It is with fond memories that I look back at Córdoba. While not typically characterized as a "touristy town," to me Córdoba felt comfortable and maybe even a little at-home. It is a big city, with roughly 1.3M inhabitants in the greater Córdoba metropolitan statistical area (Córdoba is also the capital city of the province of Córdoba), however it is home to some 7 different universities and roughly 300,000+ college students. With those kind of stats, you can imagine this city has a distinct energy to it.
We stayed in the nicer part of town, Nuevo Córdoba. This pleasant little neighborhood (or barrio in the local language) is adjacent to the biggest university in the area, National University of Córdoba, which is the second largest in the country behind the National University of Buenos Aires. Apparently this is also the largest university for the medical trades as well, so we saw plenty of kids in scrubs walking throughout the town.
Creambury & Failing at Spanish
Because Córdoba is also a college town, there were TONS of great bars, restaurants, kiosks, cafes, etc. This also was a great testing ground for our Spanish. I recall very vividly our first attempt at Spanish in Córdoba at our local cafe, Creambury. |
| I actually borrowed this image from TripAdvisor, but this was our go-to cafe in Córdoba |
After the pleasantries, our server starts talking to us in full blown, rapid-fire Spanish.
Unfortunately, he didn't read the deer-in-headlights look on both of our faces and after his verbal diarrhea, he stared back at us, patiently waiting for a response. The problem was we had no idea what he just said to us.
We both looked at each other, then back at him and respond with a ¿Qué? He proceeds to repeat this entire ordeal again, not any slower, not with any more simple words, but just a cacophony of Spanish sounding noises.
We clearly weren't getting anywhere with this guy. We asked if he spoke English, which he did not. He did, however, pick up that we didn't understand much of any Spanish and he left our table to consult with his supervisor. Interestingly enough, no one in the entire waitstaff spoke English, so the supervisor sent over the next best thing, someone who at least would meet us in the middle by speaking to us in super simple words so we could navigate the menu.
We worked through pointing at pictures, pronouncing as best we could and asking questions like "how do you say this?" and "do you offer an American sized cup of coffee?"
It was a great experience in that we definitely failed at communication with our first server, but after feeling frustrated that we couldn't effectively communicate with someone, we learned that we just needed someone to speak slower and in more simple terms. This lesson would become very valuable for the remainder of our trip, even to this day really, since our Spanish still isn't to the "conversational" level.
Around Town - Kiosks and Brands
We were thrilled to find many "kioskos" near our AirBnB apartment. Think of these as a tiny 7-11 without the coffee, nacho cheese pumps or day old hot-dogs withering away on rollers. Kiosks were generally about the size of a walk-in closet, had one or two beverage coolers (maybe an ice cream cooler), always sugary snacks/treats and more often than not beer, wine and liquor. Even if they didn't have a liquor section, they almost always had a few bottles of the national beverage, Fernet Branca.These proved to be our grocery stores of sorts, as we could get our basic supplies for when we were lounging around the apartment. What was more interesting than the description or availability of these kioskos was their choice in branding.
While I'd like to think that all of these respectable businesses obtained the proper licensure to use the likeness of a famous brand, or that the print shops that created these signs reviewed said licensure before printing their banners, but after seeing the 5th or 6th one of these, I had my doubts.
It was quite amusing though, walking around town and seeing some great old memories like Bugs Bunny, Donkey Kong (N64 edition!) and even Betty Boop. Apparently copyright laws in Argentina are a little different than the U.S.
Dr.'s Side Note: A Blessing and a Curse - Lo de Jacinto Empanadas
We gleefully discovered that the empanadas at Lo de Jacinto are the culinary equivalent to a late night Jack in the Box taco. Sooo good and soooo bad. Our apartment was literally next door to this palace of bad decisions.
Look at this guy and his sketchy little moustache, how could you NOT want to buy quantities of gut busting, delicious packets of late night mystery meat from him?
Adam here - we ended up eating here frequent enough that the proprietor visually recognized us and would greet us on the street. Probably not our finest moment, but seriously, these empanadas were gluttonously delicious!
A Presidential Visit to Argentina
Unbeknownst to us, President Obama had scheduled a trip to Argentina while we were visiting Córdoba. While Córdoba wasn't on his itinerary, they certainly were prepared for his arrival.
Thankfully we didn't experience any negative backlash for being Americans since we looked like anyone else from Argentina, but it was a really interesting experience to see how other countries or at least people from other countries felt about our President's foreign policy. Not dissimilar from most any college town in the U.S., the people of Córdoba appear to be passionate about their politics.
Looking Like a Local
While I'm on the topic of people not being able to spot us as Americans, I want to take a moment to talk about this phenomenon. It was most interesting to learn about and experience the cultural identity of Argentina. Because numerous European cultures had found Argentina as "home" over the years, namely Spanish, Italian and Germans, there isn't a distinct look of an Argentine. While in Córdoba, we stumbled upon a great blog by a guy from San Francisco named Damon who relocated to Córdoba from the states. His blog is an interesting read for anyone wanting to understand or know a bit more about the culture of Córdoba or Argentina, but I want to share his post on the look of an Argentine as he does a good job describing it:
When I was in Colombia the locals would stare at our pack of gringos as we roamed the streets, even going so far as to request photos of my pale self to accompany their dark faces.
