We left on Wednesday night from the Retiro bus station .... this time we paid less for bus tickets (100 pesos each way), which came with unfortunately a downgrade in seat-comfort. I still slept Wednesday night, but it was definitely really uncomfortable and cramped. Also, no meal service. :-( I sat next to this high school boy who helped me translate a lot of words for the reading I was doing though, so that was nice!
On Thursday, we went to La Cumbre - a little village 2 hours north of Córdoba city (where we based ourselves in a hostel). I really love La Cumbre, it is so peaceful, the people were incredibly friendly and helpful, everyone seemed to know each other ... it was great! We got there, did a short hike up to a lookout over the town and the Sierras, and then called up a paragliding instructor to take us paragliding! La Cumbre is famous for its paragliding ... there is a take-off spot 8 km out of the town called Cuchi Corral that hosted some World Paragliding Championships a couple years ago, and since then it's gotten a lot of news for its paragliders. Anyway, we called the instructors, met them in town, and had a coffee with them for awhile while we waited for the wind to calm down. They then took us up to Cuchi Corral where we again waited for the wind to calm down/change direction ..... it was a really pretty day out, and the view from Cuchi Corral is beautiful, so it wasn't a painful wait at all. Unfortunatley, the wind never changed and it wasn't possible for us to take off that afternoon.... but they offered to take us the next day instead. Since paragliding was pretty high on our list of things to do in Córdoba, we agreed to come back to Cumbre the next morning.
We left Córdoba (the capital, where we stayed overnight) at 7 the next morning, to get back to Cumbre at 9 and meet the instructors again. This time, the wind was perfect! Paragliding was really amazing - not scary at all, absolutely no work for you, and we got some really awesome views! I'm really glad I went - definitely recommend it as a thrilling, but not scary or overwhelming activity.
After paragliding, we spent more time hanging out in La Cumbre and then took the 2 hr bus back again to Córdoba. That night we actually had a bit of a fiasco with hostels .... I booked a reservation online through a 3rd party, and it turns out it didn't translate into the hostels reservation log. The weekend was incredibly popular for visitors because it was the last weekend of Oktoberfest, so literally every single hostel in the area (not even just the capital!) was booked. We ended up paying more for a hotel room ... which was actually (in my opinion) worth it ... the breakfast the next morning was likely the best continental breakfast I've ever gotten at a hotel! It was nice to have our own room too, instead of sleep with other random people in a hostel.
On Saturday we woke up and went 2 hours south of Córdoba Capital to Villa General Belgrano - where the Oktoberfest festival is held every year. It is kind of strange going into Villa Gral. Belgrano....it is a little German enclave in the middle of the mountains. Signs are in German, the buildings look German, and they serve all this German food year-round. Kind of strange, but interesting. I think it may have originally been a Nazi escape community? Not sure about the history of that one, but I heard a couple times something to do with Nazis, maybe a sunken ship, not sure. Anyway, Oktoberfest was a lot of fun too - we met a lot of people from all over the country, not just Buenos Aires or even Córdoba. It was interesting to hear all the different accents ... the accent I'm now used to is just specific to Buenos Aires, so most people's accents sounded strange to me!
We came back to Córdoba that night from Villa Gral. Belgrano and immediately got on our long bus back to BA ... we had intended to stay another day actually, but didn't want to split another hotel room and we'd already had a really amazing weekend. Also, I had a midterm on Wednesday that still required quite a bit of studying .... (which turned out okay, by the way!)
I'll post my pictures on this post once my friend uploads her. Unfortunately, I may have left my camera on one of the million buses we took last weekend ... :-(
Awesome! You are really doing a great job making the most of your time away.
ReplyDeleteDo you paraglide on your own or with an instructor with you?
I couldn't really find a connection between Villa Belgrano and the Nazis, but did find a site that said it was settled by Germans in the 1930's fleeing the Nazis.
I think you should always buy gadget insurance..phone, camera, computer. :)