Hit and miss

I'm struggling with how to sum up our days in La Cumbre. It has been such a weird mix of good and bad that I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this experience (or, lack thereof). Rather than lose a few loyal readers in the process of trying to elaborately map out the details of the last three days, I instead think it might be best to resort to an old-fashioned pros and cons list. Thus, by the end, it may perhaps become clear (at least to me!) whether or not we should declare this visit a success or one instance of where we should have gotten on a different bus.

PRO - La Cumbre has to be one of the most beautiful towns we've ever been in. For those LOTR fans out there, I have even used the word "Shire" when trying to articulate something I could relate it to. Pete and I wandered down some streets that were completely fairy-tale like - lush green trees and plants, perfect cottages with large, perfectly manicured yards. If I were to imagine any place in the world where I would want to see our kids riding bicycles in the streets, this would be it. A town of only 9,000 people, it has everything to offer in a completely homey atmosphere.

CON - We are obviously not the only ones who have this view! La Cumbre's residents include many ex-pats, people who have had the same reaction as above and decided to take root here. While that has it's pluses (we've visited both French and Thai restaurants - a nice change from the usual Argentinian fare!), it also has it's minuses. For traveler's who want to experience "real Argentina", this isn't it. This is where the rich Argentinians from Buenos Aires or Cordoba have second homes (for relatively cheap), and where other nationalities buy property for a deal.

PRO - Beautiful hostel - a large older house, well maintained and on a huge piece of property. Our room is spotless and the setting is the most tranquil we have been in.


CON - The hostel is run by the family of five that lives here as well. Feels like we are imposing on their space, especially when it comes to sharing the kitchen.

PRO - La Cumbre held the world paragliding championships in 1994, so it is a natural place for Pete and Aafke to take their second, much-anticipated plunge. The landscape here is so lush that it would be much different than our jump over the browns of Mendoza. The drive on the bumpy road up the mountain was worth it just for the view alone:

CON - You want HOW MUCH for paragliding during high season? Pass.

PRO - Aafke stayed with friends in La Cumbre that had moved from The Netherlands last year. They have been most gracious to all of us - having us over for coffee and lunch, driving us to a nearby hotel to enjoy their pool for the afternoon, taking us up to Cuchi Corral (the paragliding site). We are always so grateful for generous strangers who become friends.

CON - Aafke, Pete and I were all very excited at the prospect of finding our way to the nearby town of Jesus Maria to take in some of the Gaucho Festival - Argentina's equivalent to the Calgary Stampede! We were trying to think of how we could get there (an expensive car rental or dealing with a bus route that would be a bit complicated), when our new friends offered to take us as they wanted to see the Festival as well. Problem solved! We arranged for an extra night in La Cumbre and were up early to be at their house in time to get in a full day of rodeo action. We were overwhelmed with disappointment when just ten minutes before our departure, they had changed their minds about going. Having already made other commitments for our next leg of the trip, it is too late to try and fit it in another day. I guess we will never find out if the bulls are as brassy or the broads as boozy in Jesus Maria as they are in Calgary.

All in all, this little side trip wasn't a total failure, but 4 days here was probably 2 days too many, and missing the Gaucho Festival is a big disappointment. Back to Cordoba tomorrow afternoon in order to board another overnight bus - this time to the much anticipated city of Salta! Many of the people we have met traveling have commented that Salta is one of their favourite stops in all of Argentina. Pete and I have even been debating sticking around in Salta for awhile... we shall see when we get there...STAY TUNED!

Off the path

We left our subpar living arrangements behind in Mendoza and decided to step it up as a New Years treat for us both! First up, a ten hour overnight bus trip, in nothing less than first class.

Bus travel is really done well in Argentina. First class meant fully reclining seats, a flat screen TV and a full service menu with wine. Being that the bus left at 10:30pm, the only thing I really took advantage of was the fully reclining chair, but it was still totally worth it (Pete, however, took his fair share - and mine - of the free wine!) Given that it was only about $8 more for each of us, you can count on us going first class the rest of our way thru this country.

