Villa General Belgrano (VGB) is a small, German town about an hour and a half outside of Córdoba. One of the things it is known for is having the 3rd largest Oktoberfest in the world in October, but there are a variety of fairs and expositions it has throughout the year. One of these is the Fiesta del Chocolate Alpino, the chocolate festival, which we got to go to!
Because we had moved our bus tickets to make it to the parade and not have to pay for a hostel Saturday night, we were racing a clock to take a bus out of Córdoba back to Buenos Aires at midnight. We got into VGB around 1:30 p.m., and had until 8 p.m. before we bused back to Córdoba, to then go back to Buenos Aires. A lot of time in transit, right? But the view and experiences were totally worth it. I tried putting what we did into perspective, and the best I can do is a little like this:
- Hey guys! It's a Saturday in Columbia, Mo. around noon, and there's this really awesome chocolate festival and town to see in St. Louis. So let's just take a bus there, but we NEED to take a bus back by 8 p.m. to then catch a bus from Columbia to Chicago. So let's do it!
- At school/in the USA, this is a yeah right situation. Why would you EVER do that? Going to St. Louis, back to Columbia, then back past there to get to Chicago? Why backtrack? To not carry our luggage. Thus, when traveling South America, I deem this acceptable.
After hearing cute German town in the mountains and chocolate festival in the same sentence, we were off. The bus ride from Córdoba was absolutely gorgeous, passing through the mountains and a lot of pretty towns like Los Molinos, pictured below.
Our mountain drive in the bus
Posing by the cute VGB signs all in the same font
We spent some time walking through all the adorable artisan shops!
Some of the town
We went on a mountain-side walk through the foresty area and by a little creek to get some exercise in and check it out!
Lauren, me and Stacey
Now, onto the chocolate festival. This was hilarious because since it's winter in Argentina, it literally felt like going to a Christmas bazaar. Everyone was bundled up in hats and gloves, drinking hot chocolate and eating pastries and there were even snowmen to top it off. Doesn't this look like gingerbread houses?!
Yum.
Essentially, there were a variety of freshly-made chocolates and tortas/cakes that you could put in a box to weigh and buy as much as you want of. And they tasted phenomenal. The four of us each bought our share and enjoyed our chocolate by watching the live concerts and ballet dancers on the stage. What a fun afternoon!
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