Trip #1 La Cumbre

For this trip myself and ten other friends went about 8 hours away to a little town called La Cumbre. It is much bigger than San Martin. We traveled all night then found a hostel on the edge of town. After getting settled, we wanted to get a little tourism in. The main attraction of the town was paragliding. Paragliding is like parasailing on land. Parasailing is like flying a kite on water, except there is a person in the kite.
We were more than excited to go. We got ahold of the instructors and they took us out to the spot. The location was incredible. We could see for miles into the valley. However, they said it was too windy to be safe so we never got the chance. Instead we filled our Friday with a little shopping and exploration of the town. The guys had planned on camping out that night so after we got back to the hostel, we left. In Argentina, there are multiple "Cristos" in various towns. They are a Catholic symbol since about 90% of all religious people in Argentina are Catholic. This town had one so we hiked up at night just past it to a little clearing in the brush to spend the night. We were hoping for a good night sleep but this wouldn't happen. We later found out that we had camped in the saddle of two mountains which lead to about 30mph winds all night long.
On Saturday, we went on a 4-5 mile hike to a swimming hole in the mountains. It was suprisingly cold. The hard part was the trail, or lack thereof. Our directions were to follow the creek up and we would be fine. It took some time but we finally found it. It was very pretty up there. We ran into a couple locals and they said the trail wrapped around and went to the Cristo so off we went. Needless to say, the trail soon turned from a trail to a path to a couple beaten down bushes. Soon it was gone altogether. We were on the tops of the mountains and trecking in more or less the right direction. The views were spectacular, especially when we ran into some horses grasing. There is a peticular kind of plant growing in that area that has some of the biggest thorns I have ever seen. They are very ridged and long, just over an inch. The hills are absolutely covered in them making our trip a bit painfull. However they have some incredibly pretty flowers.
We had to cross a number of barbed wire fences, one in particular was very difficult. One guy (Garret) really wanted to jump over but it was a little too high. In the piture below, Garret got his foot caught in the top wire. He had the presence of mind to grab the wire and swing around, avoiding the inevitable face plant. He was left hanging by his foot, unhurt, with all of us laughing histerically. We got him down and finished our hike without further incident.
The food in La Cumbrewas excellent. We ate very well and very cheap at one of the finest restaurants in town. It was a great ending to the day. As a side note, in all of the restaurants, you have to pay for your water at meals.
The next day, the girls went shoping while some of the guys went mountain bike riding. Nate and myself found a rather interesting brochure, golfing. We wondered around the town asking for the golf course and after about 45 min, we found it. We were very excited to golf in Argentina. It turned out to be a very nice club of 18 holes and after about 25 US with clubs, we were ready to go. Neither of us did very well but we were golfing for the experience. I will always cherish that round because it will probably be the round I will ever play in Argentina.
Our trip ended with another long bus ride back a night to a welcoming bed in our dorms. We had a great time even without the paragliding and I would love to do it all over again.


Jim Gearing
jamesrgearing@yahoo.com

Trip 1 Pictures

First Impressions

After about 30 hours of travel I finally arrived at the college. It is a quaint campus with some greenery but what is worth mentioning is the immense pigeon population. The 800+ birds are only kept in check by the dogs. This has been the first time I have seen dogs hunt pigeons. The first week here we didn't have any classes, just a few welcome meetings so we had time on our hands.
The town is incredibly small, but bigger than College Place. During that first week we explored around a little and found two internet cafes and a couple supermarkets. We also discovered a brand of juice called Baggio that will melt your taste buds off. They have all of the standard flavors plus my personal favorite, pear, or pera in spanish. On the carton it says "pear nectar" and it truly is. Upon further inspection, I discovered that it is about half juice half suger so I have limited my intake but it is still one of the best juices I have ever had. It has been pretty warm during the day (65-80 F) and just a little chilly at night (50-60). Its suppose to be winter but I'm not convinced. They said it gets pretty hot and humid in the summer too.
I have two roommates, both of whom don't speak English. Our conversations have been limited, not by time but by words. A few nights ago, we spent around 15 min explaining one phrase. They are pretty cool though. Jamie is from Colombia and Juan is from Chile. We get along just fine except when we have to talk to eachother, then its chaos. My spanish has been improving so its getting easier to communicate with them.
The food is definately cafeteria food. Every now and then we get something special, and every now and then we get garbage. I quickly found out that the school doesn't use water softeners in the tap so getting a drink took some getting use to. Overall, I really like it here. The people are really friendly helpful. If you have any questions about anything specific, let me know.

Jim Gearing
jamesrgearing@yahoo.com

P.S. I will be posting ever couple weeks so feel free to check in on me.