Who let the dogs out?

So, from Mendoza one fairly average Argentinian city, we headed to Cordoba, another fairly average Argentinian city. The guidebook boasted lots of things to see and do, but we managed to nail all the sights (a Jesuit Missionary, an art gallery and a couple of cathedrals) in a Challenge Anneka style fashion, completing the sightseeing relay in no less than 45 minutes. So, we were left twiddling our thumbs until a lucky twist of fate came in the form of Tay´s flip flop breaking leaving us with no other option than to head to the mall to pick up a new pair of Havaianas (it should be noted that Tay had to walk for 20 perilous minutes with one bare foot through dog poo riddled streets). The mall did not disappoint and we manged to get some good snacks from the food court and then amuse ourselves in the arcade for half an hour or so.

Now fellow backpackers will definately agree that its the simple things that remind you of home that can cause massive excitement, so when we were cruising the upper levels of the mall and spotted a cinema showing films in English, its fair to say we nearly wet ourselves. The evening ahead was a done deal, and we spent it watching Shutter Island subtitled in Spanish and eating our own body weight in peanut M&Ms. Not exactly a cultural experience, but definately a great way to spend an evening for three chubby little snackers. Apart from that Cordoba was a bit of a wash out, mainly to do with the ridiculous amount of rain that fell when we were there, but also because it just wasn`t that good.

Fish are friends & food

Home of Che Guvera

Next place on the itinerary was Rosario, another town in Central Argentina which is only 5 hours from BA. It´s a pretty little town on the Parana Delta River where Che Guevara grew up and was instantly more likeable than Cordoba. When we arrived at our hostel we were happy as larry to be given the Disco room which was decked out with disco balls, music note lampshades and a life size John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever painted on the wall. Intimidated by the huge raucous gang of Israelis who had dominated the communal area, we escaped the hostel and treated ourselves to a romantic dinner for three at a lovely little restaurant on the river where we had grilled fresh river fish and chips.

The next day we did a bit of sightseeing in Rosario which included looking at Che Guevaras house. We say looking AT and not IN, because the house where he grew up has been renovated into a block of flats which look modern and make it difficult to appreciate it as a tourist attraction. Luckily we got some alternative Che action from a small park area where someone has painted his face onto a brick wall. The city monument along the river was really pretty and we had to try really hard to resist doing a Rocky style run and air punch up the huge steps.

The main attraction in Rosario is getting a ferry to some of the small islands in the middle of the river, but unfortunately due to the huge amounts of rain that the city had had recently the ferries weren´t running. We sought out an alternative activity which involved river and sun and headed to the private beach 8km north of the city with Ed and Charlie, two really sweet (and permanently drunk) 18 year olds from Bristol that we had met in our hostel.

The beach was really pretty but the boys had brought with them a picnic of bread, pate, ham and cheese which attracted what can only be described as a ´gang´of manky stray dogs to our lounging area. This wasn´t the first time we had run into trouble involving a pack of stray dogs. In San Augustin the fun had begun when some really mangey specimens had trailed us round the square nearly causing Robbi to burst into tears (he is even more afraid of dogs than we are). On the beach the dogs got so alarmingly amarous with the pate that we started regretting our decision to not get a rabies jab before we came. We rounded off our time in Rosario by drinking with Ed and Charlie and watching in horror as they attempted half-cut backflips on the concrete patio. We really worry for those boys´ safety.

We heart Bazza

Cilla and Annie the two Aussie girls we met briefly in Bariloche and then spent more time with in Mendoza, twisted our arm and convinced us to head back to BA to celebrate Annie´s birthday with them. We were more than happy to oblige as BA had been a real dreamboat the first time round so we booked into the same hostel as them and jumped on a bus. When we arrived the girls had the most amazing presents for us....in Mendoza we had talked about our communal love for Bariloche (the place where dreams come true) and it had become a running joke that Bariloche was our meccha and we couldn´t imagine a more perfect place in the world ever existing. Our obsession with the place reached fever pitch as we said goodbye to the girls in Mendoza and watched with jealousy as they left to return to Bariloche for another five days. So anyway, we digress (which happens a lot when Bariloche is the subject of conversation).. the girls had got us all t shirts made which have ´I love Bazza´ written across the front. Surely the best present imagineable, apart from being bought a house there of course.

Picnic fun

Brother & Sister?

For Annie´s birthday we took a picnic to the park and stuffed our faces with cake before heading out to El Desnivel, a renowned steak house in the city where we were joined by more of Annie´s friends. As the birthday coincided with St Patrick´s day we felt obliged to go to an Irish pub and have a green pint. As you can imagine the pub was rammed with Irish backpackers and we were soon real Sweaty Bettys, so after downing our green pints we made a bee line for a club in Palermo the trendy wendy district of BA. There was some fairly comical dancing all round which included Robbi doing a limbo contest with himself using the beam from one of the burly security guards lazer pointers. The music was really random and cheesy, which was fine until the DJ dropped a bit of Will Smith ´Miami´ and we realised it was time to make a quick exit.

So, we bid farewell to Annie who was heading back to London and hopped on a bus to Salta in North Chile, where we had heard there were some really big red rocks or something like that....

written by

JodesAndTay on March 28, 2010 from Cordoba, Argentina

from the travel blog: Jodes and Tay escape to SA

Send a Compliment

Sorry to hear that you've all not been well, probably has something to do with the green beer.... that's just wrong!

Loved the latest update, photo's are brill and keep the Grandparents extremely happy.

written by Mummy Cooper on March 30, 2010

comment on this...