Long Weekend in Cordoba

• in looking at the calendar from after the winter vacation until the baby's due date, it looked like we had one last opportunity for a mini-get-away, the weekend of Día del Libertador José de San Martin, a 3-day weekend honoring the liberator of Argentina, Chile, and Peru
• we had talked about going to the Cordoba province, and thought it'd be fun (Becky only) to take one of those coche cama buses (the ones with fully reclinable seats)
• this is a really common way to travel here, not to mention more affordable and quite comfortable
• the girls took one to Mendoza back in March and had a good experience
• I think I finally had Jake on board with the 10-hour-bus-trip-idea, when his colleague mentioned that he and his girlfriend were heading to Cordoba the same weekend to visit his family...he invited us to join them and of course we couldn't turn down the opportunity

F 8.16.13

• the road trip started out Friday after work
• Gustavo picked us up in his 2-door Volkswagon Fox and we headed out of town
• on our way, we picked up his girlfriend, Bai, who is a pediatrician in San Isidro, a small town just north of the city
• we were in for about a 5.5-6 hour drive, más o menos, depending on holiday weekend traffic
• we hit some on the way to get Bai, but it was nothing compared to the highway cut we experienced outside of Rosario, our half-way point
• it's always fun when someone decides to protest on days when massive amounts of people are just trying to get out of town for a nice holiday weekend
• so our 6 hour drive slowly turned into 7 hours, getting us in to Villa Maria (small town about 1 hour from the capital of Cordoba) around 1:30am
• guess what we did for dinner?
• in true Argentine fashion, we ate late...when we arrived at 1:30am 
• of course, we would've eaten closer to midnight if it weren't for the traffic, and Gustavo pointed out that his mom is a really good cook...
• you could tell he was really looking forward to a good home-cooked meal, careful not to indulge in too many snacks on the car ride
• I, on the other hand, was dying...and couldn't help but have some snacks in the car, knowing full well I wouldn't have any problem eating dinner later on
• we finally arrived to one of the most welcoming families we've encountered while living in BA
• Gustavo's mother, father and sister were all still awake and welcomed us with warm hugs, kisses, and of course, the meal
• this is what we ate...mmm...:

matambre: rolled meat stuffed with peppers, hard boiled eggs, and vegetables 

• and of course there was postre - a cheesecake topped with a kind of strawberry jam
• Gustavo was absolutely right.  his mom is an excellent cook

• it was 3am by the time we crashed...we all slept well that night

Sa 8.17.13

• the next morning, after a good sleeping-in, Gustavo's parents joined us on our day trip, first to Alta Gracia, where Che Guevara grew up, ~2 hours from Villa Maria:

childhood home of Che Guevara 

• then to Villa General Belgrano, a German-style town known as Argentina's site for Oktoberfest:

pork chops (thought I had ordered beef) and was craving french fries

Jake's good ol' German sausage complete with potato salad, sauerkraut, and a dark brew

lots of festivals!

all kinds of jarred goodies...we went with the artesian dulce de leche mixed with chocolate

chocolate...

chocolate alpino!

SO SO SO GERMAN!

• that night, we had cheesy cannelloni with white or red sauce
• then we used the same crepes leftover from the cannelloni to make dulce de leche filled pancake rolls (and some leftover cheesecake and some chocolate chip cookies we brought)

Su 8.18.13

• Sunday was another great sleep-in day, followed by another day trip

• we made our way near Capilla del Monte, northwest of the capital, to do some trekking in Los Terrones, ~3 hours from Villa Maria
• someone tried to ruin my fun by posting a sign that said the trail is not recommended for pregnant women
• I thought they were being overly-cautious
• but really, they're not as paranoid here about safety as we are in the States, so I should have known that if there was a warning sign, they meant business

• but that's no fun...so off we went
• here is the guide pointing out the different rock formations

• he called the formation on the left, la cara del chino, Chinaman's face...probably wouldn't fly in the States (chino/Chinese is used to describe any person with Asian-looking qualities)

• this was about when I realized why they didn't want pregnant women out on this trail

please don't break on me flimsy, iron ladder!

one of the moments we all tried to be silent...I think the tour guide forgot we had children in our group

La Cueva del Útero (Uterus Cave)...photo in honor of Baby La Liberte

can you spot my faja? (support belt)

lots of condor spotting

pretending that's us in the bottom right-hand corner

boot formation

• my favorite photo of the four five of us...thanks Jake for a good eye! 

Jake...baby...Becky...Bai...Gustavo

•  SUCCESS!  after an intensive 3+ hours, with Jake as my personal body guard/guide/crutch we completed the trek!

• and were welcomed home with some delicious pizza and homemade empanadas

• followed by flan...fairly traditional Argentine dessert

• since we hadn't really gotten a chance to check out Villa Maria, we drove into town and walked along the beautiful waterfront leading to a large amphitheater...this area is used in the summer for a peña festival

M 8.19.13

• three sleep-ins in a row!
• followed by one last delicious homemade meal

• then Gustavo's dad ran to the helado shop to get ice cream and cones...what a sweet way to end our long weekend!

• we packed up and piled into the car to head back to BA...making much better time on our way back
• I must point out that one of my fears going into the weekend was the language
• I knew I would have to speak Spanish most of the weekend, at least with our hosts and I thought it was going to be really tough
• it was great at first...ya know, I can get through introductions and basic getting-to-know-you questions and answers, but man, after ~24 hours in the car (adding up our day trips and the trip to and from Cordoba) I kind of ran out of things to talk about, especially in Spanish!
• so I have to give a thank you to Gustavo and Bai who put up with my terrible Spanish, which quickly turned into very bad Spanglish...you also put up with an always hungry, always-needing-to-pee pregnant lady...you guys are troopers!
• and thanks also for sharing your mate...we haven't had enough of it here, mainly because we're too lazy to make it at home, so we were happy to partake in this unique Argentine tradition throughout our weekend

• a BIG thank you not only to Gustavo, Bai but to his family, too of course...we felt so welcome in your home and enjoyed getting to know you and explore yet another gorgeous region of Argentina
• we had a great weekend!