Whenever one thinks of the mountains, they either think of something majestic, mysterious and tremendous in terms of sites, nature and esthetic impressions or they just grin reminiscent of a sweat-abundant and strenuous walk they would rather avoid. For me mountains were like this, a nice but a rather tiresome place to hike for a day or two. Well, people change. Opinions change. Now that I live in Peru I cannot imagine living far away from these outstanding artifacts of nature. Whenever possible, I set off for a weekend-hike to discover new places “off the beaten track” around Cusco.

Buenos Aires is a lot more livable than most other big cities I´ve been to, but sometimes you still just need to get out of town. I realized as much last month when the heavy urbanity of the capital started to really weigh on me. Now, I´m a city girl and have only lived in cities. But for me, sane city dwelling must be interjected by quick jaunts to clean air and open skies. And so it was last weekend that I found myself at Retiro station boarding a bus headed for San Antonio de Areco.

It’s a two hour journey to Areco, which is just enough time to watch the scenery turn from concrete urban density to the classically flat green lushness of the Argentine campo. When my husband and I got off the bus, we instantly felt at peace. Walking the few blocks from the bus station to the center we were so pleased to breathe the clear air, and our pace slowed as we released the city rush and accomodated to the much slower rhythm of the pampas.