Off the Beaten Path? Or Off the Path, Beaten?

The problem with travelling frequently for business is that one often just wants to stay home. Or at the other end of the spectrum, to do unusual things in odd places. Sheena often falls into the latter category.

Car Racing, Music Festivals and Wine Tasting have been the dominant vacation themes in recent years. It is items 1 and 3 that led me to Argentina.

The World Rally Championships is nominally centred in Cordoba, but the real action is held 1-2 hours away in the small stunning though decaying holiday hotspots of the 1920s up in the Punilla Valley. From the very brief reading I've done, sounds like this area was the South American version of Banff, delivering well-heeled travelers on nationally funded rail systems. As the trains die, so do towns and tourist economies.

The race stages took us through towns such as La Falda and



the astoundingly charming La Cumbre (which was a perfectly fire grilled beef, chicken and veggie lunch )....





cooked by THAT guy... talk about sizzle and lots of wood, eh?


Took in 2.5 stages of Day One of the race. End result? Sunburn, windburn, dust burn. Probably walked about 10 miles in total from 8am to 6pm. Remain astounded at the complete anarchy of the roads, highways, and sidewalks.

And those are just the dogs....Don't get me started on the cars.