Cordoba...it ain't 'alf hot mum

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"I...am...never...taking...another...night...bus....again...understand?"
This was the question posed to me as we arrived in Cordoba, a mere nine hours by bus (Chevallier) from Buenos Aires, but given that the movies and lights were on most of the night and then we were woken early by music, not the best trip. This wasnt good...How the 'eck were we going to get back to BA, walk?! I decided to let the issue lie for a while to allow the water to cool...

And so to Cordoba. Centre of Argentina really, right next to these small hills they call the Sierras, and second largest city in the country. Very like its namesake in Spain. And hot, very hot...42+ degrees for the three days we were there. We checked into a hotel recommended by Andrew and Susan (Hotel Vienna), who had reconnoitered the place the previous week, which thankfully had air-con.

That afternoon we ventured outside to sort out the next few days activity with plans of city tours, walking tours in the parks etc etc, only to discover that almost everywhere was shut either because they had all gone down to the river to cool off, or had gone on holiday for the month, Jan being the major holiday month for Argies, or were just hiding. We had wanted to go walking but the tour companies said it was too hot and the parks didnt have enough shade to stop gringo walkers suffering from heat exhaustion before the first hour was up. The pavements were melting and it was too much to even walk around. We found an open empanada (mini-pasty) bakery, grabbed some while having a lovely chat with the owners from northern Argentina, then retreated to the aircon in our hotel room. Not a good start then, it seemed we would be trapped here until we could get the first night bus back to ..... oh oh, not time to bring that subject up yet!

That evening we went along to a tango show that the lying planet had said we worthwhile at the El Arrobal restaurant. Without reservation they just managed to squeeze us in behind a pillar, but we food was ok and the show was fun, not just tango dancing but singing and music too. A couple of bottle of fine argentinian red later we were well into it, along with a large family party who had taken 80% of the restaurant (hence the being squeezed in) because of the grandparents wedding anniversary. We managed to sort of get ourselves involved to the extent that champagne and cake came our way at the appropriate moment and a couple of the old ladies came over to talk to us about either their visit to London once or just to pass the time of night. Good fun had by all.

Realising we couldn't be in the city because of the heat, we booked a day tour on a (air-con equipped) bus around the local sights and into the hills, figuring it would be cooler there. Sure enough, the next day we had a great trip to a little place called Mina Clavero. Literally - the trip there was great, over the hills, along the Camino de Las Altas Cumbres (although if they think these are 'high peaks' then they dont get out much in their own continent), stopping off at a couple of great viewpoints where a cooling wind blew and we were higher enough to notice a temperature drop. Then back into the heat to Mina itself, where we were deposited in the town and pointed at the river before being told the bus would pick us up three hours later. Now for the locals this was bliss - they have a lot of shallow slow flowing, rock filled or beach edged rivers which they love to come down to in the heat and wallow. Cordobans come for day trips and the locals join them, like hippos lying in six inches of water with just enough skin above water to breath and/or catch the sun. Safe sun is unheard of here and we saw soooo many people with a lovely red colour, still lying around in the blazing sun - they'll regret it...

So we took our meager picnic and newspaper down to the river and sat in the shade watching the world go by, and after a while you can understand why they all do it. Its the only cool place around and they can have this sort of weather for weeks at a time in Jan and Feb, although I understand it isn't usually this bad, they have dammed the river a way up to create a sort of pool so that it is chest height, otherwise its all ankle depth.

After this we went to a museum called the Museo Rocsen (in your Lying Planet ), which was vaguely organised but fascinating museum of virtually any suject you could think off, not claiming to be comprehensive or authoritative but actually just fun to look around. From Catholic relics to cinema projectors, to printing machines, gemstones, and dead beetles, it was all there, including a shrunken head - cool.

On the journey back we stumbled across the entire city of Cordoba, who had raised themselves from their wallowing, in their cars trying to go home, and so it was we got into the first traffic jam of the last nine months and got back to the hotel four hours later than expected and collasped gratefully into our air-conned bed - ahh memories of journies on the M4!

The next day was just as hot and we decided to do it all again, booking with the same tour company for a different tour and being collected surprisingly by the same driver and tour guide as the previous day (thankfully I had tipped him reasonably the day before, but the Argies dont seem to bother that much with tipping guides so never really sure of the form). This time we headed off in a different direction to the Valle de Calamuchita, passing one of the Jesuit estancias on the way - for which the Cordoba area is famous. To cut a long story the Jesuits were a bunch of neo-catholicists who got kicked out of the main church for being naughty so had to buy farm estates for themselves to feed and pay for the missionary/educational work they did. Next stop was the Che museum, which was full of memorabilia of the man himself, and pretty interesting.

This trip ended without getting caught in traffic but we arrived back to hotel only to discover that it was in the middle of a power cut. No lights, but more importantly, no air-con. The second biggest city in Argentina plunged into darkness and heat because too many people turned on their air-con and blew the system up. Great. So we survived by sitting by the fridge in the bar, drinking its contents before it all got too warm and playing scrabble until it was too dark to see the end of our noses, at which point power was finally restored.

Day three and there were no more tours to do that could possibly get us to cooler climes, so we woke with trepidation of being stuck in our aircon room all day, as long as the power held out. Luckily it was cloudy and mercifully cooler, so we went to the main attraction of the area, a town called Jesus Maria, which is definitely a one-horse town with an estancia which is quite pleasant to look around, having a museum with english signs, and nice grounds. Worth the easy but boring bus ride from Cordoba. But this week there was also the annual rodeo and music festival for the gauchos from all over Argentina. Definitely a different class of people that attend this, and as we sauntered past the campsite that afternoon you could tell that they had been up partying all night and were resting all day... We stayed to see everyone start queuing to get in, then went around the gaucho market which was clrealy there just for the week, before getting back to Cordoba to watch some of the rodeo on the tele... This consists mainly of a guy tied to a horse, which is then released and jumps around like a mad thing trying to get this geezer off. So eventually he falls off, hopefully after the buzzer has gone to indicate time up, and tries not to get trampled on by the horse. Most manage this quite spectacularly, but one didnt make it and had to be carted off in an ambulance. Its all very emotional and everyne if here to watch their local hero from their region triumph. Rousing stuff. And all the while the musical concert is going on in the background, like two separate events occuring at the same time.

After the power cut we had decided that we'd had enough, and got the tour guide to book us a bus back to Buenos Aires the next day. Overnight. Despite protests. It turned out to be the quietest bus ever, different company (Urquiza) and although not the first class we wanted , quite comfortable but above all no videos, no light, no noise...nothing from the moment we got on until the moment Claire had to shake me awake because we had arrived in BA and everyone else had already got off! Claire still doesnt want to do anymore overnighters though...think the novelty has worn slightly thin...

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Comments

[anonymous]

julieboolie
love your new name for lonely planet how about the rogue guide

[Pat/Mom]

Overnight bus, scrabble and power cuts
Hola Both Sorry to hear about the power cuts but pleased to hear your using your scrabble game. It's around 6 degress here in BHam, so send us some of that sun over we could all do with it.