The climate is very very hot during the day and in the evening clouds and often thunder and lightning is hanging over the mountain tops. Loes in Spanish means LIGHT so I really felt at home with the lightning in the mountains.Our first stop was Cordoba 700km away from Buenos Aires. It is a town with very helpful happy people and a lot cheaper than Buenos Aires. Cordoba is very religious, because it was one of the first settlements of the Spanish Catholic priests in the 16 century.
We stayed 3 days in Cordoba. Dad and Steven went
to the soccer stadium with the owner of the apartment we stayed in and saw a very exciting soccer match.. They only came home at 4 am because they had their dinner after the match.
Mom and I 'shopped' a lot in the little street without cars. We tried to do and see as many things as we could. We went to Mercado
de Pulgas (Shopping street) and the beautiful Evita Peron Ferreira House with an interesting exposition about the military government and the terrible things they did to the women. We also went into big churches and cathedrals.
We drove on into the Andes and passed the Talampaya National Park. Dry and red sand everywhere with beautiful rocks and mountains and some of the tops had snow on it while the temperature around the car was 38degrees. We slept in ChileCito and when I woke up I thought I was in Rio De Janeiro. I ones saw a picture with the Corcovado- the huge statue of Jesus Christ- and here in ChileCito there was the same big statue. This little town was 507km from Cordoba and sleeps twice a day. People are around in the morning till 13.00 o'clock and disappear for a long siesta until 18.00 hours. Then everyone comes to the village and ride their motor bikes (without helmet) and pickup cars in circles around the Plaza (central square of the town). They meet and chat and eat ice-creams (Hmmmmm).
When we wanted to leave there was no petrol in the stations and no money in the banks to pay cash for everything, so we had to wait a few days to for the petrol and until the banks had cash delivered again.Steven en I did not mind! The B&B had a very big swimming pool and a table soccer game. The little house was very coulourful and clean and we had breakfast in a basket in front of our door.
Our next stop was in Tinogasta (= Meeting Place), a small town 1,310 km from Buenos Aires.It has approx. 20,000 people and is surrounded by beautiful mountains and by a dessert. It is at the foot of the Andes close to Chile. The area is "famous" as the last place where the Incas were hiding for the Spanish colonists. They all died 500 years ago. But for us the main reason to visit Tinogasto was to find a friend of my mom and
dad from the time they studied together. We asked around in town and found Monique and her family. What a great SURPRISE! It was like we knew them already for years and played with their three daughters; Ambar, Nadia and Jessy. They had Olivos, a camping with a large pool and even cabanas (little house) were we stayed. They have horses, dogs, cats and even two lamas walking around Olivas.
They were the best guides and showed us all the nice places. We went horse riding in the Campo (bush just before the Andes mountains starts). Nadia taught me how to gallop (joehoe). They showed us secret places were we found many parts of pottery and pipes from the Incas. On the rocks were also paintings from the Incas. After we collected parts of pottery, we went to a private 'museum' of a man who - sine he was a small boy - collected pottery parts, stones, spear points and even an skeleton of an Inca that he found. The next day we went into the mountains towards Chile and saw a huge creepy Tarantula spider crossing the road. We also went to Fiambala Term pools and bathed in many rock pools, each with their own small little waterfall and its own temperature. It started
with 25∘ degrees up to-50degrees. In the evening we had an Asado (braai) with all the family and friends of the father of Carlos. It was very cozy and a real Fiesta Argentina. It was the best stay!
FINALLY HAVE INTERNET
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Thank you from kreeft on the move
