Cordoba

After trudging around Aconcagua we headed back to Mendoza and caught a night bus directly to Cordoba. A girl we met recommended Cordoba and the Sierra around it which would be much warmer and easier than Aconcagua and have, swimming holes, etc. We arrived and looked at some really sub-standard rooms or everything good was booked so we finally landed in Hostel Art. Hostel Art has been around for ten months and is run by a French guy named Maty. It’s a little run down but there are murals and multi levels and a sweeping marble staircase. We stayed in the “Jim Morrison” room which is accessed from the roof top, has its own fireplace and bath and little balcony over a busy street. We laid around there and it was really hot, but most importantly we had our laundry done. We ate some strange Arab food and tried the grog that’s popular locally called Fernet. It is dark and strong and tastes like medication and is served with Coke Cola. Next we bused it over to a small town we read about in the Central Sierras called La Cumbrecita. It sounded good because they have a no car policy. We arrived and the whole place is like an Austrian – Barvarian themed village. We stayed at a very clean and comfortable and quiet guest house called Casa Rosita. The village is very popular with Argentines because is at almost 6000 feet and has mild summer weather. There are lots of evergreen trees and waterfalls and swimming holes. People arrive in the morning at about 11 am and walk on the dirt (actually granite sand) streets. There are lots of shops and ice cream places and shady tea houses. It clears out about 8 pm and is very quiet. We ate at Bar Suiza (Swiss Bar). One night they had polka music and set the tables out in the street and we ate and drank and listened to an um pa pa band. We hiked above town in the Sierras which are open rolling granite hills with green pastures and interesting rock formations and many clear running streams and waterfalls. They go on forever. After a nice relaxing few days we boogied back to Cordoba, restocked and headed to another place called Los Gigantes for backpacking. We bused up there and it was interesting to go from a bustling city of 1.4 million to being dropped of in the middle of BFE out in the open pampas at a hut by a gravel road. The main road from Cordoba was primitive and rough. We walked on a dirt track to a refugio called Rotunda where we had to pay $1.50 to enter Los Gigantes. Los Gigantes is a complex of granite towers and fins, sort of like the Fiery Furnace in Arches national park only bigger and with more relief. We trudged up a route (no real trails) with two substandard maps to guide us. There are all types of granite formations and gullies and springs and grass pastures with the odd cow roaming around. We got off route a few times but kept climbing up until we made a pass and could look down on a refugio. Immediately the clouds closed in and we wandered in the fog to the hut. Amazingly someone was in there (a friendly guy named Emile) and we chatted and had mate and coffee and the weather turned awful. It rained and thundered and whited out. Emile said we could stay there with his three friends which very was nice. The refugio had a big dining kitchen area and a separate bunk room. Next day was a little better but the weather deteriorated. We set up the tent down in a granite valley and hung out until about 4 pm when the clouds parted and it was beautiful. We hiked around on all these weird rocks up to another hut were we rested and two condors came low overhead. The fog came back and we departed for the tent. The night was literally dark and stormy and in the morning water was running everywhere. Sheri wanted to catch the 12 noon bus so we got up and packed the tent in soaking rain and trudged out. Backtracking a few times in the maze of rocks, walking in streams, and finally after a few hours arriving at the hut on the dirt road for the bus. We dried out in a hotel room and from Cordoba we caught a night bus to San Juan.