Day 101 - Córdoba

Argentina is BIG. Its huge. And whilst it was ok to do just a tiny bit of Brasil, for my last south american country I wasn't accepting any old little trip. With plans still to visit Córdoba, Iguazú and even Uruguay in just 2 weeks, we had a steep mission on our hands. 22 hours after leaving Puerto Madryn, we arrived in Córdoba and went on search for a hostel.

Everyone said Córdoba was amazing. It doesn't really look it though. The town looks like any other argentine town, without any high-blocks. And the river that runs through it is a mere trickle. The city centre (its the second largest city in Argentina) is small, with hardly any restaurants, and its kinda dirty. Not impressed with first appearances, we scoured the streets for a restaurant, found a local cinema and ate some ice cream and popcorn. We narrowly avoided a proper mugging as well, on 4-block walk home from the cinema at midnight when some dude started following us. Sam started almost running, tristan trotted after her, and I directed us towards a bus stop where some other people were. The dude came up behind us, waiting near us (presumable until the other people got on a bus) at which sam had the bright idea to get in a cab for the remaining ONE BLOCK to our hostel. which we did. That is, me and tristan did. Sam's door was broken, so she had to run round the cab, full of fear, to the drivers door. But we made it in. and we made it back to the hostel safe. Potential mugging - no problem for us seasoned travellers.



Day 2 in Córbode was MUCH better. We visited the religious art museum, which we got guided round by this amazing woman, and the place was special. Beautiful courtyard, amazing art, nice sculpture, and God was all over the place. Loved it.





I had a weird argument about the Falklands, Margaret Thatcher, Lady Di and David Beckham in a tourist information booth, we took a cab out of town and found a museum of contemporary art which we perused for an hour. And after that, we had a ride on the Ghost Train at the local fun fair.



We then headed to the local zoo. NOW, I've never been one for zoos. And certainly not foreign zoos. I would never DREAM of going to a foreign zoo, especially not in a second/third world country. But we did, because its argentina, and we thought it would have some element of class, like the rest of the country. And 15 minutes in, we turned round and walked right out. This place was grim. No decent photos, cos it was properly sick, but they have tigers, lions, elephants, gorillas, pumas, everything. And we didn't see any of them. They were in dirty cages, were dying in the scorching sun and looked so horrendously miserable. I was properly ashamed of myself. Never again. And CERTAINLY not in china.


SICK SICK SICK. Córdoba zoo should be shut down

We jumped on the local city tour bus, which was AMAZING, and had the same tour guide as before. Its one of our favourite things to do, and it didn't dissappoint. I got a super cute picture of my boyfriend too. I have no idea how I managed to pull someone so hot, but I did. Love it.



   

That evening I cooked Bolognase for us, then in the morning we wandered the streets of the city whilst waiting for our bus to Mendoza. After an hour looking for a museum, which we found out was closed, we went to the flea market. which was closed. so got a cab to a shopping centre instead. which was dull. then back to the flea market, which was open. but a bit rubbish. so headed back to the hostel. Córboda was not on our side. But we found an all you can eat chinese restaurant, and filled our bellies before a 10 hour bus ride into the Andes.