It had been almost three years since our last visit to Yatan Rumi, arguably the largest naturist club in the world, but return we did, just in time for its seventh anniversary.
Not much has changed on this 1500 hectare rocky outcrop in the pre-Andean mountains of Cordoba Province in western Argentina, and that’s probably a good thing! Although rampant inflation has driven the price of almost anything in Argentina to almost double what they were in 2007, club owner Miguel Suarez has maintained his fees almost the same. We used his shuttle service (35 pesos per person), with pick-up at the door of our hotel in downtown Cordoba for the two and a half hour ride to Yatan. It takes about an hour an a half to the small town of Tanti along paved highways, and then another hour on dirt roads, the last part of which, inside Yatan’s grounds, is over extremely rough terrain. Miguel’s small 4 wheel drive vehicle can handle just about anything, but be forewarned that you’re in for quite a bit of shaking! All the way up, however, the breathtaking vistas of the surrounding valleys and faraway mountain ranges keeps your gaze fixed on the horizon, which helps against motion sickness.
Aside from a small shelter for campers to prepare their food, the lodge is unchanged, although cleaner than we remember it. The new live-in caretaker is now Patricia, a lovable senior who handles every one of the chores, with an occasional hand from one or more of the guests. Pablo, the caretaker here for many years, started a rival club in the same province, Aguila Blanca, in 2008. We didn’t manage to visit the latter on this trip.
The first day was clear and hot, the temperature in the neighborhood of 28 degrees Celsius, and my exuberance rewarded me with a slight sunburn. Remember, the higher the altitude, the easier it is to burn! The day’s activities consisted in short hikes, dipping in the waterfalls and lazily taking in the natural beauty surrounding us from the shade of one of the few rocky overhangs. Dusk, which comes quite late in this part of the world in summer (it’s February) brought us back to the lodge, where we sat watching the many foxes trot across the large lawn that serves both as campground and nude football (soccer) pitch. Even when naked, Argentineans are still some of the best footballers in the world, incidentally!
The next day, our last, began with a thick fog and a cool 19-20 Celsius (65-68 F). Such is the unpredictable weather in the mountains! It was fortunate that we decided to go hiking early, as by noon a thunderstorm rolled in and copious amounts of rain fell until just before it was time to head back to Cordoba. It’s easy to hike at Yatan, as there’s little vegetation to impede your progress, and there’s countless “caves” and strange rock formations to discover. There’s such a large tract of unexplored land at Yatan, you might just stumble across something completely new and it will bear your name for all posterity!
That’s exactly how “Piti’s Falls” where discovered in 2008. An Argentinean regular nicknamed Piti lost his way among the rock formations and accidentally came across postcard-perfect waterfalls and a large natural swimming pool, about thirty minutes walk from the lodge. Suarez offers free guided walks to this hidden paradise, which sadly we didn’t get to enjoy thanks to the awful weather we mentioned earlier. There’s also several smaller waterfalls and a natural water slide just 5 minutes from the lodge, but you should not miss an opportunity to enjoy Piti’s falls.
Our return journey from Yatan to Cordoba was much like a safari adventure, as the little streams had turned into raging torrents and some parts of the track had been washed away. We joked that this was the “Dakar Rally”, the famous all terrain car race which coincidentally had recently passed through the same road that leads up to Yatan’s gate.
Yatan hosts a sweat lodge (temazcal) February 26-28, and March 21, 2010 will hold its annual nude marathon race.
Quick Facts: Lodging at Yatan Rumi costs 50 pesos (13 USD on this date) per night per person, while a full meal plan is 70 pesos (18 USD) per person per day, and as mentioned earlier, the shuttle service from Cordoba is 35 pesos (9 USD) per person, return (reserve in advance). For day visits, the fee is only 20 pesos (5 USD). If you need a cheap hotel in Cordoba, a local nudist hotel owner offers a special room rate of 197 pesos if you mention you’re going to Yatan Rumi (Cordoba Inn Aparthotel). Lan Airlines flies to Cordoba from Lima, Peru as well as Santiago, Chile. They also serve major US and European cities, thus connecting you directly. You can also fly in from Buenos Aires, but remember that if you land at Ezeiza airport and are Canadian, Australian, or American, there’s now a punitive tourist tax of 70, 100 or 138 USD respectively which you’ll have to pay on arrival. This tax isn’t collected at Cordoba’s airport thus far. Knowing Spanish is a big asset at Yatan, as most folks don’t speak a word of English!
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Author is currently traveling, so trip photos will be posted here upon returning home!
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Tags: argentina, yatan rumi
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Is there going to be a 2012 edition of this marathon? Right now – in the middle of January, my last run was in -27 temperatures – a nice warm nude run seems like a good idea.