That was not the case for us. After living in a spacious home for three weeks, it was hard to get excited about being squished in a car for many hours.
Before leaving La Estancia, Alessandra and I squeaked in a morning horseback ride. She rode her favorite horse, Aseviche. We took a nice trail along the golf course and vineyards with the Spanish style houses and mountains as our backdrop. Not a bad way to say goodbye to Cafayate.
I will miss the friends we made, the daily routine we established, and the serene surroundings. Some things I won't miss are the giant spiders the size of my palm (so relieved they did not eat Gianluca) and the daily battle with ants in the house (FYI the mosquitos lost).
As a side note, our daily routine included:
Waking up and going into the hot tub
Getting the kids ready for school
Tony dropping off the kids at school followed by grocery shopping. Grocery shopping meant going to several stores (fruit and veggie store, butcher, two different mercados as one doesn't have fresh bread and the other has a better selection of deli meats). Tony had it all figured out. My job was to create the grocery list.
Going for a walk with Gianluca
Picking up the kids, feeding them lunch and getting them down for a nap
Pool time at the fitness center and eating apples and raisins
Karate class for Alessandra on Tuesday and Thursday nights
Tony working some magic on our parilla (bbq)
Playing games and falling asleep
We didn't have a tv and thankfully, we didn't miss it too much. We got a little teaser when someone dropped off a tv screen, but unfortunately it didn't have any speakers!
Back to the road trip. Our first stop was Termas De Rio Hondo. Only about 4 hours away and is considered quite a tourist destination. Tony wanted to visit this place because they were hosting a World Motorcycle Gran Prix race the next weekend, and he wanted to see the race track.
I did not figure out why it is a popular destination, but the highlight for us was the park. Alessandra and Anthony went on the merry go round and jumping houses while Gianluca watched. We tried to see the race track, but could only get as far as the entrance gate. (We will have to see the track on TV)
The next day, we got up early and hit the road again. This would be our longest stint. Not sure how we did it, but we managed to drive 10 hours that day! The kids only watched Frozen one time, The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse three times and Toy Trains twice. Meltdowns were avoided by feeding the kids food and a special treat of honey nut cherrios. (Now think Jackson Brown...) We were literally running on empty.
The big decision was to stay at Marcos Juarez, a small town we stayed at before on the way to Cordoba or drive an extra hour and go to Rosario. Alessandra chose Rosario because it was a bigger city. We agreed and could say we saw it.
For the third largest city in Argentina, one would think it would be simple to find a hotel on the Main Street. Wrong. After an hour of searching and inquiring at three hotels, we arrive at our apartel at 9 pm.
We walked around Rosario for a little bit and headed on the road. Tony best summed it up as "the guidebook summed up Rosario pretty well by only writing three lines about a city that has over 1,000,000 ( one of only three in the whole country).
And off we were to Buenos Aires.
Full moon
Alessandra and Aseviche. (You can't see it, but she is wearing her dress with a horse on it. That is her riding attire)
Ruins de Quilmes
I wished I took a video of this. The dogs did a great job herding the horses across the road.
Alessandra reflecting on days in Cafayate
Running on empty. The car actually sputtered as we coasted into the gas station!
Passed out in Rosario
Made it to Buenos Aires (and no, we did not drive with him on top). Remember National Lampoon's Vacation.
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