Chilling out in Cordoba

Cordoba´s slightly off the tourist trail. It doesn´t have the stunning
scenery of Argentina´s more popular resorts and some parts of town definitely felt quite sketchy in the early hours of the morning. But what it did provide was a chance to see Argentinians at work and play in their natural environment.

First impressions weren´t great. By a rather unimpressive bit of map reading I managed to wander around town completely bypassing the historical pedestrianised bit. Looking for the town´s well regarded colonial architecture I instead turned up a series of car-fume filled streets, brutalistic cement-constructed tower blocks and some pretty run down shops.

A shower and change of clothes later things improved. Taking the other direction from the main central square turned up the university area with tree lined avenues, old churches and plenty of cool little cafes to munch some lunch and let the world pass by.

Oh and one more thing jumped out. A large image of the Union Jack with a Swastika at its centre!!! A bunch of ex-army officers were running a stall demanding the return of Las Malvinas (the Falkland Islands). The only other time they had come up in conversation was on a previous trip when the taxi driver went near rabid. He´d had two brothers injured in the conflict - but was quick to point out he had nothing against the Brits - only the ex Argentiain leaders who´d entered into an unnecessary conflict to boot their popularity only for their efforts to spectacularly backfire. Their failure ultimately ending the country´s unpopular military regime and returning democracy.

Well in this case the feelings towards the UK were a lot less equivocal. Banners proclaimed that while the US was the muscle it´s still Britain that rules the world. And apparantly we have further ambitions in Argentina that must be thwarted. I furtively grabbed a couple of photos and quickly moved on.

And that´s basically what there´s to do in town. Suited me pretty well as I wanted to get some last minute revision in before going forward onto Mendoza. The banks are also usefully all based together which aids the cash machine shuffle... for reasons I can´t explain withdrawels on foreign cards are limited to about 40 pounds (300 pesos) except for one bank which allows you to withdraw another couple of pounds (320 pesos). So when checking into a new hostel it means having to take cash from about 3 different banks until you have enough. Each time stressing that the machine will eat the card and leave you reliant on western union transfers from home. Matters weren´t helped by my mistaken belief that I´d lost one of my cards - which I then cancelled only to discover I´d hidden it in my washing bag. grrrr

Hostel I was staying was being run by a bunch of young Americans most of the time who were friendly but not really the best guides to the city. So one night headed out with a 26yr old Irish guy I´d met there in search of la marcha.

Went to a bar around the corner and got chatting to a group of Argentinians at the next table - all in their 30s. Asked which was the best club to go to if ´they only had one night left in the city´- the answer Zuna - sin duda es el mejor este noche.

A taxi ride later we´re outside an impressive looking entrance with electro music pounding into the street and what seemed to be a young looking crowd. Were we too old to get in? It seemed not, after a short wait we were waved in.

It very quickly became apparant apart from us the maximum age seemed to be 17yrs old. Makes you wonder exactlly what the Argetinian would want to get up to on his last night! But the music was good, the crowd friendly and didn´t stumble back until around 5am

Quick bit of added info on the hostel for anyone using this to plan a trip - I was at
Hostel Morada, Humberto Primo 532 tel 0351-4262238, moradahostel@hotmail.com). Nice but pretty quiet, slightly run down and no great buzz to the place. The upstairs terrace was being renovated so might be more fun in other times - but if you´re thinking of staying in town hostel Baluch looked more fun and has a much better location in Nueva Cordoba where most of the nightlife is. Plus Morada was the only hostel I´ve stayed at to charge a fee for guarding bags after check out. V cheeky.

And that´s Cordoba. A decent pit stop - and a chance to improve the language skills - but really only worth a few days unless you intend to study there