One of the things I liked most during my stay in the province of San Juan is that I settled in perfectly to make the most of my free time. The owners of the hostel where I was working were very kind people and aware that the true purpose of all this exchange was to get to know the province, so they let me choose the days off work to my liking. One of the weeks of the trip it occurred to me that I could use that time to go see a little beyond the city, and that's how I organized a small getaway to the town of San Agustín, in the Fertile Valley of San Juan ❤️ .
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After buying a bus ticket, traveling four hours and booking a hostel in the area, I was finally able to reach the valley. In contrast to all the landscapes I had previously been seeing within the province of San Juan, these looked completely different. While in the surroundings of the city everything is dry and arid, in this part in the north everything was green and full of life. It is logical that they have called it 'fertile valley', since the climatic conditions are suitable for crops to grow ❤️.
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According to what I saw on the map, this town was quite small so what I did was rent a bicycle to explore it. One of the advantages of combining a small town and a bike is that you can see everything there is in a few days. I got this bike for a good rental price: just 8,000 ARS ($8) for four days of riding, and I used it from the first to the last minute of my stay in San Agustín. With it I was able to pedal to the businesses to buy food, explore the surrounding area and also visit the local dam 😁.
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The people at the hostel also recommended going to a town about 10 km from where I was: according to them it would take an hour to get there, but that was the first time I would try to go that far by bike. It was already afternoon and I didn't know if I would have enough daylight to get there and back, so I just decided to go explore the road a little. The bike was quite comfortable, and the person who rented it to me also offered assistance in case of any inconvenience 😁.
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The path we had to take was quite trodden by cars and there were also exclusive paths for cycling or walking. This area was quite nice and quiet, bordered by a river and plenty of animals. There weren't many people at that time, so I had the whole place to myself and the goats 😅.
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Everything was going well, until moving along the path I came across more and more goats. I had never been in a place with wild goats before, so I didn't know how they would react if I approached them. Many of them were even on the path that I had to go through, but I didn't dare to interrupt them so that's as far as I got 😅.
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Anyway, it was getting a little late and it was better to go back to town. When I arrived, the first thing the locals told me was that this place is very safe in terms of crime and that I should relax with that, that if I wanted to return late from a place I should do so without fear. Likewise, in this case I was not afraid of crimes, but rather that the night would find me in the middle of all those mountains full of goats 😂.
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Back in town, I took a short tour around the hostel where I stayed. This place seemed quite old and left in time. Even the buildings made it noticeable: there were no modern buildings, all the places seemed to be the original ones from when the town was founded. All this is typical of the towns in the interior of Argentina, which contrast too much with the great growth that the province of Buenos Aires and its surroundings had 🤭.
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As for the distribution of everything in the town of San Agustín, there is the typical main square with the church, the police station and the school around it. This model is repeated in several towns that I visited before and here was no exception. I took the opportunity to visit the church a little, which was small but beautiful and well preserved. Just there I ran into visiting people, most of them just passing through to visit the national parks about 50 km from this place. Most tourists do not come to explore San Agustín, they only use it to spend the night and continue their route elsewhere 😁.
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Inside the church was also small but well decorated. Surely in this town they have a tradition of gathering at mass and celebrating. I like to think that all the neighbors know each other since it is a fairly conservative place and luckily I was able to exchange words with some of them. What they told me is that they notice when extra visitors come to the place, because the internet signal starts to work poorly. Being more than 200 km from the capital of the province, it is logical that they are a bit isolated 😅.
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It was great to have had the chance to go visit a new place within the province of San Juan and see some new landscapes. I also liked having gotten a bicycle to be able to ride around since it allows you to save a lot of time and optimize your stay. I also found the local people very friendly and it also helped me go somewhere a little quieter since I was the only guest in the hostel I chose 😅.
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With lots of love. / Con mucho amor.
Lau 💕.
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📸 Cover created with Canva. All the images are my property 💕.
📸 Portada creada en Canva. Todas las imágenes son de mi propiedad 💕.
