Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Cordoba
Campo 1 : Ciudad 0
Cordoba, the province, is beautiful... the city however I found a bit so-so. To be honest I didn´t give it much time, I spent a day wandering round the various sites, and an evening out, at the bar-club which left me less than enthusiastic about the well reputed nightlife of this student town, despite the 8 pesos entry which included a litre of beer... we trundled around dwarfed by the oversized buckets.
Perhaps I didn´t really get to grips with the city having travelled over night still carrying the hangover I inflicted on myself in Mendoza for a good 24 hours or so. So, probably not in the best shape to take on the world. That said before I left Mendoza I managed to attend a presentation on a cartoneros collective in Sao Paulo at the university... no, not by accident. I met the woman who gave the lecture on the trek up Aconcagua and wanted to find out more. The cartoneros (the impoverished people who eek a living from sorting through South America´s rubbish bins to gleen anything recyclable), have no official standing, representation, working rights or welfare provision, and seen all but ignored by the better off sections of the general population, as is their potentional as an economic force. Hopefully the small scale project in Sao Paulo will bring some recognition and benefits that can be spread around the rest of the continent.
From Cordoba I travelled out of the city and visited a number of ancient Jesuit estancias with varying degrees of success: one, (Santa Catalina), which promised to b the best, but also the most difficult to get to, had been closed by the owner for the day, because he had some mates round. I also saw Che Guevara´s childhood home. I am disappointed to tell you I was prevented by the staff from taking a photograph of a sign hanging above the toilet in the house, that read ¨Please don´t use this, it´s part of the museum¨... I also realised this meant you couldn´t sit in a place where you could say with absolute certaintly Che had, either.
Another overnight trip and I find myself in Buenos Aires, and once more in the company of Poe and Tone - horrah!
Cordoba, the province, is beautiful... the city however I found a bit so-so. To be honest I didn´t give it much time, I spent a day wandering round the various sites, and an evening out, at the bar-club which left me less than enthusiastic about the well reputed nightlife of this student town, despite the 8 pesos entry which included a litre of beer... we trundled around dwarfed by the oversized buckets.Perhaps I didn´t really get to grips with the city having travelled over night still carrying the hangover I inflicted on myself in Mendoza for a good 24 hours or so. So, probably not in the best shape to take on the world. That said before I left Mendoza I managed to attend a presentation on a cartoneros collective in Sao Paulo at the university... no, not by accident. I met the woman who gave the lecture on the trek up Aconcagua and wanted to find out more. The cartoneros (the impoverished people who eek a living from sorting through South America´s rubbish bins to gleen anything recyclable), have no official standing, representation, working rights or welfare provision, and seen all but ignored by the better off sections of the general population, as is their potentional as an economic force. Hopefully the small scale project in Sao Paulo will bring some recognition and benefits that can be spread around the rest of the continent.
From Cordoba I travelled out of the city and visited a number of ancient Jesuit estancias with varying degrees of success: one, (Santa Catalina), which promised to b the best, but also the most difficult to get to, had been closed by the owner for the day, because he had some mates round. I also saw Che Guevara´s childhood home. I am disappointed to tell you I was prevented by the staff from taking a photograph of a sign hanging above the toilet in the house, that read ¨Please don´t use this, it´s part of the museum¨... I also realised this meant you couldn´t sit in a place where you could say with absolute certaintly Che had, either.
Another overnight trip and I find myself in Buenos Aires, and once more in the company of Poe and Tone - horrah!
# posted by Barney @ 2:51 pm 
