Cordoba

Cordoba has been great, largely because we managed to do lots of "normal" stuff that we haven't done for a while, but also because we stayed with a friend in Cordoba so experienced a bit of what life is like in Argentina.

Mate
Argentinans are pretty easy to spot when they are on holiday, they pretty much always walk with their thermos, containers of dried leaves and their carved wooden cups with silver straws - everything you need for mate. We had observed this phenomenon throughout Peru and Bolivia and realised that we probably needed a native Argentinian to properly instruct us in this ritual. Which is why when we agreed to stay with Celeste, we thought, here's our chance to have a real Argentine experience.

I liked mate, not with lots of sugar, but without sugar it tastes a bit like Japanease tea. Apparantly there are lots of little meanings and rituals surrounding it but the basic premise was that you drink mate with friends, sharing the same cup and straw. Lovely.

Empanadas
Another great Argentine staple is the empanada. These little half moon shaped snacks come filled with either carne (beef), pollo (chicken) or queso (cheese). These have been a life-saver for us while we were trying to adjust to the Argentine eating schedule. When we have gone out at 7pm in search of dinner and all the restaurants open at 8:30pm, the empanadas that are sold in the local pub which is showing the football has been invaluable. And they are yummy too. The ones that we made here were Celeste's special Arabian empanadas and are made without potatos but with lots of lemon juice and onions... yumm...

University museum
Apparantly Cordoba has one of the earliest universities in the Americas, started up by the Jesuits back in the day and made independent after the Jesuits were kicked out in the 14'00s sometime. They also have beautiful buildings and an impressive collection of very old books. The tour was pretty interesting, there was a tumultous past here, full of intrigue and espionage...