Córdoba

After getting off the overnight bus, I felt positively groggy from sleeping in a heavily air conditioned stale air. I should also mention that in anticipation of this, I had put on long pants, hiking boots, and long shirt, and this outfit did not suit the Córdoba weather at all. Lest you think otherwise, I must assure you I was nevertheless cheap enough and I headed to the hostel on foot. If only I had known how big Córdoba was... or even fully realize that my hostel was across the city. Mind you, it was by no means an extensively long walk, but by the end of the hike(?), my chest and shoulders hurt a fair bit from carrying the 60L backpack on the back and the compact but seriously packed daypack in the front. I cursed the idiocity that made me pack the bulky sleeping bag yet again. I vowed to make up my mind about the beast once I got to the hostel. (Hostel Morada) Notable was my unusually good coordination. I suspect the praise-worthy Argentine practice of making all cities basically grids. Seriously, it is awesome. Their street number ranges are on the signs every block, too, so you know exactly how many blocks you have to walk up.

After too long, I finally got there. Squeezed through the narrow door way with the bulky backpack, climbed upstairs. Checked in. Quiet hostel. Less nice than the one I left behind in BsAs, but I may have been biased. Ha.

Córdoba was a nice enough city with large pedestrian only street areas and many Iglesias (Spanish for church, I believe. But then there are many Iglesia Catedral´s around, which kind of breaks me). It was much hotter than Buenos Aires, I must say. Slightly more humid, too. I had allotted three days (two hostel nights and an overnight bus up to Salta) there in order to get some laundry done. An overgenerous plan, as my laundry came back the afternoon I got there.

I spent the next three days mostly just wandering around the city, getting more fruits in my diet (I was starting to worry about getting scurvy) and shamelessly exploiting the bathroom at the free-entry fine arts museum downtown. Debated getting a dressier shirt, but that never did result in anything. On the second day, I went walking along the canal. As I was walking down, an old man walked up to me and started pointing at the empty benches and bleachers. I was, predictably, confuzzled. I think I really came through to him, because he stopped talking fairly soon. Eventually, I gathered he told me to be careful with the big honkin´SLR because the neighbourhood was sketchy. I nodded knowingly (though too late), thanked him and walked away with the camera tucked carefully in my backpack.

Later that day, I was sitting on a bench in the busy shopping district, fairly enthralled in the photos I had taken that day, deleting the ones I no longer wanted. Then this middle aged woman came up to me, and started saying something.. in Spanish. It went something like this:
Argentine Lady: ¨Por favor, ñlkdsfjñlsidfjañwierujañ...¨
Soo: *deer in headlight look FULL ON*
Argentine Lady: ¨Entiende?¨
Soo: *whimper* No...
She then went at it again, this time with actions. When she made a whooshing-by motion with her hand, it clicked that she was being very kind to me and warning me about anyone who may try to snatch it from my tenuous grip. I nodded knowingly, and she walked away (probably muttering something about the clueless gringos everywhere).

And so the time went by... Highlights include sitting at the hostel kitchen table and reading whilst listening to the New Zealander play guitar and sing. He was good! He had been travelling for 6 years. Is that not crazy? He was actually interviewing for a job in town to stay in Argentina for a while. Man... This was giving me some serious thoughts about moving down here for good.

Anyway. The time came, and I went down to the bus terminal to get on the overnight bus to Salta. I was kind of glad to get out. It was a nice enough city, but it was also not terribly exciting to be there. In retrospect, I should have utilized the second day better and gone on a trekking tour to Sierras de(l?) Córdoba. Live and learn, I guess. This realization did bum me out on the last day as I left the city on yet another seriously sweet bus, this time a notch down at just Cama class instead of Cama ejecutivo.

I really do hope Argentines know how lucky they are to have bus system like this. For 165 pesos (I think), I rode the ridiculously comfortable bus for 12 hours or so. It helped that I was on the upper deck with panoramic views (I was in the first row, so I could even prop my feet up and look out). AND they even fed us food better than some airline foods I have had in the past. AND they came around with handfuls of chocolates afterwards. Ridiculous.

But anyway. Salta, Jujuy and Cafayate updates will have to wait until I have more than 5 minutes left in my internet time.

• *** Sleeping bag update

I ditched it sneakily under the bed before I left the hostel. Rest in peace, bulky (free) sleeping bag. You were good to me. I will remember you.