More with Less

"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want." 
- Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

Preach it, Watterson. This quote is the essence of my time spent in Córdoba. It was an overly welcome trip with too few days.

Two essays down, 10 hours of bus-riding to go.

After unwinding on a 360 degree reclining chair for 10 hours on an 'El Practico' bus, my group arrived in Córdoba. We rushed from the bus station to our hostel (Baluch Backpackers) to meet the guide for our day's relaxing excursion. Seems to be a contradiction, no?

Within 30 minutes we checked in, changed clothing, slathered on (what we learned much later was not enough) sun tan lotion and met our guide, Paula. She drove us two hours out into the mountains and we began our hike through the 'Parque Nacional Quebrada del Condorito.'

A breath of fresh air indeed. I never realized how conditioned I was to inhaling the smoke from the cigarettes of porteños (as if the burning sticks were extensions of their hands) and transportation fumes. I smelled elements -rustling grass, open air, running water- not pollution hovering between towering buildings. The tall grass and mighty rocks surrounding me didn't take my breath away. Rather, they gave me fresh air to breath in.

At the look-out point, the sun slowly burning my skin.

We hiked the entire day through elevated 'Sierras' with a stunning lookout marking the midpoint of the trip. We saw waterfalls and 'Los Gigantes' mountains ahead of us. Hawks soared above keeping eye on their territory. We weren't fortunate enough to catch glimpse of a condor since they are low in number, but the landscape didn't cease to astound us.

Quebrada put El Tigre into better context for me. I realized we had to make much more of an effort to escape the city and relax- yet another contradiction. But at least I had this epiphany with enough time for us to plan more weekend trips. I've made a conscious decision to accept all of the 'nothing' I can get this trip. In other words, I've made it my priority to fill more time with fewer activities, and thus waste less time stressing.

Max, Amy, Me, Alyssa and Kylie in Bedrock.