Blogs from La Cumbre, Córdoba, Argentina, South America

It's been a while... It's been a while since I wrote my last blog, but also since I had a holiday. Nearly a year. That's about to be rectified as I'm heading off during the winter holidays. However, I took advantage of one of Agentina's many bank holidays to go away for a long weekend. Given that Argentina created more bank holidays last year, so that this year there is at least one bank holiday a month, you would have thought that there would be plenty of opportunity to travel or escape. Don't get me wrong, it's extremely easy to get away for the weekend, but I'm more hesitant to do so. There are various reasons, finding someone to look after the cats is the main one, but work has a habit of getting in the ... read more

dingy streets, dodgy salami, late night tango. Tango classes are stalling somewhat,its difficult for the man at the start as you have to learn the moves and guide the lady but the rewards can be great... silk adorned mermaids await in dingy sultry ball rooms with the fans blowing above or outside on a leafy balcony where a smokey brunette might ask you - de donde sos? The seductive nature of the tango culture is what gives buenos aires appeal, apart from being cheap. Its time to move on though as the noisy polluted backstreets are starting to impose themselves on my mood. The country awaits, heading north +west through the pampas( flat plains) to Cordoba and skipping along to a ranch in a hippie forgotten town where ex-criminals and artists are sure to be in ... read more

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 ... read more

What I'm about to tell you, you may not believe but it's 100% totally true. Today, Glynn and I literally threw ourselves off a cliff and what's more, we lived to tell the tale! The reason we came to Cordoba, other than to break the long journey to Buenos Aires, was to go paragliding. Yes, you heard me right - paragliding! Not the kind of sport you might expect someone who is afraid of heights to get excited about but when we heard that the paragliding in Cordoba is world class and affordable, we just couldn't resist. We booked via the hostel (we're very comfortable here now by the way!) and found ourselves up nice and early to catch the 8am minibus to nearby La Cumbre. Just over 2 hours and 12 Pesos later, we ... read more