[Paisleychick-lj] The start of the long weekend in Córdoba

Wed Jul 23 00:14:04 EDT 2008

[![][1]][2]  
[Protest Fire][3], originally uploaded by [blmurch][4].

Our friends, Kevin and Alicia (along with their wire fox terrier Gatsby) rented an apartment in Córdoba for three months and encouraged us to come for a visit. Wednesday night, Adrian drove us to Retiro bus station and we caught the 23:50 _bus cama_ to Córdoba. Surprisingly, I was able to sleep almost all the night through and we woke up in the outskirts of town. We arrived to tires burning in the road.   

The television in the cafe where we broke out fast in the bus station had the news on. **Everyone** was watching the TV. The news reported that the Vice President, Cobos, had broken the tie vote in the senate at 4:30 in the morning and stunningly voted _against_ Christina Kirchner. The proposed tax hikes had been beaten down at the last minute. Cobos said that it was the most difficult decision of his life. [Taos Tuner has a very good write up][5] the events and the immediate consequences and understands what the hell is going on. I suggest you read through if you're interested.  

We arrived at Kevin and Alicia's place to another fire of tires which is pictured above. We settled in with them, walked Gatsby around the block and hung out catching up for several hours. In the afternoon and evening, Alicia played tour guide and we saw the beautiful sights of downtown Córdoba. It's the capital city of the province of Córdoba and is fairly large, but the city feels small and old. Much older than Buenos Aires for example. The highlight of the evening was the water fountain show at Paseo del Buen Pastor and catching the beautiful shot of [Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón with the full moon and Jupiter][6]. The fountain show is cute (a small version of the dancing water at the Bellagio in Vegas) and lasts for three songs. The finale on Thursday night was Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody.  

[Unfortunatley, Kevin was really sick][7] with strep throat and that evening a doctor made a housecall for 45 pesos (U$15) to diagnose and prescribe meds. Alicia and Kevin went off to a pharmacy and then a nearby clinic to get the meds and a shot of penicillin. One of the meds (to reduce his fever) is illegal in the states and in Canada, but it did the trick and he felt human in less than 24 hours.  

Friday we met up with [![[info]][8]][9][**aka_lusi**][10] who had stayed with us in Buenos Aires and was on her way back to Santa Cruz, Bolivia where she's a librarian in a private school. We had a wonderful vegetarian lunch at _Sol y Luna_ (General Paz 278) which we all highly recommend. Kragen and I spent the afternoon shopping for pants and shoes for him. We both really don't like shopping, but we prevailed and were successful! We got him two pairs of pants and one pair of sneakers. His feet are big for Argentina.   

That night we got back to the apartment and it smelt divine! Kevin and Alicia made vegetarian Indian food. It was 100% "right" but they did a damned good job with the ingredients that were available in Córdoba and way better than I could have done. [We met their friend Belen][11] and reconnected with our friend Juan who is studying computer science at the university in town. We stayed up way too late for the road trip on Saturday, but had a great time.  

[Photos from Córdoba are up on flickr][12].

   [1]: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3044/2693742029_009957a5b8.jpg
   [2]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2693742029/ (photo sharing)
   [3]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2693742029/
   [4]: http://www.flickr.com/people/blmurch/
   [5]: http://www.theargentinepost.com/2008/07/argentinas-weekend-political-roundup.html
   [6]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2678782082/
   [7]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anijdam/2678110841/
   [8]: http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif
   [9]: http://aka-lusi.livejournal.com/profile
   [10]: http://aka-lusi.livejournal.com/
   [11]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anijdam/2685390722/
   [12]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/sets/72157606321890012/

URL: http://paisleychick.livejournal.com/341328.html