it. But the backpack was just too small to accommodate my sleeping bag, so I bought a bigger backpack.
 
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I left my discarded stuff at the Cathedral – I told the Nun at the door that I had “articulos para donar” and she directed me to a huge wicker basket in the back corner of the church where I left the bag of stuff. I hope the items are put to good use.

And I didn’t donate everything. I had pants and a shirt that were getting ragged, so I turned them into rags. Tissues, napkins and toilet paper are rarely provided in bathrooms or restaurants, so the rags will come in handy. I only donated things that people might want.

​The inside of the church was rather unique. It's sort of a cobblestone construction, which I don't think I've seen before. 

​​Then I went to the bus terminal and bought a ticket for the next bus to El Bolson. The next bus is in 5 hours, but I’ve got a spot on the grass in the shade, with a view of the lake, and I have free internet access (because I’m a geek and have an awesome wifi adapter). There is also a restaurant in the building and a bathroom. I could have purchased bus tickets online, but only by credit card and I’d get a terrible exchange rate. And I didn’t want to leave town until I had more cash. I don’t think I’m going to come across another Western Union location for a few weeks. So, I loaded up this morning.
I’ve met a lot of travelers while standing in line at Western Union. Cash is the way to travel here. But – finding a Western Union location that actually has cash available is difficult. I left my phone number yesterday so they could send me a WhatsApp message when cash was available, and they sent a message at 10:30 this morning. On the plus side, I get larger denomination bills when I let them know in advance.

It sounds like there is a lot of easy trekking and camping to do in the El Bolson area – I think? And I can only hope the horse flies aren’t as bad. But I want to keep working my way south, and I know that El Bolson is a place where I can catch the next bus, so I’m optimistic.
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The intercity busses are pretty great, really comfortable and extremely cheap. It’s only costing me $4.50 to travel to El Bolson. It’s 2.5 hour trip. I want to work my way down to El Calafate which is 22 hours by bus from here, and I could do it all at once. You can buy a “cama” seat that fully reclines into a bed. But I’d like to take my time and enjoy the journey. 
By comparison, the city busses are convenient, frequent and cheap, but not always quite as comfortable.
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This bus was so full, the driver didn't stop to pick up any more people.
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A typical bus stop. You must wave down a bus or it won't stop.
Just a few more photos from around town.
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