From Merlo to the Valle de Calamuchita

Our next destination after Merlo was the valley of Calamuchita, northeast of Merlo and south of the city of Cordoba. According to our guidebook this was a beautiful area with lush vegetation, lakes, rivers, and even Alpine-style villages (there were many Swiss, Austrian, and German immigrants to this area). On the recommendation of Fernando, our host in Merlo, we took a short cut over the mountains. This took us past an observatory and enabled us to by-pass the city of Cordoba altogether, bringing us directly into the town of Alta Gracia, the site of an historic Jesuit Estancia. From there we headed south through the valley towards Santa Rosa de Calamuchita where there was a cabaña that Fernando had called ahead to reserve for us. Everyone was happy to see the change from a drier landscape to a more lush, green one, and there were many oohs and aahs as we passed scenic rivers and a picturesque lake on our way.


A scenic lake in the valley

We got as far as Villa General Belgrano (which is the town before Santa Rosa) and it was already getting late. As we drove through the town, we spotted some nice cabañas a few blocks from the center of town with a pool, and since we were hungry and really wanted to explore the town, we decided to check them out. They turned out to be much cheaper than the one that had been reserved for us, so we decided to stay.


Our cabaña in Villa General Belgrano

Here let me interject a little side comment about cabañas. If you ever travel in Argentina, I would highly recommend staying in cabañas when you are in the more rural areas. They are clean, well-equipped little houses with kitchens and include the pots and pans, dishes and linens you need to have a comfortable stay. Some, as in the case of our cabaña in Merlo, even included a homemade breakfast. They are very affordable (we have paid between $40-$80 a night depending on the location) and they usually sleep between 6 to 9 people, which definitely makes traveling with a larger family more affordable.


Fiona & I climbed to the top of a hill with a shrine on top overlooking Villa General Belgrano

After we unpacked the car, we walked into town to look for some dinner. Villa General Belgrano was originally settled by German immigrants. This gives the town a decidedly German flavor both in its architecture and in its food and trinket offerings. If you are looking for coo-coo clocks or beer steins while you are in South America, this is definitely the place to go. They even have an Oktoberfest every year.

Since Julia’s birthday was eminent and we didn’t want to be on the road for her special day, we decided to use our cabañas as a home base for exploring the area. Our guidebook had suggested a day trip to a remote “alpine” village called Villa de Calamuchita. Although it was only 35 km from Villa General Belgrano, the road was dirt and gravel the entire way, so it took us over an our to get there. It was, however, a beautiful drive. The village itself was closed to cars and was definitely geared towards tourists with many of the people who worked in the businesses dressed in Austrian style attire.


No this is not an Austrian village but Villa de Calamuchita in Argentina

As we entered the village, we were handed a brochure about a place on the edge of the village called Peñón del Aguila - Aventura Alpina, where there were zip-lines, places to go rock-climbing, and a river to swim in. We all decided that this sounded like a fun place for us to go to celebrate Julia’s birthday and it sure was! The park was located in an amazingly scenic location with zip-lines that went all the way across a big canyon.


Harnessed up and ready to go on a rope course through the trees



Zipping across the canyon

Andrew and the kids got harnessed up and zipped across the canyon in several different locations. Since, I had been fighting a headache all day and didn’t feel up to flying across canyons, I volunteered to be the photographer. Everyone had a great time and overall, we had a fabulous day, which we decided to complete with a delicious dinner at the fondue restaurant in Villa General Belgrano, and ice-cream at the one of the local heladerias.

The next day we were ready to find a new place to stay in a new location. Sadly, it was time for Andrew to head back to the states for a month. I needed to go with him as far as Uruguay so that we could pack up our extra stuff. When we left Uruguay, our intention was to return to the house we were renting in Piriopolis while Andrew was gone for a month. But now that we were in Argentina, we really wanted to stay longer. The kids fell in love with the town of Santa Rosa de Calamuchita. It was a quiet little town with a nice down-town and and a river flowing through it. We located a cabaña close to the downtown area and river and got them settled before Andrew and I headed back to Buenos Aires to return our large van, pack-up our stuff in Piriapolis, and get Andrew on the plane back to the states in Montevideo.