We arrived in Cordoba at 7:30am and hopped on another 1 hour bus to the small city of Alta Gracia for two nights. We continued our "New Years treat" to ourselves by booking into an actual hotel (not a hostel) for the first time since we left home. We were thrilled to see the immaculately clean room, and the matching immaculateness of the outdoor pool. Our little piece of heaven for a couple of days.

Apparently not everyone thinks of Alta Gracia that way, especially the locals! Twice on our first day, we had residents ask us WHY we had gone out of our way to visit this city - they were pretty shocked that we were here strictly as tourists and not just to visit any friends and family.

And after our two days here, I think they are underselling their city. It is very much off the tourist path, but it is a perfectly laid back and quiet place to recharge for a couple of days. There are many beautiful parks and interesting statues, a Jesuit Estancia Museum that is now a UNESCO World Heritage site, and also the childhood home of revolutionary Che Guevara which has now been turned into a museum. Lots to see and do, and we easily filled our two days!

After a quick nap in our immaculate white room after our arrival, we took in some sights and explored a bit of the town, but we were foremost in search of where to go to see the world famous Dakar Rally as it rolled through! For those of you who don't know what it is (I didn't!), Pete explained it to me as the Super Bowl of rally racing for all kinds of vehicles - cars, motorbikes, quads, etc. It happens annually since 1978 (usually from Paris to Dakar), but is being held in South America for the second time. Starting in Buenos Aires on New Years Day, the race will go over the Andes into Chile to finish in Santiago. This is apparently quite a big deal, and Pete was determined to bear witness to it!

The tourist info office advised us where to go, which we in turn advised a cab. We thought it was on the edge of town, and had no idea that he would be taking us 20kms outside of it. We were dropped off at a highway intersection where a couple hundred people gathered to watch and cheer as the vehicles drove by. And, that's all it was. Watching and cheering. Hmm.

Pete was enjoying himself and took some great pictures - instead I found a nice spot in the shade of a billboard beside a very nice, older Argentinian couple. After standing there for only a couple of minutes, the man went to his car to bring me an extra chair to sit on, and offered me some cold water. They were so friendly and generous (a very big characteristic of Argentinians, we have found!) and cute to watch as they dolled out snacks to their grandchildren, sang along to the songs on their transistor radio, and even tried to show me what some of the native plants were in the bushes behind us. I really enjoyed my afternoon with them, but as the day wore on, Pete and I decided we had to deal with the looming problem in front of us - how on earth were we going to get back to town?

We were 20kms out of the city with no phone and no taxi stand nearby. Walking would have been very difficult in my flip flops and with no water in the 30+ degree weather. Thus, we did something neither of us have ever done before - we stuck out our thumb and tried to hitch a ride back! It took only about 15 minutes, and an old pick-up truck inhabited by a young couple stopped to pick us up. We rode back to town in the open back of the truck, once again treated to the easy, simple generosity of these people. We were very grateful!

We ended our day with a dip in the pool at our hotel...very luxurious for this grungy traveling couple!

Our second day in town has been dedicated to checking out the museums. We started out with the museum of Che Guevara - housed in his actual childhood home of 11 years, and just down the street from our hotel. Pete and I were both very excited for this visit as we have read an awful lot about Che, and the museum did not disappoint with many pictures and relics from his childhood and later years.

For those who know nothing about Che (Margo), check out this website by clicking here (Margo). Everyone should know who he is. Margo.

On our way to the second museum, we found a little store with all the ingredients necessary for an awesome picnic in the park - bread, different cheeses, sausage, and wine! Love the lack of open alcohol rules in this country!

A beautiful place for a picnic

Our last stop was a museum in a former Jesuit Estancia - a large ranch built and operated by the Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century to economically support the first university in Argentina. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site and has a beautifully preserved residence and church.

