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A storm underway!

Yesterday afternoon I took my daily walk and the weather was perfect! Clouds were forming in the sky and I was looking forward to smell the rain! I love that smell!

Spring is not officially here until the 21st of September but the trees have already started to turn green. But we need rain to wash away all the dust and traces of winter.

About an hour later the weather changed dramatically. The wind picked up and the sky turned an orange colour. We prepared for a massive storm. The wind kept howling all night but not a single drop of rain!

A lot of huffing and puffing and eventually it just stop…maybe it got tired!

How unpredictable can weather be?

Hostel Tinktinkie – Santa Rosa de Calamuchita – Córdoba -Argentina


Hostel Tinktinkie opened in 2009, just in time for the annual Oktoberfest. Our hostel is situated in the beautiful Calamuchita Valley which is a very important tourist destination. People from all over Argentina love to come here for holiday or for a weekend. The Santa Rosa river, mountains and lake add to the attraction.

Andrey and I did not want to open a hostel in the big city. There is too much stress and no nature to enjoy. Hostel Tinktinkie is not in the town centre of Santa Rosa de Calamuchita. We are +- 2.5 kms from the city centre but close to the main road where buses stop. The Santa Rosa river (Rió Santa Rosa) is 300m from the hostel and close to a balneario or beach that ahs recently opened there. Visitors love it there and would often relax with their chairs inside the river. We love to go there in the evening to cool down.

River 300m from Hostel Tinktinkie

Our hostel offers many opportunities for hikers, bikers and nature lovers. The local tourist office and Turismo de Córdoba do a lot to promote tourism in this part of the country. Working with tourist we have noticed that many people go to Buenos Aires, Iguazu, Perito Moreno, Mendoza and Salta and Jujuy. What we have been doing at Hostel Tinktinkie is to give travellers a taste of the Córdoba Province. Many travellers like to go off the beaten track and to visit places that other travellers have not heard of.

Hostel Tinktinkie is 12 kms from Villa General Belgrano, 12 kms from Villa del Dique, 25 kms from La Cumbrecita, 10 kms from Villa Rumipal, 70 kms from Alta Gracia and 80 kms from Córdoba city. We are also en-route to Buenos Aires, San Luis, Mendoza and Rio Cuarto.

All our rooms are spacious, modern and have been prepared with a lot of love and care. We have three rooms with individual entrances. We decided to built it like this to offer more privacy to our guests. Each room has it´s own bathroom and a small table where you could work. We have Wi-Fi, free Internet and tea and coffee is included in the price.

Private room with 1 bunk-bed and TV/DVD

6 Bedroom dorm with private bathroom

The furniture in our hostel have been made by local people. We are a green hostel and take great pride in the nature that surrounds our hostel. We don´t flush toilet paper and we recycle glass and plastic.

Andrey is a master chef and love to prepare cuisine from Russia, Asia, Argentina and even South Africa for our guests. One of the things we love to do is to have a meal with our guests. We don´t charge exorbitant prices like many other hostels. We enjoy the company more than making money from the food that we prepare.

Hostel Tinktinkie recently received an endorsement from TripAdvisor, which we are very proud of. We also joined forces with the Tourist Office in Santa Rosa de Calamuchita and Argentina Turismo to further promote tourism. We also work with Hostelworld and HostelBookers.

If you are travelling to Argentina and would like to come and meet us please send me an email or visit our website:

nelieta@tinktinkie.com
Hostel Tinktinkie Web

This is what some of our guests had to say about us:

Excelente muchachos! Gracias por los días hermosos. Esperamos volver alguna vez =)Emilia

Estuvimos ahí el noviembre por la cercanía que tiene con Villa General Belgrano ya que queríamos ir al Oktoberfest pero no estar constantemente con mucha gente, como suele suceder con esta fiesta.
El hostel nos sorprendió positivamente, sus dueños (Nelieta y Andrey) son realmente muy amables y se preocupan porque uno siempre esté bien y no le falte nada.
Lo recomiendo para descansar y estar tranquilo, en un hermoso lugar en las afueras de Calamuchita. También por la relación calidad-precio. -Laura

Si realmente quieren escapar del ruido y del caos de las ciudades grandes, relajarse y disfrutar silencio y tranquilidad, si quieren descansar lejos de centros urbanos, de multitud en la playa, entonces el Tinktinkie es para Ustedes.

