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Category: Building Hostel Tinktinkie

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!