Nothing changed as I went south to Ecuador. And just last year while riding a bus to work in Lima it was pretty clear which one of the riders was not a local.
However the Argentines are an eclectic bunch. Like the United States, Argentina is a multiethnic society serving as home to those with roots from Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, and France. Una crisol de razas – a melting pot.
As a result there is no standard looking Argentine. You’re equally as likely to find a blond with fair skin as someone with dark hair and features.
So on the streets of Córdoba my brown hair and blue make me no different visually than any other Argentine.
Looking like everyone else certainly has its pro’s and con’s
Pro – Locals pleasantly surprised when they find out I’m a foreigner
Con – Locals assume I speak Spanish and start talking at their normal speed
Pro – Slightly lower threat of getting scammed or targeted for theft
Con – No novelty factor from appearance
Overall I think looking like everyone else makes me more at ease. The threat of targeting while obviously still existent is definitely less and makes Cordoba a more comfortable place for me.
Now if I could just learn to speak like everyone else…
That last line has certainly rang true for me many times during our trip. But it certainly was interesting walking through an entire country where everyone just assumed that you were from there. I thought for sure our light eyes and translucent Seattle complexion would be a dead giveaway for an American, but visually at least, we were just like everyone else.
College Town Experiences
Like any good college town in the U.S., sometimes random things just happen in the streets of the city. Take for instance, one weekend day when we were walking around town. We decided to check out the flea market, ahem, artists market as we had heard it was interesting. On our way to this display of "handicrafts", we hear some loud drum beats close to the church and knowing we weren't in a rush, we decided to check it out.
Apparently we stumbled upon some form of celebration. I have no idea what the significance of it was (it was March 21st for anyone who may know), but it was awesome to watch! The video hopefully gives a depiction of the vibe, but it felt like some form of Brazilian Carnival-like parade. Lots of drums, dancing girls, closed down streets, etc.
This was also where Andrea took one of my favorite photos with the street dog biting the fender of the taxi. The dogs of Argentina are fearless, for sure.
Daaaaaaaaaaay Tripper!
We decided that we needed some cultural experience outside of eating and drinking the local way, so we booked a day tour to 2 delightful European towns south of Córdoba: La Cumbrecita & Villa General Belgrano.
These two cities were close to each other, but in essence were holdovers from the German and Swiss settlers that found their way Argentina. It wasn't until later that I had found out that apparently these "settlers" were Nazi officers and affluent Nazi sympathizers who decided to skip town before the collapse of Nazi Germany and Argentina was their countryside of choice.
Aside from their history, they were, visually at least, like stepping into what I would imagine would be a quaint little German town. For my Seattle friends, it was like a visit to Leavenworth. Everything in both towns were decorated like a little German village. From the wooden signs, to the cobblestone streets, to the building designs, it felt nothing like Argentina outside of the presence of the Spanish language. Even the Argentine beer selection was extremely limited to make way for the many different German varieties.
In addition to all the quaint German attributes to the town, I found a few old relics as well.
I found it hilarious that there were still public phones available, so I snapped a few photos. It wouldn't be until a few months of traveling in South America (SurAmerica as the locals call it) that these are actually still a vital mode of communication throughout most countries down here. While mobile phones are as present as they are in the states, they can be expensive to make calls and texts (which explains the prominence of WhatsApp down here) so having pay phones around is still relevant.
Córdoba City Art
I don't think we had seen a city with as much public art as Córdoba. While some of it I didn't quite understand (which could be said for all art, really), some of it was quite beautiful. There are more photos in the album, but below are some of the highlights.
 |
A Pleasant Surprise on our Last Day
We decided on our last full day in Córdoba that we needed to get out of the apartment and walk around the town. We headed towards the cultural center to do some exploring and find a bite to eat when we were very pleasantly surprised to stumble upon a few bboys breaking out the linoleum ready for the electric boogaloo.
At first it was quite novel and we stopped for a minute to watch these guys do their thing. Then more and more people started to gather, chests were starting to get puffed and we had front row seats to a full-blown breakdancing show! We must have stayed there for 20 minutes watching these guys. This is probably one of the only times I have given money to a street performer, but it was well worth the entertainment. It's nice to see that America's hip-hop culture has made a lasting impact on Argentina.
Too Many Stories to Tell
There are many, many more stories to tell about our trip in Córdoba (like when the Chileans we met literally doubled over in laughter as they tried to pronounce the English word "health"), but I wanted to provide you with the highlights as to not burn you out on yet another novella sized blog post.
I will leave you with this - Córdoba, for me, was the first time that I felt a sense of belonging on our travels. Even to this day, I haven't found a spot that felt as comfortable or as "normal" as Córdoba. Maybe it's the college-town energy, the cheap eats and convenient kiosks, or even the great parks and walkable structure of the city, but there was something about Córdoba that I really enjoyed and will look back upon with great memories. It's certainly not a tourist town, but it provides an excellent opportunity to see what it's like to live like a local, which I've come to value greatly in our travels.
Next - Let's Get Boozy!
Until next time Amigos, when we take you through our journey to Mendoza, the heart of the Argentine wine region.
Adios,
AT y La Médica
No comments:
Post a Comment