Another night bus later and I arrived in Cordoba found a hostel dumped my bags and went sight seeing. First thing I came accross was this underground Jesuit Crypt which was only discovered a few years ago having been buried under the main road. When they found the crypt they discovered thousands of skeletons believed to have been the victims of a plague, they are still buried here under the tiles.
The childhood home (and now a musuem) of Ernesto Che Guevera is in Alta Garcia - the infamous Marxist revolutionary and explorer - his family moved here to help him cope with his childhood asthma - just an average Argentinian kid who was a keen reader and developed a social consciounce about how the poor were treated and went onto explore Latin America and hook up with Fidel Castro and start a few revolutions!!!
A quick stop at Villa Carlos Paz a popular weekend holiday spot for those wanting to escape the city and chill out at these artificially made lakes and beaches.
Cordoba as Argentina`s second largest city was a nice place to spend a few days - old colonial buildings mixed in with more modern commercial areas. Though it was a bit of a shock getting of the bus here at 8am after three weeks in small towns and quieter cities suddenly the narrow streets in the town centre were full of people heading to work!!
Manzana de los Jesuitas which was built in the 1640`s is the oldest surviving Jesuit temple in Argentina - very plain on the outside (some believe it wasn`t ever completed) whilst the elaborate interior arches were made from Paraguayan wood and the altar was designed and shipped from Europe - impressive given how perfectly it all fits together. The temple became part of the first ever university complex in Argentina (and only the 2nd in the America`s) mainly for educating of Jesuit priests as doctors/teachers/philosophers etc which then led to the establishment of secondary and higher education in the region.
Quite a few other interesting churches in the area with beautiful detail in the building and art work.
And some colourful art work in the musuems and parks.
Villa General Belgrano a small town an hour away from Cordoba that would be more at home in the green valleys of Germany than in Argentina.
The biggest holiday on the local calander is Oktoberfest to celebrate the beer drinking tradition of Germany!! Feliz was a little disappointed that we were there a month too early!!
The locals were not too proud to exploit their German heritage to attract the tourists and make some money - can`t blame them I suppose!!
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