300 metros del Rio Santa Rosa, 2,5 km del centro de Santa Rosa de Calamuchita – importante centro turístico con restaurantes y boliches. 8 km del lago Embalse del Rio Tercero.

Todo para pasar vacaciones o fin de semana en un lugar hermoso, con la vista de las sierras chicas y grandes. Muchas opciones para hiking, tracking, ciclismo, montañismo. 12 km del Villa General Belgrano.

Habitaciones con baño privado, cocina-comedor totalmente equipada, TV-DVD, Internet y Wi-Fi.

El precio incluye desyauno!!!

Santa Rosa de Calamuchita: The Waterfall (La Cascada)

One of the places that we recommend to visit in Santa Rosa de Calamuchita is the waterfall. It is an easy hike which could take anything from 50 minutes to an hour. There are two hiking routes which are clearly marked. Both of them lead to the waterfall but vary in difficulty.

Hiking routes to the waterfall

This hike can be enjoyed by the whole family and we have had people here at the Hostel who took a 2 year old with them. Obviously the hike will take longer and you will have to carry the little one in some places.

There are seats available right in front of the waterfall to enjoy the view. Trees provide nice shade and this hike can also be enjoyed on a hot day.

The waterfall does not have a lot of water during winter and a low rain season. But it is never completely dry and you will still be able to enjoy the hike. My favourite time of the year to hike there is during the summer months when everything is green!

Entrance to the waterfall can be a little tricky. You will find a sign (Restaurante Águila) in Ruta 5 close to the Petrobras station. Right at the top of the road is a restaurant where you can park your car or bicycle. Climb through the fence (It is fenced off for the cows) and start your walk. Entrance is normally free but during the high season an entrance fee of 2 pesos are charged.

En medio de las Sierras Grandes frente a Santa Rosa de Calamuchita podemos disfrutar de un salto de agua de una arroyo en medio de la Quebrada.

Para acceder a ella debemos ir por la Ruta nº 5 y pasar unos 100 mts la estación de servicios Petrobras (en sentido norte – sur) y a mano izquierda veremos un cartel que indica Restaurant “El Águila”.

Tomamos ese camino y a unos 1000 mts encontraremos un playón de estacionamiento. Desde allí comienza el recorrido a píe de unos 50 min. aprox.

Hostel Tinktinkie en Santa Rosa de Calamuchita

A strange noise from the chimney

One morning we heard a noise coming from the chimney on the second floor. It was a strange hissing sound and I immediately knew there was something stuck inside the chimney. We were still building so it could have been anything. It couldn´t have been Santa because it was way too early for him to make an appearance!

Andrey wanted to put his head inside to see what it was but I didn´t think it was a good idea. Maybe it was a snake or a three eyed monster. He took my advice and opted for a mirror to have a better look. It was too dark and he couldn´t see anything.Then we took a stick and gently felt our way up the chimney. But the hissing sound just became louder and more angrier. We backed off.

I came up with the plan to make a small fire, not to roast the poor thing, but to smoke it out. Nothing!

We gave up. After a while we went back upstairs and then I saw it! Standing on the floor was a baby owl! It had the most beautiful, big eyes and he puffed his feathers and screeched at us as we got close.

We decided to catch it, put it in a box and set it free. But that was easier said than done. He was huffing and puffing and had us jumping all over the place. He had no intention of climbing into the box. We also didn´t want to upset him too much. He is after all a wild animal.

Eventually Andrey got close enough and gently let him into the box. He was the most adorable thing but they belong in nature. We set him free.

Immediately he flew away and sat on a pole looking at us. Almost like he was saying thank you.

We often see him here at the Hostel. He hasn´t grown much bigger – our little owl in the chimney!