The alarm sounded, thank goodness! This was a good start to the day, an important start to the day, albeit at a slightly ridiculous hour of the morning to start the day but essentially; we were awake and able to catch a taxi from our hotel to the bus station, to board our coach bound for the central-most City in Argentina; Cordoba.
The eleven hour journey passed without incident as, once more, the coaches lived up to their reputation as being some of the best in the world – actually a comfortable, hassle-free way to travel with the only real consideration you might have being the extra time it takes to use the coach services over the aeroplane. We had booked in to a hostel called ‘Link’ which was located pretty much in the center of Cordoba with great access to most of the points of interest in the City. The staff were friendly and welcoming and spoke Spanish, English and in the case of the energetic, welcoming Salvo; Portuguese as he was from Brasil and a lovely guy.
Despite the comfort, the first thing we were in need of was a siesta! After our self-prescribed, self-administered recovery snooze, we headed to the reception area of the hostel to discuss the possibilities of booking an excursion tour to one of the most common and popular terrains in this part of Argentina; The Sierras Chicas. Cordoba is flanked on the West by the Sierras Grandes and the East by the Sierras Chicas so pretty much in the center of a rather vast valley. The draw of the sierras are not only for the views of the valley, which are rumoured to be fantastic, but the forest terrain and countless rivers, streams and lakes that make a trip up to the mountains a must-do for anyone traveling to this area of Argentina.
Searching for our Brasilian friend, we discussed the trip to the sierras and when he had called to book us in for the trip, we were told that there were not yet enough people booked on the tour for the following day so we would have to wait and see if it filled up before departing. What better time to go and sample something else that Argentina is famous for, and something that we are a fan of in any country…steak! We were not disappointed as we found a restaurant near to the hostel, ordered our steak and were delighted when a fantastically flavoursome steak arrived, but…on its own. We had failed to read the menu properly and not realised that the steak came with, well, nothing at all! So, little tip there – ask about the side orders!
Returning from the restaurant we were greeted with the information we weren’t particularly looking forward to – the excursion would not be going ahead tomorrow as they hadn’t had any more people sign-up. Oh well, not to worry, we would go and explore the City tomorrow and see if the trip would be going ahead the day after.
Cordoba is actually the second largest City in Argentina and being founded in 1573 by the Spanish invaders and as such there are some fantastic examples of architecture and Spanish culture throughout the City. In fact the fusion of modern and classical made for a really interesting and awe-inspiring walk round the main Square of Cordoba, flanked with old churches, colonial buildings and regal palatial-style constructs. In fact, the area known as the ‘Jesuit Block’ has such history and cultural significance to Argentina, and the Spanish to be fair, that in 2000 it became a UNESCO World heritage site. With the sun shining down on us, it proved to be a lovely day to meander round the city.
Returning to the hostel late that afternoon we were expectant of good news with regards to the trip the following day to the sierras. We were soon left deflated with the news that the tour was not going ahead due to poor uptake…again. Hindsight suggests that perhaps we should have shopped around a few agencies until we found a place that did have a tour that they could actually fill and therefore; deliver. However, hindsight is all well and good, but returning back to our experience, we asked another worker at the hostel if there was another tour we could go on that would take us up to the sierras and his response was; “Si”. Through our broken Spanish and his disorganised English, we established that; yes, absolutely this tour takes us up into the mountains and yes, it would be aimed at a young(ish) crowd, it wasn’t a trip that would only really suit the more mature attendee, so, with this absolutely, 100%, confirmed information, we booked ourselves on the tour which would be departing the following day!
Bright and early we were ready for our pick-up to start our one-day excursion into the sierras to enjoy the more cultural side of this area, taking in some historic churches and old schools. I was greeted by our tour guide and invited to take a seat in the car as we ventured to our next pick-up point where two additional tourists would be collected before we continued in to the boundlessly colourful and magical sierras. We were wondering where this couple might be from, who we were going to pick-up, what experiences had they had, were they going the same direction as us and how nice it would be to meet some more people, of a similar age, to compare notes. As the couple were picked up, the average age of the occupants jumped from around about 40 to nearer 98. This was definitely not a tour for the more youthful among us. (They were actually the sweetest old couple though, we hasten to add).
With our full contingent safely seated in the car, strapped in, the conversation started to flow, in Spanish and pretty loudly so all the, shall we say; well-worn-mature-ears, could hear. For once, the classic English trait of simply talking loudly and slowly to people from different countries seemed to work well. Our first stop after approximately an hour and a half out of Cordoba we came across our first point-of-interest; a very old church which, can we just add, was nowhere near the Sierras Chicas. It was quite an interesting place, full of cultural stories and significance within the district of Cordoba, although the general pace of the tour was quite…relaxed.
Back in the car and driving further away from the Sierras, we were soon to our second, and final, stop of the tour; an old school-house. Once more, this was an interesting place to learn about the history of this region of Argentina but we were becoming a little more disappointed by the fact we were, effectively, sold something we dd not want. Still, the old couple were lovely and very interesting as they were from Patagonia and through their stories and descriptions (partly translated by our driver) it has been confirmed that Patagonia is most definitely a place on our list of areas we will be back to see at a later date.
After one more steak that night, we were up the next day, bright and early, to catch our coach to our next destination; Rosario!
