Not paragliding in La Cumbre

We´ve spent the last two weeks in La Cumbre - Jamie has been doing his paragliding course, and while at first I was interested, as soon as I saw the big drop and thought about jumping off all by myself, I realised that maybe this was a special activity just for Jay and I would be much better suited for laying around the pool and taking nice walks in the countryside.

And it turns out that La Cumbre has a lot to offer the non-paraglider. Behind the town, there is a lovely walk up to the statue of Christo the Redentor. You can sit up there and look out on the town below, and right out to the hills. Behind the statue, there is a walk to a small lake/reservoir. Jamie and I took a walk out there one day with some friends from the hostel. On the way we met some VERY friendly llamas...a little disconcerting that they weren´t afraid at all. They came running up to us as soon as we passed over the fence. We thought maybe they were going to spit (they were making some strange noises) but instead they just wanted to sniff Jamie´s crotch and have a bit of a pat. I had to tear Jamie away (he is a married man now after all!) and we made our way down to the lake. On the way back from the lake we decided to take the alternative route, which involved following the river back to town. About half way through we realised maybe we had made a mistake - the path kept disappearing, and there was lots of leaping around on rocks and getting caught in thorn bushes, but we finally made our way back to civilisation (and ice cream!).

Another day, I took a bus with some friends to Capilla del Monte, which is famous for Cerro Uritorco - a giant hill which has a reputation for attracting UFOs. We caught a bus to Capilla del Monte, and then a cab out to the mountain. We asked the taxi driver if it was true about UFO´s and he told us that the towns people often see strange lights up on the mountain. He also claims that he once saw a UFO, but nobody believes him (poor man). He says that you´re most likely to see them when there´s no one else around (and we suspect when you´ve been drinking). The hike up the mountain takes about 3 hours, and the views are spectacular. Although disappointingly, we didn´t see any extraterrestrial activity....

Just outside of La Cumbre, there is also a monkey sanctuary, which requires a 12 km bike ride to reach. But the ride is worth it if you get to see the pet dog get into a fight with one of the monkeys (hardly fair, the monkey was hanging from branch by it´s tail and slapping the dog with all four arms/legs).

La Cumbre itself is a very sweet town. Everyone is very friendly, the greengrocer knows people by name and will always chat with you while he weighs your fruit and veg. There are nice little icecream parlours where you can sit and watch the world go by, as well as a lot of cafés and tea shops. Alfajores and medialunas...lots of bakeries and more than enough sweet temptations to keep me going while Jamie was away.

I also went out to Cuchi Corral a few times to watch Jamie, and also to have a tandem flight over the valley. It was amazing - much more peaceful than I imagined (I imagined plummeting to my death, so I guess anything seems peaceful in comparison). Although once I started to relax, Jamie´s instructor Pablo thought it would be fun to do some acrobatic manouvers...Jamie says he could hear me screaming from the ground...very funny. I can see why Jamie loves it so much though, and maybe one day we´ll be able to go tandem together.

The hostel we stayed in was really nice. The owner has 3 Golden Retrievers and 4 children running around the place, and it really did feel like home. I spent quite a bit of time lazing by the pool and throwing rocks for the dog (she preferred them to sticks).

But all good things must come to an end, so Jamie and I have now left La Cumbre - next stop Mendoza and then the Lake District!

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