Hiking in the Hills
Trip Start
Jan 09, 2007
1
12
13
Trip End
Ongoing
Carlos Paz, Argentina
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Arrived in the "village" and quickly discovered that this is actually a fairly large city built along a river and lake surrounded by hills. Also discovered that this is a busy place as there was a shocking amount of traffic everywhere besides hordes of tourists at the main tourist spots.
First stop was the "Cucu" clock in the main part of the city. Not what I'd call a work of art but it's certainly popular with tourists as one Busload after another would arrive to take photos with each person or family standing up by the clock. I suspect there was some special event at the top of each hour (perhaps a bird popping out) but I didn't stick around to wait.
Using the map I got at the tourist office I took off hiking around the city trying to find other sights they had listed. Eventually I noticed that something was wrong direction-wise and I figured out that the map was correct but backwards in relation to the lake. Maybe there's more than one lake or river but this map just didn't make sense at all.
Tossed the map for the moment and just decided to wander around, which was okay. Lots of tourist shops in the downtown but not that much to see.
Out of the downtown and into the hills, I found the main attraction, which is the cerro de Cruz or mountain of the cross. This is a big cross that's visible from a distance when you're walking around town. It took a long time to find the path to get to the cross and in the process I also found the other big tourist attraction, which is a chairlift that goes up an adjoining mountain to a roller-coaster type amusement ride. It looks to be cars on tracks that zip along the mountainside overlooking CP. I decided not to spend money to find out. It costs 10 pesos for the chairlift, more for the ride and then more for the photo of you on the ride. Disneyland meets Argentina sort of thing.
There's also a big multiple lane slide for kids and a large cluster of tourist shops selling mate gourds made in China. Haha, just a little joke there. Even the Argentines joke about that sort of thing.
Hidden a bit off the parking lot is the path to the Cerro de Cruz. I only discovered it because people were hanging around on the steps or walking down looking sweaty. I started up and a sign said it takes 1 hr 50 mins to climb. That time turned out to be about right since it seemed to take a long time for me to climb the path even at a steady pace. The path is also rocky and quite steep in some parts. I was amazed to see older and pregnant women doing the climb as well.
Made it to the top just before sunset and sat down to look over the city. Another reflective moment as I was thinking about where I've been, what I've seen and the people I've met along the way.
Then it was a much quicker hike back down and then to the city Bus terminal for the ride back to Cordoba. Getting back to the Hostel, I talked to the American girls who also when to CP and found out they just went to the beach along the river and didn't explore at all. They said they wished they'd gone up to the cross. I said I wished I went to the beach.
