Long weekend at the Argentine Copacabana - Part 2

The next morning we drove in the main land, to a little village called Tandil, 170 kilometers away from Mar del Plata. I wanted to see Tandil for two reasons. First of all, because this is a typical town on the Argentine Pampas. Tandil is laying on the sierras of the humid Pampas, and its name in the mapuche language means falling rock.


The mapuche Moving Stone

We can find here the reconstructed copy of that unique moving stone - Piedra Movediza -, which had been balancing long ago on another rock, when it fall down and broke to two parts in 1912. The locals used to put bottles under its base to see them breaking and demonstrate that the stone was moving. One time, however, the stone fall out of its balance because one of the bottles, and fall down. In 2007 a reconstructed copy was collocated to the place of the original, but unfortunately this one does not move.

That is how the moving stone was balancing on the rock for thousands of years

Tandil was populated from 1823 by the Spanish and Italian immigrants, and is still showing the characteristics of the Pampas with its one-stored, colonialist houses. We took a pleasant walk on the cobbled stone streets in the afternoon, when the locals were spending their siesta hidden. We also peeped into that little hut, which used to serve as the resting place of travelers, who were going to the south from Buenos Aires. The authentic building is now a delicacy store, where locals are selling their domestic jams, olive oils, salamis and cheese. I would have loved to spend more time in the cavalcade of savors and smells, but an even bigger temptation was waiting for me.

The smell of the domestic cheese filled the little shop

According to the legend, the famous salami of Tandil is dried with the breeze of the sierras and smells like the Pampas. In Argentina there are only three villages where the salami is celebrated, and one was Tandil.


Mouth-watering salami festival

Being Hungarian, I could not miss this festival. We were waiting for the sunset, when the pieces of salamis and cheese were unloaded on the stands. Hundreds of locals and tourists woke up from the siesta and we sank into the crowd. We hoped to sip in the smell of the countryside and the paprika, which watered our mouth.

We were tasting according to color, shape, smell and size, or just because the seller gave it with a smiling face. Who still had space int he stomach, cold go to the end, where gauchos were preparing the rows of steak and welts. 

The wurst and steak is getting ready for the salami festival

The tango of the countryside, the chacarera was played from the background in the coliseum, and I felt like being in the countryside festivals of my childhood. I bought an Argentine hot dog, which was a huge slice of steak inside a bread, which I accompanied with a big mug of local beer.  The two-hour long journey back to Mar del Plata flew away fast.

On the last day we tried to think with the head of the porteños, to find out how we could avoid the crowd back to Buenos Aires. We decided to politely let the crowd leave before us, and we stayed for the morning in Mar del Plata. We visited the local aquarium.

Animal show

The aquarium spread the very sympathetic message with the children and their parents, that we can take care of the animals the best if we love them, and we love them the most if we know them. The aim of the aquarium was to get to know the animals, take care of them and protect them. During the show the workers introduced us the everyday life of the animals, and during the show together with the children we were applauding with a big smile if an animal managed to complete an exercise.

Their dream came true

In the afternoon we walked a bit in the port, where we saw the lazy sea lions taking a sunbath in the afternoon sun. I could have stayed on the beach with them, but after the sunset we had to leave for Buenos Aires. We were praying no to get the same crowd with which we arrived. This time the timing was perfect and within four hours we were already in the quiet and sleeping Buenos Aires.


The original in Hungarian is published here.



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About Tiny Girl With Big Bag

Hobby writer and autodidact photographer whose passion is to travel and get to know new people and cultures. She has been on 4 continents and 30 countries, and the outcome is this travel blog where she shares travel stories, thoughts, tips and photography always through a subjective eye.

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3 comments:

  1. Argentina famous for tourism in Asia. Each year thousand of tourists visit Argentina for tourism. Argentina famous for its beaches, landscapes and greenery. If you are making plans to visit Argentina then you must visit these places iguazu falls, perito moreno glacier, buenos aires zoo argentina, buenos aires mundo marino...

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  2. Long.....Weekends are the best! Thanks for sharing your travel updates!

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  3. I was last year in Copacabana. A single word can describe this location: amazing!

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