This whole area of north western Argentina has been largely influenced by the Jesuit missionaries of the 17th century, to which I know very little about, except that they arrived to bring Catholicism to Latin America, but were kicked out by the King of Spain in the late 18th century. I've added it to the list of things I need to research - this is a problem I have found with traveling, it raises far too many questions that I must answer! That list is getting awfully long...

Tomorrow morning we are back onto the bus to Cordoba for a couple of nights exploring the bigger city - back on the tourist trail! Some of our favourite spots we have seen so far are those that we venture off the path to explore, and Alta Gracia has been no exception. Perhaps it is a good thing that the locals "undersell" their town, in order to keep it a "find" for those who are willing to look for it...

Looking for a place to happen...

Our highly anticipated stay in Mendoza is coming to an end after two weeks and after we've said goodbye to the fantastic year that was 2009.

Our time in Mendoza hasn't quite been what we've expected. The city is so incredibly beautiful and it is easy to waste away many days here, but we both can't help like feeling we're being pushed out due to our string of bad accomodations - first, the dungeon and lack of water at the hostel for the few days. And then, when we were happy to finally get out of the dungeon and into a better room, we met our roommates - the bed bugs! After our initial contact with the blasted little critters, our hostel quite diligently got a fumigator in to dispose of them (they actually weren't in our bed, but in the wall behind the bed). It seemed to work the first night, but after the second night I woke up with a few more bites. Frustrated with the whole situation and the response of the staff, we started looking for another place to stay. Finally, the hostel offered us our remaining two nights in their apartment downtown at the price of what we would have paid at the hostel.

We accepted, knowing we likely had no other options during this busy time of year. I also personally think they should have given us the apartment for free, or at least given our stay at the hostel with some kind of discount, but they refused. The apartment was also nothing to write home about, except to say that it could use a good deep clean.

To escape the hostel and the city, we did venture out of town for one day to a water park in a little town called Cacheuta about an hour away. It was nice to be away from the bustle and driving through the multi-colored Andes once again! The setting for the water park was breathtaking against the pink and green backdrop of the mountains and overlooking a small river below. There were countless pools of all sizes including some thermals (not sure why anyone wants to sit in a hot pool when it's +30 degrees...but they were full!), water slides and fountains. It was a nice way to spend the day - alternating between sun and water - although the park could do with an infusion of beach chairs and lockers.

Water park at Cacheuta

We were sure that all of this rest and relaxation would be needed to get ready for our last night in the city - New Years Eve! Gill returned to town to celebrate with us, and we all were very excited to ring in the New Year - Argentinian style - whatever that meant.

We were severely disappointed. Apparently, we picked the one city in the world that does absolutely NOTHING to ring in the new year! We wandered down to the main city plaza expecting some sort of celebration (at the very least a countdown), and it was the absolute deadest we have ever seen it since being here. We tried a few more streets that are normally busy, nothing. Asked some locals, nothing. All there seemed to be was odd groups of tourists like us, wandering aimlessly.

With only twenty minutes to go until midnight, we wandered back to Gill's hostel, grabbed a bottle of bubbly and headed to the outdoor patio where there was supposed to be a "party". There were 5 other people, a disco ball, and a very intoxicated DJ/bartender who wouldn't play anything but The Clash and Joy Division. It was the best option we had been presented all night, so we made our own fun!

Happy New Year!

After almost a couple of hours under the disco ball we decided to go, given the DJ/bartender was now subjecting us to a bunch of music and videos of his own band. We wandered down the STILL empty streets, trying to find a more happening place, to no avail. We stopped in one more bar with decent music blaring, but again it was empty. We busted out a few more moves, and then gave up and called it a night. It was overall the weirdest New Years Eve we ever had, and could have also been the lamest if it wasn't for our own determination to make it fun, no matter what we did!

