Travel is not all rainbows and unicorns

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So our last weekend was a bust. The original plan was to fly to Cordoba, then drive to Villa General Belgrano (known for the largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany) in the foothills of the Andes mountains, with a day trip to pedestrian mountain village Cumbrecita … both towns known for their German heritage. I was looking forward to a relaxing weekend in the mountains with beer, sausage and schnitzel. A nice contrast to the beef, empanadas and cheese excesses of Buenos Aires.

The AirBnB we rented was not great, better suited for young large drunk men needing space instead of comfort. It was made worse when the whole town shut down at 6 pm on Christmas eve with barely a stray dog stirring. We witnessed the shutdown shortly after the lamest lunch we have experienced, and started to panic as we had no food or water. We hit the last kiosko to close, and grabbed what we could to bunker down for likely two days (water, dulce de leche, coffee, tea, bread, ham, bananas). Is this our vacation?

It got worse that night, when we realized the speed bump below our window was an accelerator button for the mufflerless motorbikes that would drive up and down the main road all night long. Even with my earplugs, I could hear them roar … and the boom boom music of the festive Christmas eve drivers. The noise abated at 7 am when everyone else was going to sleep.

And thats when we noticed that two of our patio doors, one of which was blocked by a sofa, on our first floor appartment (and easily scaleable with nearby trees), could not be locked. So, town shut down, noisy street, lack of safety … I pulled the plug. We packed within minutes, I started the proceedings with the host and airbnb for the refund, and my DH started searching hotels in Cordoba.

Back we went to the less sleepy town of Cordoba, and decided to stay at the Howard Johnson for sentimental value and amusement. It wasnt so bad, but the street noise was still rough, the bed not as comfortable as our “home” in Buenos Aires, and the town not as interesting or exciting as Buenos Aires. We made the best of the last three days, driving up to the nearby lake town of Villa Carlos Paz for a lovely parrilla on a lakeside terrasse, getting lost on some steep unpaved mountain roads, and enjoying the terrasse culture in Cordoba.

But now we are back “home” in Buenos Aires, enjoying our Brazilian brew on our personal balcony, with a bowl full of cherries. The fruit here are incredible, cheap and abundant. Cherries, plums, peaches literally on every corner. Cherries sell for 800-1000 pesos per kilo, thats 4$/kilo in Cdn$, or about 1/5 what we pay in Canada. So my DH gets to eat his favorite fruit almost every day.

We have 7 free non work days to enjoy Buenos Aires before we fly to Mendoza for our wine-soaked escapade. Bring on the bowl of cherries.
















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