Argentina: Córdoba
I originally didn’t know about Cordoba. My uneducated self didn’t know it was such a large (second largest in Argentina actually) city, and came her just for the farm that I would work in. But due to communication issues, I ended up getting three extra days (3 more than planned 0 days) in the city.
Cordoba doesn’t seem to have a super clear “city center” and you can see a bunch of the hostels are laid all over the city. The best location in my opinion is near Plaza San Martin. There, you are near Parque Sarmiento and a lot of museums. The other hostels all are near some other interesting thing since the city is so spread out, though.
La Docta is the cool kids when it comes to free walking tours. They have one in the morning and afternoon that go through different parts of town. I did both, and while they had a few interesting stories that primarily make fun of silly decisions and mistakes that the government made, I got bored by the end of both tours and left early. Turns out I’m just not into organized walking and listening. You can see all the things that come up when you google. None of them were particularly interesting for me to want to take photos or remember what they were called.
So I explored on my own! For shopping, Mercado Norte and Mercado Sud are hotspots for cheap shopping and some artesanal things. They have food, clothing, plastic stuff, shoes, antiques, wholesale, and all sorts of other stuff. For artesanal things, on Sundays there is a great artisanal fair at the Paseo de las artes. Turns out, this whole Cordoba area is really big on the artisanal market, as a lot of hippie/free spirited/artistic people live in this region. Here is a perfect place to buy some high quality mates!
Here, you can eat all sorts of things, but one thing I thought was hilarious was an electronic hot dog.
So let’s talk mate. Mate is a caffeinated tea of a sort that Argentinians have traditionally — and still do — drink. The tea is made from a plant called yerba, and the tea leaves are called yerba mate. Confusingly, the cup that holds that tea is called a mate. The straw that goes inside the cup and strains the tea leaves so that the person only drinks the tea is called a bombilla. The tea reminds me of a very strong herbal black tea, and people often sprinkle some sugar on their tea to sweeten it but can be taken without any sweeteners. Unlike other drinks, mate is a very wholesome and social thing. People will carry whole sets of yerba, mate, bombilla, and hot water in a thermos when they go to work, sit at a park, or just go to hang out with people. The cebador (the one who serves the mate) will take a drink and empty all the water out. Then she/he will refill the mate cup with water, and pass it to someone else. They then, drink the whole cup, and return it to the cebador to drink or for the cebador to fill and pass to the next person. Only when the drinker returns the mate cup with “gracias” will the cebador stop offering more cups of refilled mate. Likewise, the drinker should not say gracias until they are ready to stop drinking. People often offer mate to even strangers, so bringing along mate is a great way to involve other people and become friends asap.
By this time I was all about Argentinian food. Three things I had here in Cordoba:
Empanadas: At any city in Argentina you can find yourself some empanadas of all different sizes and fillings. They will usually use a letter marking system in the crust of the empanada to tell you what type you got, or they will be folded a different way. Each one will cost 15–20 pesos.
Lomito: this is another abomination that is a delicious heart attack. It is a large sandwich (often sold where empanadas are sold, as fast food) loaded with meat, fries, some veggies, cheese, and two whole fried eggs, in the case of the one that I got. Enough for two meals at least.
Choripan: this is a street food classic. Similar to the american hot dog or the german brautwurst sandwich, this is a sausage in a bun. But the sausage is extremely flavorful and is often overloaded with toppings. Locals call it chori for short! Luckily, I was in town when a choripan festival was happening in Park Santander so I got to try different styles and fusion versions!
Like Mendoza, a lot of the attractions of the Cordoba area are outside of the city. Little beautiful cities, tall glorious mountains, and untouched pure forests all surround this large city. La cumbre, alta gracia, calamuchita, etc etc. There is a long list of places that you can go for day or overnight excursions all by bus. There are two terminals here though. Depending on where you go, you will need to go to the other. They are located right next to each other, but the terminals are so large that it may take more than 10 minutes to walk between, so plan accordingly! In my limited time, I went to Capilla del Monte and Villa Carlos Paz.
Capilla del Monte is supposed to be a town where aliens are spotted and many spiritual things happen. I didn’t get to visit much of the town itself, but the vibe is very relaxed here, and the streams nearby are also just a great place to relax. Here you can see a lot of the more deserty landscapes, and houses made out of concrete but shaped like igloos. I did not see any aliens.
I also took a day trip to Villa Carlos Paz, which is a quick ride from Cordoba (you can hop on the bus at the terminal or Mercado Sud). This is a vacation/resort area where tourists and locals alike come to escape the city heat. There are many ‘beaches’ along the river that runs down from the river. Families come out there to grill and hang out, so I went and read War and Peace with a cup of mate. I hung out in the water to escape the heat, which was great until I found little baby leeches on my body. No bueno.
