Every river, swimming pool and fountain I’ve seen in Argentina has been dry. So when we met up with Lauren and James for a week, my only requirement was water. Tick. The tree frog (Lauren), the wolf (James), the elephant and the cheetah set off for Mina Clavero after a couple of uninspiring days in Cordoba (except for the best coffee in Argentina at Victoria cafe and some dinosaur bones at a museum).
Lauren and I knew the limitations of looking for accommodation with the boys, so we left them with a bottle of Quilmes and headed down the road in search of a deal. With Lauren’s spanish we landed a private cabin/house, Los Angeles, for a week at a price that was cheaper than a hostel. Swimming pool, our own bedroom, bathroom and a kitchen. Absolute luxury.
Hanging in Mina Clavero was our little summer holiday. A holiday from travel if you like. We were able to cook our own meals (finally a rest from cheese), shower without jandals, hang clothes on a washing line and unpack the pack! Like I said, luxury. And a ten minute walk away from us was a beautiful rocky river, dotted with private swimming holes, small rapids and mountain views in the background.
No trip to the river was complete without a guided tour by my favourite dog ever (don’t be fooled by the little affection I usually have for dogs). The first day he guided us through the rocky terrain, protected me from a snake (yes I freaked out a tad) and then showed us a beautiful place to swim – muy linda. I called him Spike, what a dog.
- Spike and James
The next trip to the river was a little more exhilarating. We found Spike again and he proceeded to risk his life to show us where not to swim. I can’t do it justice so will leave Bevan to tell the tale in his blog but basically we found a new swimming hole and were wondering how strong the current was. Spike jumped in and his doggy paddle couldn’t battle the current. James jumped in to save Spike and the two of them ended with a ride down a pretty decently sized rapid. Both were shaken but unharmed except for James’ sunnies that are still somewhere in the rapid.
Yes, the current was too strong.
We all loved Mina Clavero and the lady running Los Angeles. We called her Mum, she gave us angels when we left and we gave her flowers.
My memories of Mina Clavero are: buckets of ice-cream, a group obsession with iPod solitaire, an epic dice game tournament, sunburn, Museum Rogen and its random collection of everything (eg. a shrunken head, an old x-ray machine, insect taxonomy), me kicking-butt at air hockey, instant coffee and porridge for four in the mornings, the boys making friends with whoever sold them Quilmes, gin and tonic with lemon, winning the bet on how long the bus will take to arrive after our freezing 10km condor walk through clouds and Spike.
Buenos Aires is the kind of city I could live in – the kai is good, the folks are friendly and there is so much going on, and, all at a well-considered pace. Of course it is still a big hot smelly city but it has sense of self, without any ego.
The Cheetah
Over the last ten days I’ve slowly transformed into the new travelling me. BA has made this pretty easy given it’s such a nice city and I was hanging out with close friends. I’m glad to have shifted the speed of life, the time of waking each morning, and the language I order food in. I´ve also taken on an ‘animal power’. For me this is the Cheetah and Bevan is the Elephant. We plan to call on our animal powers to help us through our travels.
The first calling on my power was in an 8km ´fun run´ I did last Sunday in Palermo, Buenos Aires. We were lucky to arrive literally two minutes before the gun went off, thanks to a ride with some crazy taxi drivers after the bus system continued to allude me and my amigos. I ran it with Lauren and we crossed the line as the 3rd and 4th chicas home (ladies)! Unfortunately we hadn´t realised this on the day so didn´t hang around for the prizegiving, a trophy would definitely not fit in my pack anyway.
Fernando
While in BA we have attempted to learn a little more Spanish from professor Fernando. It has been very basic but that is totally what we need. My Spanish is still terrible but with time (I mean a year) I’ll get there. As expected, it has been truly humbling experience trying to get around with what little Spanish I have. I can only say that I´m lucky that Argentinians are so forgiving, patient and usually speak a bit of English. Fernando has also been a real treat, he runs the lessons out of a cafe and his overt expressions to signify happy, sad, asian people and animals must make for some interesting comments from other patrons.
Hostel living
I think we got the best of hostel living with our BA stay…bed bugs and all night parties! It almost seems too cliché to be true! But yes, little red spots all over me, I like to think it´s just to go with the Cheetah power. And yes, parties all night and one of those really loud American girls who rant/monologue at anyone or thing about ´finding themselves´in South America after having a ´breakdown´.
Cafe con leche
Mostly I´ve enjoyed settling into the pace of holidaying life in BA where completing more than three tasks in one day seems unnecessary. Coffee and Quilmes are on the menu everyday and BA seems more than happy to host us for plenty of both. I have loved walking the streets, catching the subte, watching tango and listening to street music – all in the sun. You can´t really ask for too much more.
But after ten days, we are all ready to leave. For me I leave with memories of cute cafes, beautiful ladies, late nights out, Quilmes in plastic cups, an exhilarating soccer game that we watched in a mosh pit (La Boca 4 – Gimnasia 0!), the Andy Warhol exhibition at Malba gallery, the Recolleta cemetery, La Bomba de Tiempo drumming group that reminded me of being at WOMAD and sangria with friends.
Next up is the 20 hour bus ride to Iguazu Falls for some urber-tourist action. Bring it on.
Note to Bolivia 