Hiking to the Cascadas

On Sunday, we decided to go on another day trip from Cordoba, also recommended by a girl at the hostel. We hiked to a small town which had a national park called Parque La Quebrada. There was supposedly a nice waterfall somewhere around there. Eventually we found our way, the hike was beautiful. We hiked along the road, through some people´s yards, through the woods and along the creek until we came upon the waterfall or las cascadas. Along the way, we encountered wild horses, donkeys and cows. There were lots of Argentinian families & couples swimming in the pools of water and waterfalls. When they would hear us talking they would ask us where we were from. Most were surprised and asked us how we found this place, which was kind of cool because it was not full of tourists but a local spot that you can´t find with your Lonely Planet. And in my opinion, those are the best kind.

A pre-hike snack. Look Mom, I´m eating bife!

Parque La Quebrada

¨Donde estan las cascadas?¨

Setting off on our hike

Over the river...

and through the woods....

...to the cascadas!

So refreshing after a long hike.

Jules and I above the falls. She´s a great

travel partner!

A great day in Argentina.

On the road to Cordoba

I arrived in Buenos Aires early Thursday morning and Julie and I set out to walk around the city. We took the Subte (Subway) downtown to Palermo and walked around the botanical gardens and through the neighborhoods. Our walk didn´t last long though because it started to pour. Well it started to trickle, then spray, then POUR! We were absolutely soaked, it was pretty funny. So we headed back to the hostel, showered and hung out until dinner which in BsAs is anywhere from 9:00 - 11:00. You cannot get dinner any earlier. Needless to say, everything runs later here. We met up with some friends that Julie met in her previous hostel at Des Nivel, a parilla or steakhouse. The wine was flowing and after dinner we made our way to another bar, and a discoteque. When we left the disco it was 7am. I walked out of the door and was in shock to see daylight. So, the next day when we decided to take the bus to Cordoba, which is a town Northwest of Buenos Aires, I was not feeling so hot.....

Dinner at Des Nivel. I did not order the bife de
lomo but I tried a bite of Jules´ - not bad.

Julie, our Colombian friend David and I arrived at Cordoba at 2am after a few mishaps - the bus ran into a fallen power line and was delayed 45 minutes. The bus also broke down for another 40 minutes, not sure why. Not the most reliable form of transportation, but cheap and surprisingly comfortable. We had a late dinner around 4:30am at a little cafe and went to bed around 6:30 am. Day two of seeing the sunrise....still not used to this.

We asked the girl at our hostel for a cool place to visit and she recommended a nearby town called Carlos Paz. It was a really nice little town on the river. We didn´t do much. Had some lunch, walked along the river, had a few beers. It was a nice, relaxing day.

Jules & I in Carlos Paz.

Rough life I know!

Me, David & Jules enjoying some beers at a

local kiosco. 2 cervezas = 8 pesos = about $2.70

A Long Trip to Buenos Aires

Let´s just say that getting here to Argentina took a little longer than expected! I arrived at Dulles on Tuesday around 3:00pm for a 5:30pm flight. Flight boarded as usual but we were informed that we would be delayed because of storms in the Atlanta region (where I was connecting). We ended up getting to Atlanta around 9:30, my flight to Buenos Aires was supposed to leave at 8:40pm that night. I ran down to the very last terminal to see if I could catch my flight but it had already left. After waiting in a line with many other disgruntled passengers, I was informed that I would have to wait until tomorrow for the same flight at 8:40 pm since there is only one flight a day to BsAs. I was given a voucher to stay at the Ramada Inn (still had to pay $45). Let´s just say this was the worst possible hotel I could have stayed at. It was under renovation so there was no pool, no lounge, no business center. So I arrived there around 12am, had a nutritious dinner of gingerale and doritos and called it a night.


My survival kit for the next couple months.


I awoke at 9am with a full day ahead of me, but it was raining so that didn´t offer much. I flipped between Food Network, Travel Channel and the ridiculous reality shows on VH1. When I found myself watching "America´s Most Smartest Model" I felt it was time to get going. So I set off to find something to eat in the lovely town of College Park, GA. Apparently, I didn´t fit in there, because every other car felt the need to beep and hoot at me. Awesome. After seeing the sights which included: numerous title pawn shops (a sign you are in the South), the Dollar Tree and every fast food establishment known to man, I decided to have lunch at a little thai place called HOT CAFE where I had a delicious plate of Pan Se Ew. I effectively killed the rest of the day reading and writing in my journal (when you start including a time with your journal entries, you are really bored!). In retrospect, having a day to kill wasn´t that bad. The days before I left were hectic and emotionally very hard. So having a day to myself was probably what I needed. My flight was great, met a nice woman named Helga and her daughter Carla who grew up in Argentina and went to Med School there but now lives in Kentucky. Big change eh? She gave me lots of great tips and was really sweet. I arrived in Buenos Aires right on time, 24 hrs later. I met up with Jules at the Milhouse Hostel in BsAs and was excited to be there, finally!


Helga, Carla and I on the plane.


Julia & Teen back together again.
It poured down rain on our walk
around Palermo.