This time, nine months of sweet waiting had to pass before I could make a post again updating how everything is going with my #travelgoal. We Argentines have a vast and beautiful country, and exploring it all requires a large investment of time and of course, money. But this is a challenge that I definitely want to complete: knowing at least one place in the 23 provinces of my country Argentina is not easy at all, but for the moment I think I'm doing quite well. Very close to the Andes Mountains, to the west of my country, I was able to visit the province of San Juan, which became #16 on my list. Hope you like it ❤️.
This trip is very special for me for several reasons: it's the first time I have traveled alone, to a province that I have not visited before and without an exact return date. After traveling so much with friends and family, the idea of traveling alone kept ringing in my head and I knew that at some point I had to make it happen. Almost as if it were a sign, one day in July I saw a post on Facebook about a job exchange position for accommodation in a hostel in the province of San Juan. Impulsively I knew that this would be a good opportunity to travel while saving a little, and since I have all my time available to take my economic activity with me anywhere, I began to materialize the trip little by little 😃.
It's easy to say now, but in these two months that passed from that day to now I had a lot of mixed feelings. My main fears at that moment were the money to pay for the trip and the possibility of feeling alone in an unknown place. As for money, since I completed the exchange I started saving as much as I could, and also dipped into some of my Savings Wallet savings. Since last year I have been saving with the Savings Club modality, and that allowed me to have enough HBD reserved in case of any spontaneous plan. Of the more than 600 HBD that I saved last year, I only spent 400 HBD on my trip to the province of Santa Cruz, so I allocated the 200 HBD that I had left over as the initial budget for this trip 😃.
As for feeling alone during the trip, well, I couldn't know that until I was at the hostel I chose. But before that, my family and friends were in charge of supporting me in this decision to walk. Even though I wasn't going that far or for that long (only 1200 km, supposedly for at least a month), everyone I love contributed to my cause by giving me small gifts or providing support. They know that I like to travel and that continuing to visit the country is one of my greatest goals, so with all their love they accompanied me in this until the last minute 😃.
From the moment I crossed the boarding gate, all those fears I had until then disappeared and I felt completely fulfilled for accomplishing what I had set out to do. Everything was coming together very well, I had a beautiful flight and the excitement of seeing the first mountains from above made me feel that everything was worth it. My trip does not have an exact return date because I can choose until when I want to continue working at the hostel, but with everything I researched that there is to do, I will probably stay here for quite some time 😅.
The ticket to get to this province cost me 22,500 ARS (approx. 32 USD). This time I couldn't travel on one of the low-cost airlines since this destination is not as popular as others, so only the main aviation company in Argentina (and therefore, the most expensive) comes here. As I go down my list of provinces to visit, I end up with the least crowded or most expensive destinations, so it becomes more and more challenging to get to them. But I'm so determined that I want to see all the places, no matter what, I'm going to be there at some point 😃.
The neighborhood where the hostel I chose is located is in the center of the City of San Juan, the capital of the province. The good thing is that in this part the different bus lines that take you everywhere are very close, or even long-distance buses to go further. By exchanging work time for accommodation, I am saving a lot of money so surely all of that will be used for excursions and walks in the most beautiful places I can find. The deal we have with the owners is three days of work for a whole week of accommodation, so I have plenty of time to go explore the surroundings 😃.
My first day at the hostel was very warm and friendly. That afternoon the owners welcomed me and gave me all the instructions on places to visit and also about work. They seemed like super nice people to me and that ended up overcoming the other fear I had about feeling alone in an unknown place. That day they recommended that I go out and visit the shopping center that was only a few blocks away, so taking advantage of the last hours of light I walked to one of the busiest squares with the city's cathedral 😃.
Although religion is not among my main interests, I always like to visit churches for their structure and architecture. In addition, this cathedral has a viewpoint that could be accessed for free to contemplate the entire city from above 😃. What I also liked is that although it is not one of the most famous provinces to come on vacation, tourism is well developed. In the center there are guided tours all the time for those who want to know the history, and also cheap buses that for a small fee take you to the most beautiful landscapes ❤️.
According to what I was able to investigate so far, this city is relatively new since in 1944 it was almost completely destroyed due to an earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale, with its epicenter very close to this area. On that occasion, the earthquake lasted only a few seconds in the night but it was enough for almost everything to collapse and the city to have to start from scratch. Due to the number of victims and material damage, this event was described as the most destructive due to natural causes that our country has had so far 😶.
Currently, this city has a lot of seismic activity and that is why all its buildings are prepared for that, being mostly low houses except for a few hotels and buildings with a maximum of 13 floors (quite risky, don't you think?). They say that the last large earthquake recorded here was in 2021 but that there are small movements every day, almost imperceptible or very far from the center of the city. At the moment I couldn't notice any and I hope it stays that way because I think I would be quite scared if everything started shaking 😅.
This trip began on September 6 and for the moment, September 26, I'm still here and having a great time in this beautiful city of San Juan. Thinking from afar, all those things that made me doubt whether to come or not seem like nothing to me: I was able to meet good people and so far, I have seen a lot of beautiful places that fit well into my budget. This trip is being very relaxing and I'm enjoying it a lot, even more than I thought. For now, I can conclude that I'm very happy for having followed my instinct and without a doubt this encourages me to use this exchange modality to continue traveling more and for longer in my beautiful country. Happy province 16 to my #travelgoal, I couldn't be happier and thank you Hive community for all the support that allowed me to get here. Thank you, thank you, thank you ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️.
With lots of love. / Con mucho amor.
Lau 💕.