Fun for New Years Eve turned into a little sickness for New Years Day! Our last day in Mendoza is being spent watching typical hangover movies and recovering on the couch of our old hostel. Tonight we board a 10 hour bus to our next stop of Alta Gracia, leaving this bug infested city behind for some comfort - we are "splurging" on a nice place for the next couple of nights. Hopefully this will be the end of our "visits" from these little friends.

Happy New Year to all of our friends and family back home! I hope 2010 brings everything you desire, and more. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us...

Packing it all into 2009!

For Christmas Eve we decided to partake in this regions most famous export - the wine! With Gill and her sister Ruth finally joining up with Pete, Aafke and I, we booked a winery tour through our hostel. The most common way to do it is via bicycle, there is a 14km stretch just outside of Mendoza that has 10 wineries lining it.

When we arrived at the bike rental location we were very disappointed to learn that of the 10 wineries on the strip, only 2 were open for the day, whereas our hostel had assured us that all would be open even though it was Christmas Eve (later, when complaining to our hostel, we received the option of a 50% discount or the chance to do it again for free....hmmmm....more free wine, please!) Slightly grouchy but still excited for the experience (and of course, the wine!), we picked up our bikes and were on our way.

This tour was not at all what I expected. I had visions of riding our bikes down quaint dirt roads, with olive trees hanging over one side and grape vines over the other. I expected soft Italian classical music to be playing in the background and cartoon birds flying just in front of us to guide us along. Not surprisingly, this perception of mine was shattered within the first few minutes.

We started out on a very busy open road through the town of Maipu. Large delivery trucks barreled past us, honking repeatedly to let us know they were coming (like we couldn't hear them). The traffic weakened a bit as we got further out of town, and we finally became able to escape the heat of the sun as we cycled under large trees that provided some shade on the road. Of course, 1 of the only 2 wineries open was the last one on the map, and so 45 minutes later we arrived at the Carinae bodega.

It was a quaint little family run winery, and after a quick tour we dove into the tasting. This area is known largely for their Malbecs, so we were surprised that we all fell in love with the only white on the menu - the Torrentes. We each loaded a bottle of it into our bike baskets and made our way to the second winery.

Pete, Aafke and Ruth taste testing!

Vina El Cerno was much bigger and also served an optional lunch. We decided as a group to skip the tour and while our steaks were grilling we again dove right into the tasting! This time, even though the Malbec was tastier, we all also loved the sparkling white and Pete and I picked up another bottle. Finishing lunch at just after 3pm, we headed back to drop off the bikes and get back into Mendoza for the Christmas Eve dinner.

Lining them up at Vina El Cerno

Our wine tasting entourage

In Latin America (and I believe in most parts of Europe), Christmas Eve is a bigger deal then the actual Christmas Day - complete with the big family dinner, gift opening, and even fireworks! Our hostel combined forces with another to offer up a big family style dinner to all of their guests. It was an incredible array of food, all served up on the other hostel's large, beautiful outdoor patio. Cider was provided to cheers at midnight, and we took to the streets to try to see the fireworks that we could hear overhead. In our little group we talked about all the different traditions we would be partaking in if we were all at home, as well as several other topics of conversation that will remain unnamed for your sake (trust me on that one!)

Being the busy day that it was for Christmas Eve, we kept Christmas Day pretty low key. We spent the afternoon enjoying some similar traditions from home - baileys in our coffee and watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation! After a marathon Skype session with our families, we got ready for another dinner out with our adopted traveling family. While you all consumed turkey with all the trimmings, we downed enormous steaks, lamb, and even some shrimp. All with copious amounts of wine, of course!

Perhaps a smarter strategy would have been to save the copious amounts of wine for what came next....jumping off the side of a mountain on boxing day!

I have never considered myself a thrill-seeker. I know my limits, I don't even like going on rides at the fair. However, during our four months of travels, Pete and I have become harder to impress. Sights need to be bigger and more spectacular, and our activities need to push our limits just a little more. I felt pretty at ease with the zip-lining that I did just a few days before, so I thought I was ready to step it up one more notch. Pete, Aafke and I signed up for paragliding!