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Una de las cosas que más me gustó durante mi estadía en la provincia de San Juan es que me acomodé perfectamente para aprovechar al máximo mi tiempo libre. Los dueños del hostel en el que estuve trabajando eran personas muy amables y conscientes de que el verdadero fin de todo este intercambio era conocer la provincia, así que me dejaban elegir los días libres de trabajo a mi gusto. Una de las semanas del viaje se me ocurrió que podía usar ese tiempo para ir a conocer un poco más allá de la ciudad, y así fue como me organicé una pequeña escapada hasta el pueblo de San Agustín, en el Valle Fértil de San Juan ❤️.---
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After buying a bus ticket, traveling four hours and booking a hostel in the area, I was finally able to reach the valley. In contrast to all the landscapes I had previously been seeing within the province of San Juan, these looked completely different. While in the surroundings of the city everything is dry and arid, in this part in the north everything was green and full of life. It is logical that they have called it 'fertile valley', since the climatic conditions are suitable for crops to grow ❤️.
Después de comprarme un pasaje de micro, viajar cuatro horas y reservar un hostel en la zona, finalmente pude llegar al valle. En contraste a todos los paisajes que había estado viendo anteriormente dentro de la provincia de San Juan, estos se veían completamente diferentes. Mientras en los alrededores de la ciudad todo es seco y árido, en esta parte en el norte todo era verde y lleno de vida. Es lógico que lo hayan denominado 'valle fértil', ya que en él las condiciones climáticas son adecuadas para que crezcan los cultivos ❤️.---
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According to what I saw on the map, this town was quite small so what I did was rent a bicycle to explore it. One of the advantages of combining a small town and a bike is that you can see everything there is in a few days. I got this bike for a good rental price: just 8,000 ARS ($8) for four days of riding, and I used it from the first to the last minute of my stay in San Agustín. With it I was able to pedal to the businesses to buy food, explore the surrounding area and also visit the local dam 😁.
Según lo que vi en el mapa, este pueblo era bastante pequeño así que lo que hice fue alquilarme una bicicleta para poder recorrerlo. Una de las ventajas de combinar pueblo pequeño y bici es que podés ver todo lo que hay en unos pocos días. Conseguí esta bicicleta a un buen precio de alquiler: solo 8000 ARS ($8) por cuatro días de paseo, y la usé desde el primer hasta el último minuto de mi estadía en San Agustín. Con ella pude ir pedaleando hasta los negocios para comprar comida, recorrer y poco los alrededores y también visitar el dique local 😁.---
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The people at the hostel also recommended going to a town about 10 km from where I was: according to them it would take an hour to get there, but that was the first time I would try to go that far by bike. It was already afternoon and I didn't know if I would have enough daylight to get there and back, so I just decided to go explore the road a little. The bike was quite comfortable, and the person who rented it to me also offered assistance in case of any inconvenience 😁.
Las personas en el hostel también ne recomendaron ir a un pueblo a unos 10 km de donde estaba: según ellos tardaría una hora en llegar, pero esa era la primera vez que intentaría ir tan lejos en bicicleta. Ya eran horas de la tarde y no sabía si la luz del día me alcanzaría para ir y volver, así que solo decidí ir a explorar un poco el camino. La bicicleta era bastante cómoda, y el que me la alquiló también ofreció servicio de asistencia ante cualquier inconveniente 😁.---
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The path we had to take was quite trodden by cars and there were also exclusive paths for cycling or walking. This area was quite nice and quiet, bordered by a river and plenty of animals. There weren't many people at that time, so I had the whole place to myself and the goats 😅.
El camino que había que tomar estaba bastante pisado por autos y también había senderos exclusivos para ir en bici o caminando. Esta zona era bastante linda y tranquila, bordeada por un río y bastantes animales. No había mucha gente en ese momento, así que tenía todo el lugar para mí sola y las cabras 😅.---
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Everything was going well, until moving along the path I came across more and more goats. I had never been in a place with wild goats before, so I didn't know how they would react if I approached them. Many of them were even on the path that I had to go through, but I didn't dare to interrupt them so that's as far as I got 😅.
Todo iba bien, hasta que avanzando en el camino me crucé con más y más cabras. Yo nunca antes había estado en un lugar con cabras salvajes, así que no sabía cómo reaccionarían si me acercaba. Muchas de ellas incluso estaban en el camino por el que debia pasar yo, pero no me animé a interrumpirlas así que hasta ahí llegué 😅.---
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Anyway, it was getting a little late and it was better to go back to town. When I arrived, the first thing the locals told me was that this place is very safe in terms of crime and that I should relax with that, that if I wanted to return late from a place I should do so without fear. Likewise, in this case I was not afraid of crimes, but rather that the night would find me in the middle of all those mountains full of goats 😂.
