Advertisement
Published: September 23rd 2006
Edit Blog Post
Trekking in Casa Bamba
My second weekend in Córdoba. (Be prepared for lots more photos of the beautiful countryside!) I´ve spent the last 2 weeks studying Spanish in Cordoba (in between partying, exploring the sierras and stuffing my face in wonderfully cheap restaurants!). It´s been eerily like being back at highschool - i set my alarm for 7 (and get up half an hour later) miss the bus I need to take and arrive at school slightly late for my 9 o´clock start. (Only everyone works to 'Argentinean time' over here, which is like Vicky time only half an hour later!...last friday our lessons started 40mins late cos all the teachers were trying to tune in the telly to watch the basketball!) I have classes till 1, then go for a leisurely lunch with my fellow students, and then more classes in the afternoon. And when I get home I have to do my homework for tomorrow (or if you´re me leave it to the next morning).
I don´t know how Argentineans manage life, everything starts so late - they have dinner 10-12pm, and if they´re going out to a club they leave at 2am and dont come home till 6 or 7 in the morning. It´s madness! The ranch is going to be ridiculously different cos I´ll have to
Monument to the heroes of the Maldives
Or for us Brits, that translates as ´monument for all the Argentinians killed in the Falklands War´. On my first day at the school Juan took us on a tour of the city, and this statue was one of the stops. Needless to say I felt slightly uncomfortable when my (American) fellow student asked Juan to explain the war. get up at 6 and go to bed about 9.30 probably.
I arrived in Cordoba early Monday morning (so early I had to wait for the sun to rise before I got my taxi). I´ve been living in a 'residencia estudantil', which from the outside is just a bright blue corrogated iron door deceptively labelled ´garage´, but inside is a big house with room for 8/9 students. I shared it with just 2 German girls, which meant I got an enormous bedroom with 3 wardrobes and a double bed! (and two single beds that I made into my couch). And unlike the rest of Argentina at the moment it was actually warm 😊
The monday I arrived was a national holiday in Argentina - so no school. My first night was inaugrated with a few beers at Johnny B Good (slightly depressingly American but fun non the less). And then my first day at school I was treated to a slap up lunch of empanadas (little pastry parcels filled with meat/cheese/etc) followed by a tour of the city with Juan. One of the guys at the school also works as a DJ, and on Friday we went out
to his club, LivingFour. It was an excellent night, but sadly we had to leave early- at about 2.30am (how can that be classed as early!) as we had to get up early the next morning for a day spent horseback riding through the sierras of Córdoba...the weather was fine, the views were spectacular, and the lunch was delicious (though not for the vegetarian!). I also ventured into a Spanish cinema, but was unable to broaden my horizons with some local culture as the only films on offer were the normal American etc fare. I saw ´viviendo con mi ex´(litterally translated as living with my ex, but in actuallity the breakup) and did my best to look at the Spanish subtitles as well.
Good news - I finally managed to take a tango class. I learnt the basic steps (8 steps with a bit of a swish on the fifth and the last step turns you 90 degrees to start all over again) and posture (the girls have to have their heels off the ground and lean forward into their partner´s chest - being that close to a perfect stranger? Ye gads! no wonder it hasnt caught on in
La Cañada
The little river that runs through town...obviously an artistic highlight of the city as every afternoon i saw art students clustered round it sketching and painting. England yet). A few days before that I went out to a restaurant with my mates from the school, where they demonstrated the Cuarteto, the regional dance speciality, and then dragged us all up to join in (even more dancing...i promise i spent time learning Spanish as well!)
On my last weekend i went trekking in Casa Bamba. More gorgeous scenery, including lots of little waterfalls, and happily not too strenuous (though we did have to use a rope to help us with some of the climbs). Our guide was a lovely, slightly hippy chap, who started our trek by sitting us all down in a circle on the grass by a stream (presumably for some meditation or appreciation of the natural beauty, but unfortunately his hushed explanations were in Spanish, and therefore lost on me). He also bears the distinction of being possibly the only vegetarian in Argentina.
My two weeks in Córdoba went by far too quickly- both because I really enjoyed myself and loved the city and friends i made, and because my Spanish isn´t anywhere near good enough yet! But hopefully the next 3 months working with the locals down at the ranch will improve
pretty houses
an example of the colonial architecture that´s dotted throughout Córdoba it.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.067s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 9; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0386s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Ruth from Wales
Ruth John
spanish
Hi there, great blog! Which spanish school did you use in Cordoba? Thanks, Ruth