Don’t cry for me Argentina

Cordoba, it’s the second biggest city in Argentina and the home for many University students. It has plenty of museums but being a student town many more bars and boliches (clubs). This is where I found myself at the start of my last week and a half in Argentina. I arrived on a Friday and met Braydon, Emma and Nazia at the hostel. We walked around town, to park Sarmiento and then into Nuevo Cordoba where Emma and I got our haircut. Being told by Nazia that my hair reminded her of George Michael was the last straw.

Park Sarmiento

That night we went out for all you can eat pizza and then had some drinks at the hostel and in a bar called Maria Maria, where they played a mix of standard electro and cumbia, currently my least favourite genre of music. Emma and I made it through until the early hours of Saturday morning before heading back to the hostel. On Saturday the others left the hostel for Mendoza and I slept.

I had arranged to meet up with Caitlin that night, a girl I’d met in Torres del Paine two months ago. I got talking to Martin, a Swedish guy at the hostel, and he came with me to meet Caitlin and one of her friends for a drink. Martin and I ended up in a club for the night where I practiced speaking Castellano with locals. I’ve not mentioned it before but Argentinians don’t actually speak Spanish, as such. They have an Italian-influenced accent where the ll and y sound like sshhhh. Although my level of Spanish is still fairly basic, it has improved substantially in six months. I’ve found that your ‘level of Spanish’ is relative to others. In this case, Martin didn’t speak a word so I found myself playing translator a few times with girls he wanted to chat too. The night ended at the pancho (hot dog) stand on Sunday morning to top off a big weekend.

A night out at Cuba Inc

I didn’t like my hostel so decided to move to another one, which would turn out to be a great move. I wanted to check out the National Parks around Cordoba so went off on my own to Parque los Condoritos, the home of the Condor. The weather was grey and overcast so it didn’t matter I forgot my camera as I only caught glimpses of Condors flying past. Luckily google images had some nice photos of what I could have seen.

Condor

I was planning on going to los gigantes but saw on facebook that Bart, a Dutchman I’d met in Mendoza was in Cordoba and heading for a different day trip. Leanne and Rob, an English couple from my hostel, and I met Carina, an Argentinian girl who Bart was couch surfing with, and headed for Uritorco. Out there we met David, a local guide, and the five of us went on a trek out into the bush. We stopped to drink mate, got a lesson on mate etiquette, and I shared Vegemite around for everyone to try.

Trek to Uritorco, near Cordoba

We ended up in the mountains at David’s house, which was located next to a damned lake where we drunk more mate and ate tortas fritas, an Argentinian specialty.

David’s place, Uritorco

I spent that night with Bart and Carina, at Carina’s place, and Bart convinced me to stay on another day in Cordoba so we could go out with Carina and her friends. The next day I went to the Museo de Caraffa with Bastian, a French guy I met at the hostel and we ate at one of Cordoba’s famous empanada restaurants. I’d spent quite a lot of time talking to Fla and Yami, two friendly Argentinian girls who worked at my hostel, and so invited them to come out for a drink that night with Bart, Carina and I. We met up at Maria Maria for drinks and a solid dance floor session.

Out with Fla, Carina and Yami

By the time I’d walked Fla home and we’d spent some time talking at her place it was Thursday morning. I’d arranged to meet Bart at the bus station at 845 so we could travel together to Rosario. Not having slept I got a taxi to take me from Fla’s place back to the hostel to pick up my things and then straight to the bus station. A painful 7-hour bus trip later and we were in Rosario where we were going to be staying with Bart’s friend Maria. We walked around Rosario with Maria that afternoon and went to look at the Bandera (flag) monument by the river. That night I cooked a roast and Bart, Maria and I went out with Maria’s sister and boyfriend.

Bart and Maria

The next day we went walking around town again and went to the top of the Bandera monument to the lookout. The flag was created by a guy named Manuel Belgrano, hence a Belgrano street in every town and city in Argentina.

Bart and Maria in Rosario

There were plenty of people around as it was 25 de Mayo, a public holiday for Argentinian Independence Day. That afternoon we watched Barcelona play in a Spanish cup final on a big screen by the river and Messi, who was born and raised in Rosario, scored. We spent some time drinking mate in the park with one of Maria’s friends before going back to her place for a delicious risotto. We went out for beers at a Cerveceria that night with one of her friends but were all tired so went home early (Argentina time: 230am).

Cerveceria with Bart and Maria

The next day Bart and I left for Buenos Aires. I checked in to Millhouse on a Saturday afternoon and saw Matt, a guy I’d met in Mendoza, and Nik, who I’d met somewhere in Central America (neither of us could remember where). I also met Nessa, Kate and Donna, three Irish girls, and all of us, plus some others, headed to La Cabrera for a famous steak. It lived up to expectations equalling the best steak I’ve had in Argentina. That night there was a party at Millhouse and we headed out to Terraza, one of the BA super clubs. I thought it was ok, didn’t quite make sun rise but had a fun night.

Sunday night was another party and another big night out. By the time it got to Monday morning it had been five large nights in a row and I was completely burnt out. I struggled to get out of bed on Monday, common in BA, but was ready to get out of there for warmer temperatures and healthier habits. I had spent two months in Argentina, equalling my time spent in Mexico and for the first time feel like I have seen and done almost everything I wanted to do in a country. Argentinians get a bit of a bad wrap from other South Americans, called arrogant etc, but I completely disagree. I have found they are friendly, fun and always helpful. And yes, the girls are stunning.

I fly to Colombia today for a big change, I’m going to be living in Santa Marta and working for a non-government organisation over the next few months as a volunteer. As the Argentinians say, ciao ciao, buena suerte.