De todos modos ya se estaba haciendo un poco tarde y era mejor volver al pueblo. Cuando llegué, lo primero que me dijeron los lugareños es que este lugar es muy seguro en cuanto a delitos y que me relajara con eso, que si quería volver tarde de un lugar que lo hiciera sin miedo. Igualmente, en este caso no tenía miedo a los delitos, sino a que me encontrara la noche en medio de todas esas montañas llenas de cabras 😂.---
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Back in town, I took a short tour around the hostel where I stayed. This place seemed quite old and left in time. Even the buildings made it noticeable: there were no modern buildings, all the places seemed to be the original ones from when the town was founded. All this is typical of the towns in the interior of Argentina, which contrast too much with the great growth that the province of Buenos Aires and its surroundings had 🤭.
De regreso en el pueblo, hice un pequeño tour por los alrededores del hostel en el que me hospedé. Este lugar parecía bastante antiguo y quedado en el tiempo. Incluso las construcciones así lo hacían notar: no había ninguna construcción moderna, todos los lugares parecían ser los originales de cuando el pueblo se fundó. Todo esto es típico de los pueblos del interior de Argentina, que contrastan demasiado con el gran crecimiento que tuvo la provincia de Buenos Aires y sus alrededores 🤭.---
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As for the distribution of everything in the town of San Agustín, there is the typical main square with the church, the police station and the school around it. This model is repeated in several towns that I visited before and here was no exception. I took the opportunity to visit the church a little, which was small but beautiful and well preserved. Just there I ran into visiting people, most of them just passing through to visit the national parks about 50 km from this place. Most tourists do not come to explore San Agustín, they only use it to spend the night and continue their route elsewhere 😁.
En cuanto a la distribución de todo en el pueblo de San Agustín, en él está la típica plaza principal con la iglesia, la comisaria y la escuela en su alrededor. Este modelo se ve repetido en varios pueblos que ya visité antes y acá no era la excepción. Aproveché para visitar un poco la iglesia, que era pequeña pero linda y bien conservada. Recién ahi me crucé con gente de visita, la mayoría solo de paso para visitar los parques nacionales a unos 50 km de este lugar. La mayoría de los turistas no vienen a explorar San Agustín, solo lo utilizan para pasar la noche y seguir ruta a otro lado 😁.---
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Inside the church was also small but well decorated. Surely in this town they have a tradition of gathering at mass and celebrating. I like to think that all the neighbors know each other since it is a fairly conservative place and luckily I was able to exchange words with some of them. What they told me is that they notice when extra visitors come to the place, because the internet signal starts to work poorly. Being more than 200 km from the capital of the province, it is logical that they are a bit isolated 😅.
Por dentro la iglesia también era pequeña pero bien decorada. Seguramente en este pueblo tienen la tradición de reunirse en la misa y celebrar. Me gusta pensar que todos los vecinos se conocen ya que es un lugar bastante conservador y por suerte pude cruzar palabras con algunos de ellos. Lo que me dijeron es que se dan cuenta de cuando vienen visitantes de más al lugar, porque la señal de internet empieza a funcionar mal. Estando a más de 200 km de la capital de la provincia, es lógico que esten un poco aislados 😅.---
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It was great to have had the chance to go visit a new place within the province of San Juan and see some new landscapes. I also liked having gotten a bicycle to be able to ride around since it allows you to save a lot of time and optimize your stay. I also found the local people very friendly and it also helped me go somewhere a little quieter since I was the only guest in the hostel I chose 😅.
Fue genial haber tenido la posibilidad de ir a visitar un lugar nuevo dentro de la provincia de San Juan y asi poder ver algunos paisajes nuevos. También me gusto haber conseguido una bicicleta para poder pasear por ahi ya que te permite ahorrar bastante tiempo y optimizar tu estadia. La gente del lugar también me parecio muy amable y también me sirvio para ir a un lugar un poco más tranquilo ya que era la única huésped en el hostel que elegí 😅.---
❤️ Hope you liked this post! Thanks for reading. ❤️
❤️¡Espero que les haya gustado este post! Gracias por leer. ❤️
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With lots of love. / Con mucho amor.
Lau 💕.
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📸 Cover created with Canva. All the images are my property 💕.
📸 Portada creada en Canva. Todas las imágenes son de mi propiedad 💕.
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