Argentinas second City

  Cordoba, Central Argentina, Argentina
Tuesday, July 21, 2009

We arrived in Cordoba off of an overnight bus not really knowing what to expect as we had not done much research. The only thing that we knew was that Cordoba was Argentina's second largest city. The hostel which we stayed in was really nice (and warm) and the people who worked there were really helpful and friendly.

A chef training school called 'Celia'!!!

On our first day we did a bit of sightseeing around the city and saw the University which is something that Cordoba is famous for as it is 400 years old. We also found a shopping mall which we took shelter in as it got really cold and started snowing outside.

The next day we visited Alta Gracia on a tour. We visited a Jesuit farm, Che Guevara's house, the Manuell de Falla Museum (we had no idea who he was but turns out he was a very famous musician) and a replica of the Lourdes Virgin.

Jesuit Farm

  Most of the places we visited did not allow group tours at the moment because of swine flu so we were unable to walk around with the whole group. However because we were the only English people on the tour, the tour guide stayed with us most of the time to explain the history behind everything. Only at the end of the tour did he decide to tell us that he thought he had swine flu last week!!

Che Guevara Museum

Che Guevara's house was really interesting to see and learn about the history of Argentina's most famous revolutionist. We have since downloaded the Motorcycle Diaries to watch! The Lourdes Virgin replica was a really nice place to visit and there was a really nice feel to the place as it as sort of in the middle of nowhere and the sun was going down when we got there so there were lots of candles lit. Apparently it was very common for people in the area to visit here a lot as they believed that miracles would happen.

Lourdes Virgin Replica - the candles and plaques

The next day we visited our second zoo this week but weren't too impressed especially since the cages were even smaller than the last one which seemed really cruel. We think this may be our last zoo trip!! We also went to watch a film at the cinema (The Proposal) which was in English and subtitled in Spanish.

The Natural History Museum

We also visited a few of the museums. The natural history museum was really good but the art museum was a bit like walking into a GCSE art class. Lee claims that even his seagulls were better?! We did however visit another art museum where the standard of art was much better!

The better of the two Art Museums

We enjoyed the food a lot in Cordoba, including beef fajitas in the student area, empanada's from the shopping mall and an Asado (BBQ) at the hostel on our last night where there was an endless supply of food. We enjoyed our time in Cordoba even though we were 'Spanished'  (conned) into paying way too much for some dried mango - we probably paid more per gram than gold is worth!!

River