In
1932 Dr. Helmut Cabjolsky, employee of a German
Company, travelled to Argentina for 'a five
year contract. He settled down in Buenos Aires
with his wife, H. Behrend de Cabjolsky, their
two sons Klaus and Helmut, 13 and 11 years old
and Mrs.Liesbeth Mehnert and her husband, at
that moment their housekeepers. While in Argentina,
naturally they missed their native German landscapes
and mountains. Dissatisfied with the traditional
summer resorts at the coast to spend their vacations
in, they managed te buy 500ha (1200 acres) near
the mountains of Córdoba. This lot bought in
1934 had the Cerro La Cumbrecita (1450 meters
or 4800 feet) registered as a reference point.
The nearest village, Los Reartes,originally
a horse exchange station on the roya! road was
located 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) on a straight
line from the lot. Once a vehicle trail was
built, that distance became 27 kilometers (18
miles). The next settlement was 11 kilometers
(6.8 miles) further away: Estancia El Sauce
(The Willow), which later would become Villa
General Belgrano (V.G .B.) . Any provisions
such as material for construction, food, etc.
had te be brought from Alta Gracia. During the
first years the dominant environment was the
rough and tree-less landscape of Cordoba's mountains.
Dr. Cabjolsky's two brothers-in-law arrived
from Europe and started to plant trees. They
lived in tents,developed a local greenhouse,
fenced part of the lot to protect the plants
from animals and built a trail to Los Reartes.
The first building made out of adobe was started
in 1935. Originally thought of as a summer house
for the family, it soon became a lodging for
further family and many friends, Due to increasing
interest, the place started to work as a family-inn
(today Hotel La Cumbrecita) and was later sold
to Mr. and Mrs.Reinaldo Schefsky, friends of
the family who had come from the South to raise
cattle in La Cumbrecita.Meanwhile, the Mehnert
couple built their own house and speciaIized
in
the art of baking (typicaI
European cakes and cookies). Today, Confitería
Liesbeth is famous for its baking throughout
the country. Helmut Cabjolsky, the eldest son,
finished his studies and started with the division
of the lot into smaIler properties and marked
the internal roads. He aIso built some of the
town's first buildings.Other families that settled
down under hard living conditions and took the
first steps to transform La Cumbrecita into
the little paradise that it is today, are not
to be forgotten: Valenta, Knöpfli, Fleckenstein,
Anz, Zechner, Schöller, Mayer, etc. And
the families already living in the area: Giménez,
Molina & López. In the beginning, the knowledge
of the beauty and enchantment of the place was
spread on1y by hear say as nobody thought then
that La Cumbrecita would become a tourist attraction.
Nowadays it's one of the most important, exclusive
and distinguished centers and is visited by
people from all over Argentina and also from
foreign countries. |
