Córdoba, Argentina: My Favourite Argetinean City

After arriving in Córdoba I made my 40 minute trek to my hostel. I checked in, got changed then headed off to a Couchsurfing meeting at a bar where I was the only non-native Spanish speaker.

Córdoba is the 2nd biggest city in Argentina. It is known as the university city in Argentina with many young people coming to study from many parts of Argentina... This equals many bars.

While eating breakfast on my first morning Brazilian guy, Bruno, asked if I wanted to go hiking... Bruno, 2 French guys and I were soon at the bus station trying to figure out how to get to Quebrada del Condorito.

The province of Córdoba has many mountains that are much flatter and rounder than the Andes due to being much older. Quebrada del Condorito was quite beautiful with stunning landscapes and many birds... The only downside was jumping around to keep warm while waiting for a bus on the side of the road in the middle of no where after the sun went down.

The next night I was off to meet some CSers. The first was Daniela and a friend of hers for a quick tour and then drinks in a bar. After returning to my hostel I met up with another Daniela (Dany) from CS and one of her friends, Cristian, at another bar. Dany and I ended up dancing the night away at a bar and talking well into the morning. She is a 27 year old Argentinean defence lawyer that definitely knows how to dance.

The next couple of days involved drinking mates, watching a big boxing match at Dany's place (I was surprised that she enjoys watching one of my favourite sports) and of course more bars.

I might have been a little drunk

The next few days involved meeting more people from CS for exploring, being the only foreigner in an Argentinean soccer match (it was tough), watching the beginning matches of the world cup, meeting a group of other Aussies in the hostel and hanging out with Dany... I also missed an Aussie getting kicked out of the hostel in the early hours of the morning (he was a good guy when he was sober but had a massive cocaine and alcohol problem).

200 years since the revolution. There are 201 of these from 1810 to 2010.

One of these ones is my Birth Year.

I'm not sure why there is one of these in Argentina but it's cool.

The World Cup has definitely kicked off!

It was now time for another Argentinean Asado (they are definitely not standard BBQs) with the hostel crew followed by a night of clubbing.

Some of the hostel group

The next day I met up again with another CSer , Eugenia, for more tea and sweets at her place before heading off to the park to play some padel tennis with 2 more of her friends (our 2nd attempt to play). The mini sports day was followed by a trip to a bee covered bakery for many facturas (sweet buns with cream and jam).

Those mini things everywhere are bees

More bees

After Dany returned from a weekend at her parents house I was showing off my cooking skills. We switched between English and Spanish regularly with Dany often accidentally throwing in Italian just to complicate things further... I would usually meet her after her night time Italian classes so it was difficult for her to go from Spanish at work to intensive Italian and then to English.

My last few days involved more world cup soccer, Dany taking me to a pub/restaurant and another communal hostel asado for my last night.

Waiting for my pub steak

My final day involved making Dany take over a 2 hour lunch break to say goodbye. The hard part of travelling but the world is very small.

Dany decided to head off to her parent's place the same night so we decided to share a cab to the bus station and say good bye again... it was actually our 3rd goodbye. I was supposed to leave Córdoba a week earlier... This time it was for real.

The Taxi Ride

Ready to go!

Following 2 weeks in Córdoba and seeing all of Australia's world cup matches on TV it was time to move on.

You get used to saying goodbye all of the time when you travel but sometimes you wish you had more time.

Next stop Mendoza!

Lessons Learnt:

I can't speak Italian.

Australia actually played well in the world cup.

I always have the most fun in university cities that aren't the capital.

I love Argentinean Asados.

My Spanish improved a lot in these 2 weeks.

I only managed to meet 6 of the 25 people that wrote to me on CS wanting to meet.