Gale-Force Winds, Escaped Cats, and the Road to Mendoza
After spending several pleasant days on the side of the reservoir, it was time to leave. We had decided that we would treat ourselves to a cinema outing. We were only an hour or so north of the large city of Córdoba and, with the new release of The Odyssey, we thought we’d have a date night. We planned to head in and watch it that Sunday evening.
Lexi, however, had other plans.
Both cats hadn’t wandered far from the van in the four days we’d already been there, so we hadn’t kept them inside that morning even though we planned to leave later. Stupidly, we also hadn’t put her tracker on—we’d grown a bit lax due to their recent good behaviour. Aimee was cosy on the bed, but Lexi was nowhere to be seen.
We didn’t get worried until it was past 6:00 pm and the sun was low in the sky. Lee had been walking around trying to find her for a few hours already, while I tried to remain calm despite the ever-growing panic I was hiding. We’d long decided to call off the cinema trip as we’d run out of time. Not that I was even thinking about that anymore; all I was doing was being annoyed at myself for not charging her tracker.
Lee came back from his latest circuit. The terrain here was covered in thick, incredibly spiky shrubs, some of them completely impenetrable. I couldn’t sit still any longer and went off to have a look for myself. I wandered through prickly bushes, thorns tugging at my jacket and hair as I tried to peer into the dense thickets. Most were easy enough to see into, but there was the odd patch I couldn’t rule out. I listened for the telltale jingle of a bell. It was unlike her to be gone for so many hours, that was for sure.
I had wandered a way off when I heard Lee shout, “I’ve found her!”
Relief flooded over me and I ran back as fast as I could, ripping my clothes and realising that I’d gone so far from the van I would have been very unlikely to find her anyway. Lee sat only a matter of metres from Ruby where the bushes started. He pointed inside.
“She’s just there,” he told me.
I stared into the darkening thorns and saw nothing. Then, a second later, I heard a jingle. We breathed a collective sigh of relief. She didn’t want to come out, but she was safe, and that was the main thing. Half an hour of coaxing with a cat treat later, I scooped her up. She was a bit jumpy—something had clearly scared her—but she was back. Tomorrow, plans would be back on track.
The following day, no cats were allowed out. We packed up and headed off. We had planned to camp for free in the park after the film, but apparently they had recently banned camping there. We also wanted a shower, had no drinking water, and needed to wash some clothes. Those reasons combined were enough to head to the only campsite.
It was odd to be back, driving down the entry road to the municipal campsite. The last time we’d driven down it was two years ago, and at the time I had absolutely no intention of coming back. Once again, we appeared to have come full circle.
We pulled up at the familiar booth, which looked completely unchanged. The price, of course, was much higher (though still pretty reasonable). We paid £8 for the night and were told we needed to leave by 10:00 am the next day. Except we didn’t actually pay right then, because they didn’t have any change.
For convenience, we parked up right by the toilet block and set about making the most of our paid night. We washed our clothes and hung them out to dry in the grey afternoon drizzle before having a nice hot shower. It seemed that in the two years since our last visit, they had done absolutely no maintenance whatsoever. The toilets and showers were all looking rather worse for wear, but there was proper hot water, and that was worth risking the mouldy, flaking concrete stall for. The toilets, on the other hand? No. I’d rather use my own.
With both ourselves and our clothes clean, I made the most of having a plug socket to cook some rather questionable bread. We agreed we wouldn’t plug the van in here; last time, their dodgy electrics fried our battery charger, costing us nearly £250 (and a large amount of stress) to buy a new one and have it shipped from Chile.
The last task was for me to cut Lee’s hair, something I had been putting off for a while.
Now we were all set, we ordered an Uber to the nearest Showcase cinema. Argentina has a brilliant offer where you can get 2-for-1 tickets any day of the week if you download the app. After wrestling with a ticket machine that wouldn’t accept our card, we bought them at the desk instead. $15,500 pesos for us both—about £8.
Next, it was time for the obligatory cinema snacks. As it seems to be a global law that cinema snacks must cost at least five times the price of the admission tickets, we headed off to the nearest supermarket instead. We picked up nachos, dips, sweets, and some alcohol-free beers. At the self-service checkout, we’d spent a silly £25 on junk food and drinks, but as we said to each other, it was a treat — we hadn’t been to the cinema in four years.
We headed to the exit barrier where a staff member came over to check our receipt. She saw that I’d entered '44444444' as the ID number, since we don’t have a local DNI number. She got very upset about this, as if the government actively needed to track my junk food consumption. She went off to consult her manager before returning to tell us, very haughtily, that they’d allow it this once, but next time I must use my passport number (this is the too long so is incorrect anyway). Never mind that the only reason I knew this trick was from watching several cashiers do the exact same thing in the past! Leaving Lady Jobsworth on her checkout pedestal, we headed into the film, settled down, and enjoyed a few hours of brilliant entertainment alongside an absolute disaster of a dinner. It was perfect.
The next morning, it was time to try paying the campsite fee again. We’d meant to get change the night before but had forgotten. We needed to settle our 16,000-peso bill with a 20,000-peso note, which created quite the dilemma. We explained that if they didn’t have change, we only had 13,000 in smaller cash notes on us. Unsurprisingly, they preferred spending half an hour hunting for change rather than accepting a lower amount. Eventually, change was found, and we got back on the road, leaving Córdoba behind via a different route.
While we could have stayed on the tarmac, I’d found a scenic dirt track called the Camino del Peregrino (Track of the Pilgrims). After leaving Córdoba, the road climbs a small mountain range to the west up to around 2,000 metres. From the top, the dirt track dives down the side of the mountain, offering stunning views out over the valley and the hills beyond.
The descent took us a while. The track was rough but solid, dropping over 1,000 metres back down, but we didn’t mind. We stopped for photos and to fly our drone, enjoying every minute of a spectacular afternoon.
At the bottom, we rejoined the paved road at Mina Clavero and drove the remaining short distance to camp alongside the river at Nono. It was a spot we’d visited on the way up and loved—though we’d been moved on by the police the next day back then. This time, we headed to a slightly different spot, hoping that since it was now winter, no one would mind. The sun was still out and we enjoyed it'd warm rays while still trying to dry our washing from the day before.
Luck was on our side. We spent a quiet night on the riverbank without a soul coming near us. The morning peace wasn't ruined by people, but by a sudden storm. Out of nowhere, the blue sky disappeared under scudding clouds, and a fierce wind began to whip around us. Lightning and rain followed shortly after, forcing us to drop the pop-top roof. While that solved the wind issue, rain was driven through the fabric seams with such force that water poured inside, forcing us to shut it completely and wait it out. Just as quickly as it had arrived, the storm passed, allowing us to pack away and leave.
Tonight would be our final stop before hitting Mendoza, and this time it wouldn’t be a repeat of a previous visit.
Our final choice was a small campsite in the village of Luján. Since it was out of season, it was free, placing us within striking distance of the city. Continuing our weekly theme of camping near dams, we found ourselves near another reservoir. It was a quiet little spot with barely anyone around. After a few hours' drive to reach it, we decided to stay for two days so we could go for a hike around the reservoir the following day without rushing.
It was well worth the extra day, as we were blessed with glorious sunshine to enjoy the views. First, we walked up and across the dam wall, then up the hill on the far side to look down at the "beach" below.
Finally, we walked around to a different viewpoint on the other side to take it all in.
It was enough to make us both realise we were horribly unfit. Lee lamented that all the fitness he’d built up running around in Paraguay was long gone. We blamed our respective colds — which we’d been nurturing for far too long — and promised ourselves that as soon as we finally shifted them, we’d get right back into training.
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