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Published: April 5th 2008
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Day 136: Wanderings in Cordoba
Sorry, but this entry starts with a moan.....
*whinge start*: Having left Hostal Obelisco this morning, we headed to the airport early. This was not only to ensure that we caught our flight on time, but was also meant to enable me to speak to an airline allied to British Airways to see if I could change my flight from Santiago to Caracas, to an alternative route. What with the political situation in Venezuela at the moment (they're not getting on so well with Columbia), and reports from people I've met who've travelled there that they'd had one or two problems, I've been having second thoughts, particularly about Caracas, which just sounds a bit too dangerous to be considered fun. Anyway I've been trying to call the nice people at the Buenos Aires British Airways office (or BABA as they are now fondly known), but have had very little joy. On the rare occasion that I do get to speak to someone, they invariably put me on hold, with the line going dead moments (or more annoyingly), many minutes later. It's all been rather rubbish, so I thought I'd try to speak to someone in
person. At the airport, the guy at the desk didn't speak any English, and so I gave a long-winded explanation of the problem in spanish, which he dismissed promptly and advised me that the only way to solve the problem is to phone BABA (which is proving near impossible, so I'm back to square one). Airlines... Grrr. *end whinge *
Sorry about that. On with the blog...
The flight to Cordoba was thankfully fairly uneventful, and we got a taxi from the airport to our bargain hostel a little way out of town. Very cheap, the room was basic, with three beds (think we must have landed the family room), and an en suite, which for me was a real luxury. After a nice long sleep, we took a walk into town. A mixture of old and new buildings, the fact that the city had seven universities was all too apparent, with the vast majority of folk wandering about town being in the under thirty age group. After a stop for some food, we went for a wander in a building that looked like some kind of museum, but with only a few random bits of information displayed around
the courtyard. Although on further inspection, and having found people studying in the library, I think it was probably a fully functioning university building.
After another siesta break at the hostel, we headed into town quite late (as seems to be the norm in Argentina's cities), dining at a rather nice Italian restaurant, with superspeedy service and good pizzas, before heading back, for a final beer at the hostel before bed.
Day 137: From the Jesuits to another doctor with a penchant for travelling and writing diaries....
After a not too early start and some breakfast, we head down to the bus station and were soon on our way to Alta Gracia, a town an hour away from Cordoba. Described by Nick's guidebook as 'having no charm whatsoever', we were pleasantly surprised when we got there and found that it was actually a rather pleasant place to wander round. After a trip to the information office to pick up a map, our first stop was the old Jesuit estancia in the centre of town, an eighteenth/nineteenth century compound that has been converted into a museum, but previously contained a residence, ranch, kitchen, mill, and arteficial lake!
Now a world heritage site, the estancia was quite impressive, with most of the buildings overlooking a central sunny courtyard.
After lunch (pizza and beer again!), we walked out of town a little way to the house where Che Guevera (also a disillusioned doctor) spent a significant part of his childhood. Now a museum, the house contained photos and information about his life in Alta Gracia, and after. One of his, now clearly defunct, motorcycles was also on display, and the tour of the house culminated in an interesting short film about his life. All in all, it had been a very pleasant (albeit rather hot) day, and after a wander along the dirt roads of the outer suburbs, we eventually managed to find the bus station to get us back to Cordoba.
After a break back at the hostel, I dragged Nick on a pilgramage to seek out the city's only veggie restaurant, about a forty minute walk from the hostel. Although we found it, it unfortunately turned out to be closed, and we subsequently ended up at another branch of the restaurant we'd dined at the night before, eating pizza for the third time in two
days!
Day 138: Mooching about town
Having spent the early part of the morning psyching myself up, I felt ready to take on BABA again, and soon after leaving the hostel, I braved a phone booth. I was initially cut off a couple of times, but eventually spoke to someone forty minutes later, and actually managed to speak to them for long enough to have a whole conversation without the line going dead. I was told that my request to change my flight was feasible, and was asked to ring back on Tuesday to see how much it would cost. Progress at last? Fingers crossed.
After the ordeal that is telephoning BABA, I needed sustenance, and so we made our way down to the vegetarian restaurant, which turned out to be open for lunch with a pay-per-weight buffet. Hurrah for lentils!
It was another boiling hot day, and after mooching around town for a bit longer, we headed to the city's park to lie under a tree and get bitten by insects, before going for a drink at the bar opposite the hostel, where service was so slow that it took us twenty minutes to get our first drink, but at least it killed a bit of time.
After a brief stop for a beer at the hostel, we went to another local bar/cafe for sandwiches, a final meal, before the long nightbus to Mendoza a couple of hours later.
Finding our bus at the station didn't present too many problems, and having loaded our bags on, we entered the nine seat 'executive class' lower deck, and with fully reclining chairs, looked forward to a good night's sleep. Shortly after leaving the station, there was film entertainment, and dinner (number two) was served. Alongside the obligatory cheese and ham sandwich, there was a variety meaty offerings including some hot food as well. None of it was vegetarian, but since I'd already eaten, I wasn't too bothered, and fell asleep soon after the film ended.
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