After a sleepless overnight bus ride from Mendoza, we arrived in the University town of Có rdoba , Argentina. We were allowed to check into our hostel early and spent the morning catching up on sleep. Our hostel was located on the pedestrian Independencia St. which was quiet when we arrived, but came to life as the day wore on. Blankets were set out on the street and covered with merchandise including fake watches, socks, sunglasses, used shoes, toys, and peanuts. We ate lunch at the country’s largest tenedor libre restaurant, which is a big buffet offering Argentinean cuisine as well as food from around the world. We toured the city center and noticed the thousands of students from the seven different universities in town walking the streets. Plaza San Martin was a lovely South American Plaza complete with churches, benches, statues, and street vendors. While we did enjoy the city, the highlight of our time spent in this part of the country was a day trip we took to the small town of La Cumbrecita.
La Cumbrecita is located roughly three hours away from Có rdoba . Situated in the Sierra Grandes and mostly populated by central European immigrants, the pedestrian town now caters to eco-tourism. We arrived and began the full circuit hike around the mountain. Our first stop was Cascada Grande, a very large and cold waterfall set back into the cliff. From there, we hiked to smaller waterfalls and lakes, but none were as impressive as our first stop. While eating a Bavarian lunch, we met three Americans, which was unusual because we rarely meet people from our own country. The first couple heard our accents and practically ran over to seek refuge with other English speakers. They were traveling for one week in Argentina and were full of questions that we tried our best to answer. We were impressed that they decided to travel all the way to South America for their one week holiday, because so many Americans tend to keep their trips closer to home. It solidified our fear of returning home and working in the states because how are we going to continue traveling the world with so little vacation time?!?!? Our next fellow American was a little more like us and had been on the road for a few months. Sarah is also twenty-six and quit her job as a nurse to travel. We got along really well with her and shared stories over coffee and dessert before heading back to Có rdoba . As always, we wished we would have had more time to spend the night in one of the quaint guesthouses and explore even more of the nearby trails.
Asados (BBQ’s) are very popular in Argentina and we enjoyed an authentic meal on the hostel’s rooftop terrace. The staff cooked a feast consisting of salad, rice, bread, Chelsea’s vegetarian substitute – stuffed peppers, and platters and platters full of meat! Beer and wine were included and we spent the evening practicing our Spanish with Hector from Spain. We also had the chance to try maté , which is South America’s traditional tea served out of an interesting cup. The leaves are piled in and then hot water is poured on top and a special a filtered straw is used to drink the tea. Có rdoba was a nice city, but we were very excited to get to our next destination. From the moment we entered South America, everyone we met talked about their favorite city and we were anxious to see if Buenos Aires would live up to the expectations that our fellow backpackers had given it.
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