Parallel 42º Andean Shire - EL BOLSÓN

Note: First of all, excuse me: I have to say that I´m trying to write this blog in English so you can read it, but I recognize that my English is poor...

My place in the world, Lago Puelo, is one of the villages that form the PARALLEL 42º ANDINE SHIRE (Comarca Andina del Paralelo 42º). This parallel is the border between two provinces: Chubut and Río Negro. But it is only a border in the maps and of jurisdiction because this Andean region functions as a whole thing.



The Piltriquitrón


 The largest town of this region is EL BOLSÓN, and in this post I will try to show you a little of it. It is situated in a fertile valley at the foot of the Andes and the Piltriquitrón Hill, on the banks of the Quemquemtreu river. The village has a special microclimate that helps to plantations such as berries and hop, used in the beers.

Pagano Square and the mount Piltriquitrón



Typical Street of El Bolsón



The first white man who arrived to the place was Captain Juan Fernández, searching the mythical City of the Caesars but in the area the "tehuelches" and the "mapuches" later lived for hundred of years. In 1880 some farmers from Chile were established. People of differents places of Europe began to arrive and settled down in El Bolsón such as Polish, Russian, German, Ukranian, Italian, Spanish... On 28 January 1926, some residents signed up the act of the initial administrative and political organization of the city.



Church (Nuestra Señora de Luján) and sculpture in Pagano Square



In the seventies a lot of bohemian young people of the "hippie" movement arrived to El Bolsón, changing their lifestyle. They came from the big cities like Buenos Aires, settled in the farms and made handcrafts. Till now you can see them in the Pagano square where the Regional Fair is a tourist attraction.



Regional Fair in Pagano Square



Totem Patagonicum (Sculpture) at Pagano Square

El Bolsón is placed at the foot of the mount Piltriquitrón (The Piltri, is the nickname used by the inhabitants). The name Piltriquitrón in the "mapuche" tongue means "hanging from the clouds". It´s a very beautiful mountain of 2260 meters and some people say that it has a special energy... In the year of 1982 there was a large fire in the beech forest that covers the hill and later a group of artists organized "The Carved Forest", an exhibition of wood carving at 1500 meters of altitude.



Photo Courtesy of ANÍBAL ESTEBAN ORELLANO



Since 1984, El Bolsón was declared NON NUCLEAR ZONE and ECOLOGICAL MUNICIPALITY...



San Martín Avenue - Old building



In this beautiful place combines magnificent nature, art, the magic of its climate, adventure in the mountains and rivers, tranquility and peace of its inhabitants... truly, a paradise on earth with "The Piltri" as its guardian...

The "Piltri"

WELCOME TO "EL BOLSÓN"