39. 17-19 Feb 09. The Finish Tango in Cordoba?!

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17-02-09

One of the many things i love about travelling. I arrived in Cordoba around 10am and got a taxi to my hostel, Baluch Backpackers. The taxi driver and i laughed all the way talking about the beautiful Argentinan girls and pointing them out along the way. To be fair we both shared the same taste pointing out the ones we were not to keen on as well. Wow, that makes me sound really bad! I just want to point out that i do realise the importance of inner beauty as well! I climbed up the spiral staircase to my hostel, booked into my room and met four Swedish lads staying there. Within half an hour a girl from Finland called Krista popped into our room inviting us all to go to the river just outside of town. It sounded like a good plan to me! So after going to the supermarket with a few of the lads and waiting there for ages due to the slowest service in the world, a load of us walked to the bus station and jumped on a small bus. There was so many of us we almost filled the bus up! We got so many looks!ha Once again the group consisted of many nationalities. We had English, Finish, Swedish, Ozzie, Kiwi, American and a few others. It took over an hour to get to the river so we didnt get there till about 5pm and there were some monster looking grey clouds starting to appear over the mountains. We spent a very enjoyable two hours there dipping in the river and watching the two Finish girls, Krista and Anna, teaching us the Finish Tango! These girls were awesome. Such great personalities! We decided to leave when the thunder started to light up the grey looking sky. We spent the evening drinking wine and eating empanadas on the roof top of the hostel. What a great day with great people. Today for me summed up travelling. Its so easy to meet so many awesome people and travelling from a to b tends to bring the most laughs. Even more so than the destination itself. After all we only spent an hour or so at the river and spent about 4 hours in total getting there and back!ha Well worth it!ha



18-02-09

I spent the morning in the kitchen eating breakfast with the two Finish girls (whos company i adored!) and an Ozzie girl called Melisa. The four of us sat there for hours crying with laughter eating watermelon! The girls said that i reminded them of someone. Normally when i get told that i automatically think, 'yeap, Owen Wilson!´ But every now and again people come up with someone else, Jude Law. Two people who look nothing alike?! These girls swore blind i looked like Jude Law and nothing like Owen Wilson. For the record getting compared to Jude Law brings a lot bigger smile to my face!ha Being a sunny day we thought it would be a good idea to spend the day by the pool. So the Finish girls, an American lad called Jon and I wlaked through the city and eventually found the public swimming pool. I experienced another first when we got there. We had to have a medical first before entering the pool! So after being examined by the nurse we spent a very relaxing and fun day playing around in the pool and soaking up the sun. I did have two young kids come over to me in the pool talking to me in Spanish. Even though i told them i couldnt speak Spanish they kept on talking. The others thought it was hilarious! I felt a bit uneasy especially when they went over to their mum and started to point at me!ha We got back to the hostel about 6pm and a few of us really fancied having a Mexican. Before we left the hostel, i walked past Krista who was on the internet and she grabbed my arm. She told me that she had just been e mailing a friend back home and told her that she has just spent the day with the funniest man in the world! Being me! What an awesome thing to hear! Hugs were shared!ha Four of us headed off to the Mexican restaurant recommended by the hostel, Krista, Anna, Jon, a great lad from OZ called Shaun and I. The food was awesome but we had to say goodbye to Shaun who had to leave straight after dinner and then i knew i had to say goodbye to the Finish girls when we got back to the hostel. The girls were so gutted to be leaving! In the taxi back to the hostel the girls asked if they could kidnap me. Worse things could definately happen!ha So back at the hostel I said goodbye to the two girls who i thought were amazing and then spent the night watching some tv. I could have gone up to the rooftop but i wanted to try and save some money as i knew i would of ended up going out.



19-02-09

I checked out of my room by 11am and met Melisa and the two English lads, Carl and Mike in the tv room. We all thought we should try and make today a productive day so we set off to the small town of Alta Gracia to visit the Musco Casa Ernesto CHE museum. If you dont know him, he´s a man famous for his Motorcycle Diaries through Cenral and South America and more importantly, a man famous for fighting for what he believes in. The museum is actually his old house. A small museum worth going to with loads of interesting information. Melisa did manage to set off one of the sensor alarms by accident which i found hilarious. I did find myself staring at one picture inpaticular. An old photo of three guys playing golf. Straight away i thought of my good friends, Jon and Malc to when the three of us use to play golf. Brought back some awesome memories and funny times! After leaving the museum we walked through the park, past the lake which had huge carp in it and had lunch. Carl thought he would try something new as they wouldnt serve him chips and when it arrived we all creased up. They brought him out a plate of crisps! We finally found the bus stop after asking about 10 different people but not before passing a shop called, ´Barry Kiosko!´ We were back at the hostel by 7pm and i killed time till 11pm till i got a taxi to the bus station. I spent most of the time on the rooftop with the others who had paid for a bbq. A sign of a good hostel? When the owner know yours leaving but still treats you like a king and gives you free food from the bbq. It still amazes me when they know your name considering how many people come and go! So i said my goodbyes to everyone after we all sung happy birthday to Mike and walked down stairs to the main street to catch a taxi. I noticed whilst getting in the taxi a man accross the road standing by a white van staring at me. And it wasnt exactly a friendly stare either! On the way to the station i noticed that the white van was behind us and then at one point he overtook us continuing to give me an evil intense stare. At that point i thought that him and the taxi driver could be in on a scam together and i told myself that if the white van pulled into a small dark road and my driver indicated to follow that i would be hitting my driver and jumping out of the taxi. I have heard a few stories like this before and i have to admit, i was a wee bit scared!ha I asked the driver if he knew him just to let him know i was aware something was happening (if it was). The taxi driver did pull into a small dark road but my taxi carried on going straight. To my great relief! I wasnt looking forward to catching my bus either. I knew my bus was departing at 11.50pm but it could of been one of two bus companies and it was going to depart from any gate from 15-30! Great!ha After a lot of walking back and forth i got on the bus and sunk into my soft semi cama seat which felt so good! Especially after the last hour i had had!



So did i enjoy my time in Cordoba? Are the girls in Argentina beautiful?! Hell yes! I loved every second i spent in Cordoba. Once again i felt very lucky to have met the people i did in Cordoba. I would have spent more time there but my next destination was Mendoza, a place i have heard great things about. Plus it was Thursday and i wanted to be there for the weekend as i had behaved long enough!ha I had left Cordoba with the feeling i could easily go back which i think is the key. Thanks Cordoba for a great three days!

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Photos

This photo reminded me of playing golf with friends back home.
From left to right. Jon, Malc and me!ha