After we committed to booking it, I didn't want us to speak of it until we went. If I thought about it too much, I was sure that I would chicken out. I just wanted to get through the day, show up on the mountain late in the afternoon, and just ...jump!

At 3pm we were picked up from our hostel and taken to the jumping point. The drive was up a very windy and bumpy road on the side of the mountain and Pete and I rode in the open back of the truck. We clutched to the sides of the truck pretty intensely, wondering if it was possible for the actual jump to be as scary as the drive up there. We hoped not!

At the top there were at least a couple of dozen people waiting to jump with their guides. Wings (the parachute thingy that you glide with) were spread out all over the slope, and our driver told us that we would be going after the first round of people. What he didn't tell us was that we would be going after everyone went once, and then three of the guides would have to come back up the mountain to take us.

The gear

This added to the agony of the anticipation! One by one, everyone jumped off around us, as well as some single jumpers that had their own gear. We watched as one guy totally chickened out and refused to jump. We saw one girl get stopped at the edge with her guide as they didn't get the wing up high enough for take off. We waited, and waited.

Also during our wait, we saw one of the single jumpers falling from the sky. She had ridden some thermals so she was up quite high above us, and something must have gone wrong. Her emergency chute had deployed but it was on a weird angle with her wing, so she was falling. It was hard to tell from where we were how fast she was descending, but she was going straight down. Some of the guides that were still left on the mountain were trying to contact her via radio to no avail. Then, she disappeared behind a mountain and we never saw or heard what happened to her. It was a very disturbing thing to see, and of course added to the anxiety of our own impending jumps. But, the jumping continued as a few more people went off ahead of us and finally our three guides arrived to get us ready.

After a brief bit of instruction, Pete, Aafke and I were all geared up and ready for take-off. Again we had to wait a bit, the wind has to be coming in just the right way in order to make the jump. As we knew the time was getting close, the weirdest feeling came over me, I felt completely at peace. I was no longer scared, I just stared down at the edge and was ready to go. Pete and Aafke later said they had the exact same feeling. None of us really ever expected to feel that.

Aafke and Pete all geared up!

Pete went first, and I wish I would have been close enough to him that I could have videoed or even gotten a picture of him taking off. Immediately after taking off, the wing dipped down below the mountain and my heart skipped a little until the wind caught and I saw him lift back up above the mountain. Then Aafke went, and she immediately was caught by the thermals and ended up floating above all of us for most of the time.

Aafke after take-off

Then, it was my turn. "Run, run, run!" shouted the guide and all I could do was put my head down and start running towards the edge of the mountain. He ran behind me pulling at the strings of the wing to make it inflate, and when he turned around and ran with me, I knew that this was it. I ran until the land disappeared from underneath my feet, and we were off! I'm sure that my heart stopped for a few seconds and I was just overcome with what an amazing feeling it was. All I could hear was the rush of the wind, and it was actually very peaceful for the first minute or so.

We had taken off at a different edge then Pete and Aafke, so we turned around to join them. As we circled around the side of the mountain and among the 6 or so total jumpers out there, my nerves started to kick in. We at times got a little too close for comfort with the other jumpers, and a digital tool that the guide used was incessantly beeping. The intensity of the beeps would rise and fall randomly and repeatedly - I wanted to ask what the beeping was for, but I was too scared of the answer. After doing some research afterward I found out that it has to do with the strength of the wind, and nothing to do with the multitude of scary things that were running through my head - like the beeps being a warning that we were too close to the others or that we were too slanted and in danger of losing the air in the wing. I started to let these thoughts get the better of me, and with the memory of seeing that single jumper fall out of the sky, I started to get very nervous.

I also should have never looked directly down. Seeing my feet in perspective of the earth far below me was unnerving! Condors and eagles were also circling far below, which reminded me of how high we were.

