Our bus drove us through the Andes to a little hippy town we'd noted called El Bolson. We fancied experiencing a small town and this one seemed to fit the bill.
We'd only booked one night at a hostel as we figured we could see most of a small town in a day.
However, when we arrived at La Casona de Odile (our chosen hostel), all that changed.
1.5km from the bus terminal (which is actually a dusty layby next to a cafe) in a remote area that we would've never found without a taxi, lay a cluster of rustic log cabins nestled amongst a number of mature trees and wild flowers.
As we approached the reception building, Marcel (one of the owners) greeted us by name and helped us with our bags.
We knew we wouldn't be able to check in until 2pm (it was only 11:30am) but I'd arranged with Marcel on email for us to drop our bags off so we could explore the town without 3 months of our life strapped on our backs.
Marcel asked us to leave our bags outside the front of the reception building as they had a lot of people checking out. When I enquired as to the safety of the bags (something we are rightly very wary about), his answer of, "We never have any thefts here" seemed too good to be true. We really had no choice and left our bags there, kept all our real valuables on us and kept an eye, as much as we could, on the other bags as we were shown around the grounds by Marcel who generously and leisurely showed us around even though he was incredibly busy.
What we saw completely changed our plans for the day.
The log cabins, each hand built from old railway sleepers and and off cuts of wood that we would discard, were scattered spaciously amongst about 15 acres of beautifully maintained, but still wild, gardens.
Winding its way through the grounds was a stunning mountain stream, sometimes 4ft wide but mostly 1ft wide, cutting its way through the lush grass. The gentle sound of the crystal clear water meandering through its tiny channel in the wild lawn was added to in an uncanny acoustic harmony by the breeze blowing through the trees above us.
Lauren and I looked at each other and knew instantly that we weren't going to be seeing any of El Bolson. We'd just arrived in the Garden of Eden. The only downside was, we'd only booked one night!
Having made our decision to have a chill out day, we walked to the nearby store, bought some eggs, sausage and onions and, for the first time on this trip, we made use of the communal kitchen and made ourselves omelettes for lunch.
Whilst we were cooking we got to meet lots of other couples on similar journies to us. For once, we were on the shortest trip as they were mostly traveling between 6 & 9 months!
After lunch we grabbed our books and 2 bottles of ice cold beer and headed to the garden to relax. This was genuinely the first time in just over 4 weeks that we'd had any time to read and we were both looking forward to relaxing in our own little bit of paradise.
First we sat by the little stream, loving the sound of the occasional Trout rising to pick off the occasional, unfortunate fly who'd flown that little bit too close to the water.
As Summer approached, blossom fell from the trees like fragrant snow. It reminded us that at home we'd be opening door 1 of our advent calendars but here we were basking in the beautiful Argentinean sun, breathing lung after lung of fresh mountain air. We were well and truly blessed.
After an hour, we topped up our glasses and headed further into the multicoloured maze, one that we would not have minded in the slightest getting lost in.
We followed a trail of stones laid in the grass, not knowing where it would take us. They led across a small wooden bridge, through the shade of more beautiful trees towards the sound of more flowing water.
As the sound got louder, the path opened up into a small clearing on the banks of the clearest looking river I have ever seen, framed perfectly on each side by a scattering of purple and pink wild flowers. Our jaws dropped as we stared in silence at the beauty before us and thanked God for such a time as this.
The mix of afternoon sunshine and shade from the trees was perfect as we read, sipped the delectable home made beer and chatted together about everything deep and meaningful to us. This was, yet again, a moment we would treasure for the rest of our lives.
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The hostel was the first we'd experienced that had a restaurant on site. In fairness, one of the owners had set up one of the cabins into a perfect communal eating area and cooked home made food every night for her international travellers.
Onion pie and trout pizza were on the menu and were gratefully received by our hungry stomachs.
We joined Tom & Harriet, 24 year old retired teachers from Birmingham (their words!), a couple from Australia and 2 girls from Holland and chatted for hours over the dinner table.
We went to our bed smiling from ear to ear but slightly disappointed that we'd only booked one night in this beautiful little oasis.
Sounds like bliss :)
ReplyDeleteLooks heavenly xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a treat! x
ReplyDeleteThat looks just simply amazing & beautiful, Gloria
ReplyDelete