Monday, March 31, 2008

A taste of Germany in Villa Belgrano, Cordoba (Day 50)

I finally managed to get a bus out of Salta. We hit a lot of the road blocks (of the short time I was awake we had to navigate through 5 different ones) although it really only amounted to having to navigate through the maze of farm vehicles strategically placed all over the roads. I arrived in Cordoba this morning and only about 1hr later than the scheduled arrival time. The bus I was on had the most awesome reclining seats- you could push the seat back to almost completely horizontal and I had both seats all to myself!

My first impressions of Cordoba were another big city. I didn't notice anything on my way in that really caught my attention. So, when I got into the bus terminal I was ecstatic to catch the next bus to Villa Belgrano, a town in the Valle de Chalamucita about 80km south of Cordoba. This was one of the town recommended to me by the refugio keeper I stayed with in Calon del Azul in El Bolson. I also had time to book my bus ticket back to Buenos Aires on Tuesday night, so I know when I need to make it back to Cordoba.




The ride to Villa Belgrano was hilarious. The weather had turned to rain between Salta and Cordoba and it carried on all throughout today, yielding only a misty fog-view from the bus. I dozed most of the way except for when I was enjoying the slip 'n slide our driver was naviagting. The roads in the Valle de Chalamucita are all dirt- well, they were dirt before the rain. Now they were slick with greasy mud and we slide around the twisty roads up and down the valley. The ditch came pretty close a few times, but the driver managed to pull us out before we got sucked in. Crazy.




Villa Belgrano is this quaint little Dutch/German-inspired town.

They live for their Oktoberfest festival each year which is obvious at every turn here.

They even have a little fair grounds with kiddie rides that they built specifically for Oktoberfest!

I made my way to Albergue El Rincon, a biodynamic farm/albergue/camping area.

I reminded me a lot of the farm in El Bolson. The main building is built from adobe and has a huge fireplace and big wooden tables. There's a fully-stocked outdoor kitchen and a big windmill for green energy.

Although it was still misty, I decided to wander back to town and visit all the little shops. It turned out to be perfect weather for this kind of day, since I probably wouldn't have spent the time in the town if the weather had been nice enough to hike. I popped into all kinds of little artensan shops. It's a good thing this isn't my last stop because I saw tonnes of stuff I would have loved to bring home with me!

I opted instead to treat myself to an afternoon snack. I had read about the Black Forest cake in Villa Belgrano so I figured I better check it out for myself. And to accompany my cake was a cup of homemade hot chocolate (notice the tulip cut-out on the wooden chairs!)

I've never had real Black Forest cake and I'm sure this will spoil every other so-called Black Forest cake from here on. Real cherries and cake drenched in some kind of delicious liquor with real cream icing. And the hot chocolate was soooo yummy. It smelled like butter (I sat there just inhaling the steam) and was so thick and sweet. Oh man it was good.

Tanked up on sugar, I wandered my way back to the camp grounds. I had also picked up a local beer to have with supper and spent the rest of the night chatting with some of the people who work on the farm and an American guy who had been travelling all around South America by motorcycle. He had some wild and crazy stories to tell about getting tear-gased while trying to get through the agriculture riots in Peru (I guess it's not just Argentina) and breaking down in the sketchiest places. He also talked up the town of La Cumbrecita, where I'm headed tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to seeing what all his hype is about.

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