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Oktoberfest 2009!


It was with great excitement that we awaited the 2009 Octoberfest. It was the official opening of Hostel Tinktinkie!

When we received the enquiry in August to accommodate a group of 14 people, we were excited and nervous at the same time. This will be our first big group and the question was can we do it? How do we keep a big group happy? Later in the week we received another booking for 3 girls and the number increased to 17 people. We were officially fully booked!

We had our work cut out for us. We still had one room to finish! We asked the carpenter to make extra beds and I started to make the duvets and bedding. Writing about it now does not seem like allot of work but believe me it was. We looked at the room with great pride and joy when it was finished.

2 weeks before the Festival I received another email from Sebastian asking us to accommodate 2 more people. Impossible I thought, we have no more space! But Andrey came up with a solution. We have 2 blowup mattresses. Were they prepared to take it? YES!! So the number increased to 19!!!

Tinktinkie was buzzing and the vibe was great. The guys watched the soccer match between Argentina and Peru and the spirits were high when Argentina won the game. Then off to the Beer Festival for the guys!

Breakfast and showering were challenging. If you snooze you loose.It is a big family and you have to be quick! Breakfast consisted of freshly baked medialunas and facturas and coffee. Breakfast was served in the kitchen and it was wonderful to hear all the laughter and conversations around the table. Overall they entertained themselves, playing some chess or Truco (a card game) or just relaxing in a group drinking some mate. Then hard partying at the beer festival.

We would like to thank Sebastian and Majo for the bookings made at Tinktinkie. We hope you all had a fantastic time…we sure did. The Oktoberfest 2009 will always be carved in our memories and we will remember this time fondly!

Choosing a name for our Hostel!


Mis disculpas a la gente de habla español. Mi blog es en Inglés, pero hay una función para traducir en español.


“Tinktinkie” is the Afrikaans word for a small little bird in South Africa.

When I was a little girl, my grandfather used to call me his Tinktinkie or little bird. It was his special name for me and I still remember it to this day. When we discussed names for our hostel I mentioned it to Andrey. He liked the name so much and so “Hostel Tinktinkie” was born.

“Tinktinkie” is a very foreign name to the Spanish speaking people here. I love it when the pronounce it! It sounds beautiful.

Que significa “Tinktinkie“? “Tinktinkie” es una palabra en Afrikaans que significa un pajarito chiquito. Cuando estuve niña, mi abuelo, me llamaba “mi Tinktinkie”. Fue el nombre especial para mi y todavia estoy recordando esto con cariño.

Cuando fuimos eligiendo el nombre para el hostel se lo mencioné a Andrey. A él le gusto el nombre y asi el hostel “Tinktinkie” nació.

“Tinktinkie” es un nombre muy extraño para las personas que hablan español. Me encanta como la gente lo pronuncian! Suena hermoso.

The construction of Hostel Tinktinkie.

When we bought the land we were told that there was already water and we only had to pay the connection fee. This was in fact not the truth. We only realized this after we have bought the land and started to enquire from the local Municipality about the price to connect the water.It was an astronomical price! We had to pay almost 7000 pesos!. They wanted us to pay from the last connection point. The price included all material and labour. We could not afford it and it was also a matter of principal. If we paid for the connection of the water it would run directly in front of the land that the man whom we bought the land from wanted to sell. In principal I did not agree with this.

After a struggle we found two men who were willing to dig the hole. It was quit interesting how they looked for water. He used a piece of wood and showed us exactly where the water was running. I was a little sceptical at first but he guaranteed us that he will find water.They did! They found water at 16m and we asked him to go 2m deeper in case the water bed drops.

Digging this hole was no joke. I was amazed to see all the rocks that came out of this hole. In this picture you can see the soil and rocks that were taken out. We want to use the rocks to decorate around the house once construction is finished. I will post more pictures.

Digging the water hole

Building of the 2nd storey has also commenced. Here Andrey and I are standing in front of the first room or like we like to call it, Room one. You can also see the construction on the top floor where we will live.

Andrey in front of the house.

Nelieta in front of the house

I will keep you updated with how the construction is progressing. We are getting very excited!!!

Back view of the house.

Land Hunting!

Andrey and I were sitting in Buenos Aires one night and we were discussing what we were looking for in land. I remember our conversation very well. Andrey wanted land close to mountains and a river. We also wanted the land to be in a touristy part of Argentina but not too busy. We wanted to be in nature. We did discuss the possibility to buy a house and renovate it, but it would not be what we wanted. Andrey also loved getting involved in the actual building process.

We were talking to some friends and they told us about the Calamuchita Valley and in particular Santa Rosa De Calamuchita. It is a very popular holiday destination for locals. The Santa Rosa river runs through it, mountains on either side of the valley and a Mediterranean climate . I was already impressed. We bought a map and started to land hunt on the Internet. This was not an easy task. The reason was that prices advertised were not the true prices or some people never bothered to reply to emails. We started to make a list of all the land available and we made a short list. We narrowed it down to Merlo in the San Luis province and Santa Rosa De Calamuchita in the Cordoba Province. We made appointments with the land owners and set off to Carpinteria first. We were very close to Merlo and some smaller towns in the area.

I loved Carpinteria but it was a very small town. There was no bank or supermarket. There were a lot of land available but people wanted ridiculous prices. The nature was beautiful. I am sure in time this will become a very popular tourist destination but it did not quite suit our needs. We also met a German woman who wanted to sell a large piece of land but she was in no hurry to sell.

Villa Elena was really beautiful and unspoilt. But you had to drive in to Merlo every time you wanted something. Buses were also not passing on a regular basis. We spent the day hiking and enquiring about land. We had a wonderful time. We attended an art exhibition in Merlo the next day and then we spent one last day exploring Merlo. The weather changed rapidly and the next morning it was snowing!

We said goodbye to the San Luis province and left over the mountain to the Cordoba province.We both loved the town. We took a couple of trips to the surrounding towns and explored touristy places like Villa General Belgrano and La Cumbrecita. Now to find something that will suit our pockets!