El Bolson.

Inside the Rio Negro province we find the town el Bolson

It's seen as a state of mind rather than a big community

The colorful population consists of hippies that came

here in the sixties. An old train runs and the economy

is based on the arts productions.

The valley of El Bolson is located right were the Piltriquitron Mountain starts. Mountains and old glaciers provide protections that create a special climate in the Bolson making land very suitable for cultivating. In the 60s hippies from different cities migrated here.. Over 14 thousand inhabitants living here survive thank to agriculture, tourism and hand crafted products.

Once you are in El Bolson tourists commonly visit beer related production sites. Strawberry, cherry and raspberry production sites are also commonly visited because of a unique process used that involves no chemicals or additives.

The main products manufactured here are: homemade jams, jelly, sweets, goat and sheep cheese, home brew beer, chocolates, arts and cotton clothes. The "Feria Artesanal Plaza Pagano" takes place every Thursday and Saturday; most of the products before mentioned are found here. Trips made in the "La Trochita" or "viejo tren patagonico" train are some of the most impressive available. The trains birth date was in 1945 and runs thru 200 kilometers to Esquel.

You can also take this train to get to El Maiten. Once you get to the top of the Piltriquitron the Tronador and the Tres Picos Mountains, the Rio Azul valley and existing parapenting flights can be easily contemplated. You can also visit the Bosque Tallado where recognized Argentine artisans have more than made their mark. A little bit over 100 km from El Bolson tourists find themselves in the "Cholila" vicinity.

This is the closest town to the known worldwide Alerces National Park. Larch trees found here, combine in 263 thousand square km to form the only woods of this type found in the whole world. El Bolson is part of the eight Patagonian Andes towns (Manso, Lago Puelo, El Hoyo, Epuyén, El Maitén, Cholila, Ñorquinco and Cushamen) found in the 42 parallel. These eight towns show incredible relations between them even dough belonging to different provinces.

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