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!
