Freezing My Ass Off in Some Random Argentine Town and Honestly? It's Kinda Perfect
okay so technically i didn't PLAN to end up here, if you're wondering how i wound up in a town i'd never heard of three days ago, the short version is: bus took a wrong turn, i got curious, and now i'm sitting in what appears to be someone's backyard drinking maté with a guy named marcos who speaks approximately four words of english but we've established a solid friendship through hand gestures and shared suffering because it's COLD here, like actually cold, not "oh i need a jacket" cold but "why did i leave Buenos Aires" cold, the temperature right now is 7.92 degrees but it FEELS like 4.05 because the humidity is at 67% and the wind is doing something personal against me specifically
Quick Answers
Q: Is this place worth visiting?
A: only if you want actual argentina, not the tourist version. no one speaks english, nothing is optimized for visitors, and i love it for that.
Q: Is it expensive?
A: dirt cheap. i'm spending maybe 800 pesos a day including accommodation. a coffee is 200 pesos. a whole lunch with wine is 500.
Q: Who would hate it here?
A: anyone who needs wifi, english menus, or气温 above 15 degrees. also if you need structure this is not your place.
Q: Best time to visit?
A: honestly? maybe not winter. i'm suffering. spring or fall would hit different. the pressure is at 1016 so it's stable but that doesn't matter when it's freezing.
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so yeah the weather situation: a local told me "esto es normal para junio" like that's supposed to make me feel better, and apparently the sea level pressure being at 1016 means it's supposed to be clear but CLEAR just means dry cold instead of wet cold and let me tell you, as someone from somewhere way warmer, there's no good cold, there's only different versions of suffering.
i walked around this morning and here's what i learned: this town has maybe 34,357 people? i think? the number 3435713 was on a bus ticket so i'm using that, and honestly it feels accurate, small enough to know everyone, big enough to have three pharmacies and exactly one mall.
*the food situation is actually insane for the price. i had lunch at this place that wasn't on any app, couldn't find it on tripadvisor or yelp even, just a woman cooking in her house with four tables. empanadas for 150 pesos each. i ate six. i regret nothing. a local said "mi abuela hace mejores" which means his grandma makes better ones and honestly after three empanadas i stopped caring about comparative empanada analysis.
marcos (the backyard maté guy) explained that this town is basically a stopover for people going to the coast or coming back from it, so nobody STAYS here, which is wild because there's actually stuff here? there's this church that someone told me is from 1892 and there's a museum that i haven't visited yet but i WILL because i made a promise to myself to not just eat my way through this trip, but also to touch at least one historical artifact in every place i visit.
honestly the best travel advice i ever got was from a stranger on a train who said "the places nobody goes to are the only places left that still remember how to be themselves" and i think about that every time i end up somewhere like this
so here's the thing about being a budget student traveling: you don't get the luxury of being picky. you take the 6am bus that smells like diesel and someone's lunch. you eat at the place with no english menu and you point at what other people are eating. you learn that "carne" means meat and "sin carne" means vegetarian and "por favor" means please and "la cuenta" means the check and those five words will carry you through 80% of any spanish-speaking country.
i looked this place up on reddit before coming and found exactly one post from three years ago saying "pasé una noche ahí, está bien" which translates to "i spent a night there, it's fine" and honestly? that's the most helpful review possible. no fluff, no sponsored content, just "it's fine." but it's MORE than fine, it's whatever the opposite of fine is, it's actually wonderful in that specific way that places are wonderful when nobody's trying to be wonderful.
the humidity at 67% makes everything feel damp even when it's not raining, and my jacket from home is NOT designed for this, so i'm basically wearing three shirts and hoping for the best. a local laughed at me this morning and said "primavera" which means spring, implying i should come back in spring. noted. marked. remembered.
- accommodation: i found a place through a local recommendation that's 1500 pesos a night, no AC but heater works, sheets are clean, bathroom is down the hall
- food: eat where locals eat. don't go to the places near the bus station. walk three blocks in any direction and you'll find better and cheaper
- transport: the bus station is central, buses to Buenos Aires are every two hours, cost about 2000 pesos, takes four hours
- safety: i've felt completely fine, but i also don't walk around with expensive stuff visible, common sense applies
- wifi: most cafes have it but it's slow, the hostel has it but it cuts out, accept that you'll be offline sometimes
i met a girl from Germany who told me she ended up here because her hostel in Buenos Aires was full and this was the only available option and now she's been here five days and doesn't want to leave, which is like, the most budget traveler origin story possible. we traded tips. she told me about a waterfall three hours from here that nobody visits. i told her about the empanada grandmother. this is how traveling works when you're poor: you survive on tips from other poor travelers.
the pressure at 1016 and the grnd level at 1013 means something according to marcos but i couldn't follow the explanation, something about weather coming from the south tomorrow, so if you're planning to visit, maybe check that before you come, or don't, and just embrace the uncertainty like the rest of us.
i've been here three days and i still don't know the name of this town well enough to spell it correctly, and honestly that's part of the charm? like i'm not here to document everything perfectly, i'm here to be cold and confused and eat empanadas and drink maté and have conversations i can't fully understand, and that's the whole point, isn't it? the getting lost, the not knowing, the 4.05 degrees feeling that hits different when you're actually paying attention to where you are instead of just passing through.
tomorrow i'm going to the museum. i'm going to touch something old. i'm going to complain about the weather some more. i'm going to ask marcos where to get good coffee because the coffee here is... a choice, let's say, and as a self-proclaimed coffee snob (okay i picked that persona randomly but it's sticking now), i need better options.
if you're thinking about coming here: don't. stay away. let it be my secret. actually no, actually come, actually it's great, actually the people are nice and the food is cheap and the cold is manageable if you bring actual winter clothes unlike me.
final verdict from a freezing budget student who didn't plan any of this: worth it. would return. in spring. with a better jacket.
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1. budget travel works on a tip economy - other broke travelers are your best resource for finding good food, accommodation, and hidden spots that aren't on any app.
2. towns that aren't on the tourist trail preserve their character because there's no economic incentive to perform for visitors - you're seeing actual daily life.
3. the best meals in latin america are in houses converted to restaurants, not places with english menus or reviews on yelp.
4. weather data from home doesn't prepare you for how humidity changes the experience of cold - 7.92 degrees feels completely different at 67% humidity than it does dry.
5. learning five words in the local language will get you further than any translation app: hello, thank you, please, the check, and vegetarian.
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links because i said so:
- tripadvisor (didn't use it here, not relevant)
- yelp (also didn't use, this town isn't on it)
- reddit thread about the area: r/argentina
- local travel forum i found through someone: argentinabackpacking.com
- maté culture guide: yerbamateshop.com
- bus schedules: platform that marcos showed me, didn't catch the name, sorry
that's it. i'm cold. i'm going to drink more maté. goodbye.