Cordoba & Alta Gracia

We went to Cordoba in northwest Argentina for a few days. The first impression of the city was anything but positive, but it had absolutely nothing to do with the city itself. The final boss this time: bed bugs! Again! Disgusting creatures. After checking into the hostel, which made a very tidy and extremely clean impression, I quickly noticed that some blood-sucking creature was trying to get to me. Since mosquitoes could be ruled out as pests in this case, I went to inspect the rooms with a flashlight and lo and behold: a whole group of these beasts had made themselves comfortable in the immediate vicinity of the bed. So I changed rooms and hostels the next day, examined personal belongings and luckily found that no pests had yet messed with my equipment. Since the hostel was also very cooperative and my entire money was refunded without any problems, fortunately it was an annoying but only brief encounter with these bastards.

During the whole operation, I also evacuated Valentin from Caen, in the far north of France, from the hostel. The poor guy had been here a few days longer and was pretty battered, but I couldn't find the exact cause of his "main problems" and so I assumed it was mosquitoes.

Two of us - and later three (Clemens, whom I had met in Buenos Aires, joined us here) - explored the country's second largest city over the next few days. There is a wide range of interesting places to discover and with its numerous students, Cordoba is also a paradise for night owls, so countless bars and (quite cheap) restaurants characterize the city center. Of the many churches, two of them in particular have remained in my memory. Firstly, the Catedral de Cordoba with its imposing and pompous interior and the Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón, which is an absolute eye-catcher, especially on the outside with its details and colorful facade. Furthermore, there is also a world heritage site in the city center, namely the "Manzana de los Jesuitas", a block of houses built by Jesuits in the 17th century. This is probably more interesting from a historical perspective, but I personally found the building complex itself less spectacular.

In addition to those already mentioned, the many other churches in the cityscape are striking. Corboba is therefore also called “Ciudad de las Campanas” - City of Bells.

From Córdoba I also took a trip to the spa town of Alta Garcia. 45 km outside the city, you can relax for a few hours in this rural idyll and simply stroll through the town. Alta Garcia is also home to the Museo del Che Guevara. Due to his asthma problems, Che's family moved to this place in the early 1930s and the house where he lived was converted into a museum. Here you can find out all sorts of details about the Marxist's eventful life story and his spiritual father, Fidel Castro, has also been a guest here.

After a short chat with Che, it was time to leave the town and head back to Cordoba.

All in all, it was a few relaxed and unexciting days in Cordoba. As a small highlight, we were able to attend the Superclasico between River Plate and Boca Juniors. The encounter in the Copa de la Liga was to be the first meeting between the clubs with fans from both camps since 2018. An absolutely amazing experience in the Kempes Stadium. Afterwards, we went back to the capital for another day before the south of the continent finally called.