Argentina

Monday 17 - Thursday 20 July

I'm no fan of night buses, which is a pity because in South America they're your only realistic option for travelling the huge distances between the places you want to visit, unless you're prepared to fork out for internal flights.

Having covered the 700k from Buenos Aires overnight, we arrived at our accommodation in Cordoba at precisely 9am, completely shattered, and fell into bed just as the rest of Argentina was settling into another working day.

Surfacing in the early afternoon, we emerged to find ourselves in the centre of Argentina's second biggest city. The pedestrianised city streets were surprisingly crowded for a weekday and so we kept our initial exploratory sortie brief before diving into a typically western-looking coffee house for a few shots of wake-up juice.

After the overcast weather of BA, we were happy to see undiluted sunshine again and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing around San Martin square and taking in the ornate statues, fountains and architecture.

Jesuit Cathedral, Plaza San Martin, Cordoba

Later we found a decent looking restaurant for dinner, but were surprised to be the only customers at 8pm. An hour later people began to file in, and by 9.30 prospective diners were being turned away - we came to realise that Argentinians dine late, with a meal starting any time between 9 and midnight being normal practice.

Tuesday 18 July

Our intention was for Cordoba to serve as a base whilst we went out walking in the nearby Sierras Chicas mountains. Straightforward enough, we thought, as we headed to the Tourist Info centre. Not so. Information on walks in the area was scant, and the only organised walks available didn't fit in with our schedule. A lengthy walk through the hot city to a hostel that can usually organise hiking trips also failed to come up with the goods, and it gradually dawned on us that our detour to the middle of Argentina had probably been unnecessary.

Wednesday 19 July

Frustrated by the tantalisingly close mountains and yet seemingly unable to reach them under our own steam, we resigned ourelves to the fact that the walking would have to wait for another day. Still, the weather remained sunny and so we decided to make the most of things by exploring the town further, catching up on all those important little tasks (OK, laundry) and generally chilling out.

Walking around the square again, there seemed to be a couple of political demonstrations going on; nothing particularly major, so we just assumed they were local affairs.

Later that night though, we heard fireworks and people chanting and singing in the streets. Was something of importance happening in Cordoba?

Thursday 20 July

Time to move on again, with another dreaded overnight bus to catch. Cordoba had been perfectly pleasant, offering the same sort of buzz that Buenos Aires has, but we couldn't help feeling slightly jaded by our failure to get out and enjoy the surrounding landscape. Knowing that we would be unable to fit in an evening meal before the bus, we consoled ourselves with an outrageously good lunch at a restaurant called AlCorta; sometimes you just have to do these things.

Today, the political activity seemed to reach fever pitch, with the roads around the city centre teeming with hordes of marching demonstrators, fireworks being let off every few minutes and armed police becoming increasingly conspicuous.

Still oblivious to the cause of this stirring of political emotions, we left behind Cordoba for adventures new. Just as Cuban leader Fidel Castro arrived to pay the city an historic visit...

Wednesday 12 - Sunday 16 July

Our expectations of South America were not running quite as high as we'd hoped when we touched down in Buenos Aires, but what a difference a country makes! A friendly taxi driver whizzed us from the airport to our comfy (but reasonably priced) hotel in the heart of the city, and straight away we were struck by the almost palpable upbeat vibrancy of the place.

Despite its huge size, Buenos Aires feels remarkably safe - welcoming even - for travellers to wander around, even at night.

We'd decided upon a hotel for our first two nights as we'd missed little luxuries such as electricity, hot water and sleep. No such worries here though... Zzzzzzzz.

Argentina is rightly famed for the quality of its beef, and its true that you can't walk very far in Buenos Aires without coming across a steak house. Its not just beef though; here you can choose just about any cut of just about any meat you care to name and watch as it is cooked to perfection for you on a large open charcoal grill.

'Animal Hospital' suffers when Rolf's not around

Meals are generally very good value, but definitely not for vegetarians or the faint-hearted!

By Friday, we were suitably restored from our recent travels and moved from the hotel to a nearby hostel. No less comfortable, but a bit more basic and certainly easier on the wallet.

With only four days at our disposal here, we felt we really didn't do Buenos Aires the justice it clearly deserves, but we thoroughly enjoyed the time we had just strolling around the city centre and harbour, browsing the seemingly endless shops, admiring the architecture and just generally filling ourselves with the ambience of the place.

When Sunday evening arrived and it was time to take another overnight bus (groan) to our next destination - Cordoba - we felt genuinely sorry to be leaving. We hadn't felt this way about a place for some time now, but -happily- it was a feeling that would become common throughout our Argentinian adventure.

Now, this entry marks the halfway mark in our round-the-world adventure and, following a flood of two emails in praise of my electronic scribblings, I've decided to succumb to my ego and allow you good folks to add comments. Let me know what you think of the blog; praise, offers of employment and/or undying admiration are welcome, abuse is not (that means YOU, Grayzza).

Until the next exciting(?!) episode, take care.

Andy and Sharon
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