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pegged
in the courtyard of the Palenque hostel, Cordoba I am writing in the present again! Last I looked at the temperature it was minus 1 degree Celsius, so we are both starting to feel that it is time to head North. My fingertips and toes are feeling it most! The cold is also, I guess, why I am writing in present tense rather than climbing and writing later.
After four days in Cordoba (three days longer than we had really intended) we headed out for our next climbing destination (Los Gigantes) yesterday. We were complete with 7 days worth of food and even more enthusiasm, only to turn around and head back into town when the road and landscape was covered in snow and the bus driver could not assure us that he would be able to come back to pick us up the next day, should we change our minds.
So, now we find ourselves back in the City and having to wait until Saturday for a bus to Santiago (where we plan to stay with the two Chilano friends we met in Chiloe- Bergoña and Cristobal for a couple of nights-, before heading to Bolivia). Until about an hour ago we were planning to climb
cute car
I am having a cute car moment. There are just so many old school cars in Sth America, and falling apart ones... near Santiago, until we sat down and looked at dates to get a reality check. If we wanted to volunteer for ten days in the amazon, do a ten day hike through a number of villages in Bolivia, visit all the other places we wanted to visit, we would have to pack away our climbing gear. Ahhh, how plans have to change, be put on hold, stretched, shrunk...
On a side note to that, I am learning that is not good to have to be in a rush in South America. People do things in their own time here, and their time seems so much slower than mine. If you took a photo on a slowish shutter speed of me walking down a street in Argentina, I would be the only blurred image while everyone else would be clearly outlined. While walking to this internet cafe, I did an experiment. For one block I walked like I normally did. Quick. Dodging everyone: People selling sweet roasted nuts, handing out fliers, carrying shopping or brief cases, children, dogs, trees, holes in the footpath, dog shit... it seemed as though everyone and everything was conspiring to get in my path and
block or trip me. For the next block I walked at the same pace as everyone else. It was hard to do, but felt so much more relaxing because people, objects and animals were not throwing themselves in my way anymore. A changed pace makes a changed world. I like it. I don´t know that I could do it all the time, but it is good to be made aware of small things like this.
Wow. That was a big digression!
Back to Cordoba. It is a very easy City to hang out in, which is why we have already been here for four days I guess! One day of feeling tired and unmotivated and comfortable led to another which led to another... and now we have three more to go!
With a population of nearly one and a half million, Cordoba is actually quite a big City. It is older than Buenos Aires, and is often called the heart of Argentina as it is pretty much in the middle. It is also called the cultural capital, as there are heaps of art galleries, theatres, music venues, operas, cafes and markets. There are also 7 universities here
Very old church
this and the next few photos are part of a UNESCO listed heritage area. It is a block of very old Jesuit religious and secular buildings. It inlcudes the oldest church and oldest school in Argentina, a school and a chapel. which adds a lot to the culture and energy of the place I think.
We have spent quite a bit of time walking about the city and taking in some of the following, (yes, I am going to resort to point form!):
· A UNESCO heritage listed square with a number of Jesuit secular and religious buildings which includes Argentina´s oldest church. I am not exactly sure how old it is but between 450 and 500 years.
OK, I am bored of point form already, so going to revert to paragraphs. My brain works better that way, and I am in no rush. See? I am learning. No rush. Just chilled out, Argentine style.
We also ¨did¨ some museums and galleries, bought ice cream in cones, ate lunch in a park, feeling right at home near a grass parrot and a Eucalyptus tree.
We took a day trip out to Alta Gracia, the town that Ernesto Che Guevara grew up in. It was a neat little town, with views of the Sierra ranges. They have turned Che Guevara´s old house into a museum which was really interesting. Even though there were a lot of
old places
in Cordoba, Argentina great photos and I learnt a lot that I did not know, I could not help finding the kitchen the most interesting place. It was the only room that was kept looking fairly natural. I could just imagine a little asthmatic Che Guevara curled up near the wood stove... with someone leaning by the doorway sipping mate and his mother cooking some Locro on the stove top. I like lived in spaces. I think they are very interesting.
The enforced waiting means that there is less action to talk about, and more small observations. Here are two examples of things I have written down in my diary. I won´t bore you by including all of them. (I am going to try point form once more):
· While walking down the street back to the hostel one night I noticed an indigenous looking woman sitting out the front of a church with a baby wrapped in rags. She had her hand out begging for money. A woman, dressed neatly enough but not extravagantly, was walking towards her. As the woman passing by got close she flicked her eyes up to meet the seated begging woman´s. It seemed to me
there was a moment of empathy there. Then, she cast her eyes up to the church, crossed herself and kept walking. It seemed she was either praying for the woman begging, or she was praying that she did not become that woman. Maybe both.
· A bony horse attached to a rough home made cart full of empty cardboard boxes was parked infront of a game parlour. The cart was being driven by a child not much older than 10. It was nearly 10pm, and well after dark. While his peers (those that were not being tucked in to bed) were inside under bright neon stomping on brightly lit up dance floor squares and shooting play guns at play figures, this kid was obviously running errands in attempt to feed himself and probably his family (hopefully his horse too, though the horse looked as though it was at the bottom of the chain). This was just such a stark contrast to me. I wished I had the camera, but I did not, so words will have to do.
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Arthur
non-member comment
up to date again
Great to hear you're back in the present tense again. And at a slowed down rate. Interesting you thought Che's kitchen the centre of his early life. Probably was too.