That is a loooooong way down!

As nervous and scared as I was, I did manage to keep it together and get some pretty cool pictures as we went (don't forget to check out this link for more pictures: CLICK HERE )


Even though I was one of the last ones to take off, I was the first one on the ground about 20 minutes later. It felt pretty good to have ground under my feet again, and I got to watch (and video!) Aafke and Pete's landings.

I am pretty proud and happy to have done this, but that was IT FOR ME! I'm glad I did it, I did mostly enjoy it, but I won't ever do it again. I have found my extreme sporting limit, (which I am sure will make Mom and Dad very happy). Pete and Aafke however, are now addicted, and are making plans to go skydiving at our next location. I will happily watch from the ground...I am done my little bit of thrill-seeking for 2009 (and perhaps EVER!)

¡Feliz Navidad!

Two days until Navidad is here, and this holiday season is sure shaping up to be a lot different then any one we have had before! This became very apparent to me when I started perusing Facebook statuses of my friends today and had some flashbacks to Christmases past. Here are some examples of the crazy comparisons:

Shawna is FINALLY done wrapping presents!

Brett....so cold!!

Darby...gotta love Christmas! Gogogo!

and finally, my favourite:

Trevor...anyone know how to get Christmas tree scratches off your flat screen?

We have no presents to wrap or unwrap. It is the exact opposite of cold here - +35 degrees today! There is definitely no gogogo, in fact, we have been borderline lazy. And while there is a wee Christmas tree in our hostel, the equally tiny TV should be safe on the far other side of the lounge.

Our first few days in Mendoza were completely lazy, and we loved every minute of it. No need to rush to see sights or to get our next bus ticket. We have two weeks here and thus just enjoyed soaking up the youthful beat of the city for a couple of days. We've strolled through the beautiful streets under the shade of the enormous trees that line it, stopping for coffee or beer at one of the many outdoor cafes and doing some serious people watching. We did a bit of shopping, and even returned to the large city park to enjoy some more time by the lake. We've watched a couple of movies at our hostel and learned a new card game from an Aussie. All the while, we have been enjoying ample quantities of super cheap beer and wine and delicious food!

We also decided to save up some of the tourist activities for when our friends arrived and we could do it all together. Yesterday, our Dutch friend Aafke arrived and after introducing her to some of our favourite sights thus far, we procured tickets to a musical show later in the evening. It was called "Memorias de Navidad", and was comprised of three bands performing different Argentinian musical styles: folkloric, tango and salsa. Even some Christmas carols, but only one that we recognized (Little Drummer Boy). It wasn't quite what we expected (by the poster, I thought it was going to be more of a dance demonstration, I have a ways to go yet with my Spanish), but it was still very enjoyable and we were glad to be doing something somewhat "Christmasy"!


And then chalk today up to experiencing another holiday season activity that is likely different then anything you are doing - Aafke and I went ziplining! Pete decided not to go, declaring this outing a "girls day out"...that's a normal girls outing, right? Screw spa dates and movies, we decided to jump off a mountain and ride a cable for 500ms over a river!


Pete and I had done this once before in Costa Rica, but this was a totally different experience. Instead of flying over treetops in the rainforest, we went over bare hill tops and then back and forth over a large river. The longest cable was 500m (took about 45 seconds to traverse), and was 70m over the ground. It was kind of scary, but mostly just very exhilarating!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

Tomorrow the fun will continue! Two more friends showed up today and we are hitting the winery circuit...via bicycle (I hope they have training wheels). And while you are all tucking the kids into bed before Santa comes or wrapping last minute gifts, we'll be partying! Tradition here dictates that Christmas Eve is a bigger deal then Christmas Day, so we will be partaking in our hostel's party that includes a huge buffet and wine to toast when the clock turns to midnight.

Wishing you all the happiest of Christmases!! We will be thinking of you as we eat our steaks instead of turkey and put on our shorts instead of toques...cheers to new traditions! =)