El Bolsón, Argentina, December 26, 2017

This morning, rather than wait for the bus and go all the way to KM 13.5 to meet the group, I walked about a mile and met them lakeside at KM4-

 We only had 130 km to go to reach El Bolsón, population 17,000.  Along the way-

The feria artesanal market was on in Central Park.  There was a lot of the usual - silver jewelry, cotton thread bracelets, essential oils, candles and incense but there were other more interesting booths too such as these maté straws called bombilla.  The strainer keeps the tea leaves out of the sip.  They're made of wood and/or silver-  

One in a maté cup-

Home made instruments-

Knives-

Cheese-

Guitars and ukuleles-

The most awesome hand painted t-shirts for kids-

Dream catchers-

Bowls made from gourds-

Gnome like dolls-

And dried flower arrangements-

For lunch, Weibke and I found the best - bife de chorizo which is a nice filet, perfectly cooked with either fries or salad and a chimichurra sauce and salsa dip for $17.  As a starter, we had baguette pieces with a carrot, garlic, milk pâté.  I'm going to start making that once I'm home again-

On our way home, we stopped in at the Otto Tipp micro brewery but were too full from lunch to try any.  Maybe tomorrow-

We're spending 2 nights in a grassy, lovely campground!