Hey everyone! Sorry it's been a long time without a post! This past weekend took me on my first long trip outside of the city. A group of 15 of us took a special guided trip into the province of Cordoba, Argentina. We got on the omnibus at about 10 PM Thursday night and arrived at our destination Friday morning at about 10 AM. We stayed at an estancia in Ongamira, Cordoba for 2 nights. Our guide, Juan, specializes in trips that are off the beaten path and something that you won't encounter with your typical travel agency. We got exactly that, plus so much more. It was the trip of a lifetime and really words can't describe the experience. I have attached a ton of photos to try to cover the entire trip : )

This trip really made me realize how incredibly blessed I am to live where I live in Wyoming and Nebraska... I hadn't realized how much I took that for granted... I guess 7 weeks in the middle of a city of 13 million people gave me a contrast that I had never had. It was so refreshing to spend 3 days in fresh air, in silence, in nature, and just enjoying the beauty that God has given us : ) I wish that I could bring you all here to see this place! Sending much love from down here!
Bailey

We got hooked up with front row seats! Literally the very first seats on the "omnibus" on the upper deck! So needless to say we had tons more leg room and a sweet view : ) Cordoba here we come! The seats were first class style but they reclined even more! Not too shabby for a 12 hour ride!

We got off the omnibus in Capilla del Monte, Cordoba and switched to little vans to head to our final destination!

45 minutes later on dirt roads we arrived at the "Valley of Silence" This is the area of Ongamira, Cordoba, it's a far stretch to even call it a pueblo, it's just nature and a few "estancias" (ranches). This valley is where the the Ongamira people would leave their young boys, 12 or so, by themselves and then they would have to survive and find their way home... Really cool introduction to the area.

Estancia Ongamira

The estancia where we "roughed" it for 2 nights :)

The view from our living quarters

Our guide, Juan, giving the group an intro into horseback riding : )

The owner of the horses and the land where we road. We talked about the rough state of the horse market in the states ; ) Or at least that's what I tried to discuss in my broken Spanish! Who knows what he got out of the conversation! haha

Juan and the owner of the land planning our route.They gave me the "friskiest" horse, and lucky for me that meant Domino just liked to walk fast so we got to head up the group : )

View during the climb

Hanging out with 18 of my favorite friends at our stopping point : ) Check out that horizon!

The summit! The view was incredible! We stayed up there for about 2 hours and Juan told us more stories of the indigenous people of the place and many of their myths and legends...

During the ascent! That peak in the distance is where I was sitting in the picture before!

Las Grutas! Saturday we had a free morning and so I walked to the caves where the Ongamira people lived

One of the caves, it was really incredible to explore this area and walk where these ancient people walked and sit where they sat.

Saturday afternoon we took the vans to Las Salinas, salt flats that are about 3 hours away. I sat in the front and drank some mate with the driver (from Cordoba) and the girl from ISA that came with our group (from Buenos Aires). It was really hilarious as they poked fun at each other and the different accents of people from different parts of the country. I learned some Cordoba words and tried my hand at them, they got a pretty good laugh out of that : )

The salt flats! This is a naturally occurring mound of salt!

You know I couldn't help myself : ) Top notch sodium!

We all just took off walking, for as far as you could see there was nothing, a desert of salt. Such an incredible view, definitely a silence that I will never forget.

Our camp for the evening : ) Juan made" Guisso" on the fire, a type of traditional stew

Our final day we went for a hike on the estancia. The gaucho of the estancia was our leader. Here he was telling me about how he was gonna have to go back and gather the cows that we had just scared through a fence... oops! I love his outfit, legit huh? TOMS shoes were styled after the traditional shoes of the Gauchos of Argentina, he is rocking the originals!

The final summit of the trip to Cordoba. The feeling in this place was overwhelming and truly breathtaking.