I've been excited about going to El Bolson since I first heard about it because the description reminds me of Santa Cruz, CA. Lots of organic this, artisanal that, nuclear-free, smoke(cigarette)-free, etc. It was a cute, friendly town but what we enjoyed most was the surrounding landscapes of huge snowy mountains. We went on a fun hike up Cerro Piltriquitrón to see the Bosque Tallado (scupture forest) and the views from the refugio above it.
That night we went to El Bolson Brewery, which Adrian recommended to us and was really fun. It is a brewery/campsite/pizza place with great beer and friendly staff. We both got a little tipsy so I decided to buy some of their chocolate beer which, normally, I would not buy because it should taste really bad. It was actually quite good. I want one right now.
Our last day in town we headed a couple hours south in my endlessly unsuccessful quest to find an alerce tree, which is one of the oldest and biggest trees in the world, and related to redwood trees. They can live to be over 2000 years old. There are some in Chile also, and near Cochamo I tried finding them too but couldn't. We went to Parque National Los Alerces, and you would figure one would find an alerce in such a place, but as soon as we got to the trailhead for the hour long walk to an alerce, it started raining. Thwarted again. :(
Crossing the border into Argentina
