I’m not sure at what point Argentina was put on our itinerary. When we arrived on the continent in June 2006, the plan included only Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. I know that within the first month of our arrival in Ecuador we were hearing from travelers how great, and how cheap, Argentina was.

Argentina used to be one of the most expensive countries in the western hemisphere when they had their currency pegged 1 to 1 with the US$. However due to a pile of circumstances they unpegged and crashed down to 3 to 1 in 2001. Since then, it’s been cheap for those of us with the almighty dollar, euro, etc., though I won’t mention the pound because its exchange rate makes me sick with jealousy! While Argentina is still definitely cheap compared with the US, we learned the hard way in Cordoba and La Cumbre that the cost of living is definitely on the rise.

Cordoba was our third stop in Argentina, after Salta and Cafayate. In both cities we had been able to camp, which kept our costs beautifully low. Our Lonely Planet (which we affectionately call simply The Book) states that while there is no campground in Cordoba proper, there was one hostel that would let you set up in their backyard. The hostel prices listed were also sufficiently low that we didn’t think there would be a problem.

Slightly off to the side note: the tourist help desks in Argentina are fantastic! Almost every bus station has one and they are usually well stocked with helpful information. Cordoba was no exception. The tourist kiosk had an accommodation price list showing places near the bus station for 20-30 pesos and those closer to the action in the 30-40 range. Great! Armed with information, we headed into the city.

The first hostel we came to was listed at a$25 on our handy-dandy cheat sheet. A quick look inside showed it be a pretty basic place, but clean enough so we inquired about a room for the night. a$80 was the reply! Holy what?!? US$27 for a foam mattress and a dim cell?!? We thought they were just gouging the gringos, so we moved on to the next hostel up the street. However, as we moved in towards the center, we got the same replies over and over again. One proprietor had the courtesy to tell us that the tourist office price list was from 2005 and that we’d never find rates like that in Cordoba.

A bit discouraged, we trekked through town to the camper-friendly hostel. It was in a nice part of town and looked like a pretty spiffy place at first glance. However, the cheapskate fairy did not grace us with her presence their either, as the local authorities had apparently stepped in and prohibited camping a few years ago. The only reason we had stopped in Cordoba was to hang out and enjoy the city, but we were quickly finding out that it was out of our price range. Discouraged, we traipsed back to the bus station to head out into the mountains to La Cumbre.

La Cumbre is about an hour from Cordoba. It’s a resort town of sorts, a place for rich people to spend the weekends during the summer. It’s a pleasant enough town though and it had a campground. The real reason for our visit though was that it is renowned as a paragliding spot and my partner is quite taken with the sport. He’ll probably get his pilots’ license some day, but for now he has to be satisfied with the occasional tandem flight.

Settled into our campsite (which was a$30 by the way), we headed off to find the pilot hangout spot. There aren’t any agencies that set up flights; it’s just a loose system where you put out the word you’re interested and one of the locals will take you up. Believing The Book (silly us!), we planned on paying around a$100 for the pleasure. We were in for a rude awakening though as prices have doubled to a$200! As the guy we spoke with said, the cost of living has gone up, and besides, it’s a lot cheaper than where you’re from. This, by the way, is always an infuriating statement. Yeah, sure things are cheaper in the US, but we’ve been down here for over a year! And not all Americans are filthy freakin rich! Anywho….

Though extremely disappointed, we ended up staying in La Cumbre for a few days just to hang out. We met some cool folks at the campsite and the countryside is beautiful around those parts. We also got back into running, which was a challenge as it’s hilly in all directions.

So the moral of this story? Argentina’s cheap, but not as cheap as it was a few years ago. And don’t tell an Argentine that something is expensive, because you’ll just get an earful about how it’s cheaper than where you’re from…because anyone who even looks like they speak English is obviously from the US, the most expensive place in the world.

(This is crossposted from my SAA travel blog.  We were in these parts of Argentina in November, 2007.)