12/12/2019 – Cordoba, Argentina

We got up and spent the morning relaxing. I think it’s a student house so there is literally no action until the evening here! We walked to the big park Sarmiento and to the fine art gallery, which is in a palace built in 1912 for a local surgeon. It was a pretty cool mansion and was worth the visit if not only to look at the architecture. The exhibition was a collection of Argentinian artists. We played a game where we had to guess which year a piece was made, it was quite tough - we didn’t get any right! Next we walked up to the cultural centre ‘Paseo del Buen Pasor’. It is in a building that used to be a womens prison but has been restored and converted into an arts space. There were bars and restaurants that were not alive and kicking yet, and lots of students draped all over the pace. There were some cool water features and sculptures dotted around. We headed into an area called ‘Guemes’ which is full of independent shops with products made by local designers. Things were just opening up again after siesta time, at about 17:00, but it was still fairly quiet! We went home and relaxed, with a bottle of wine before heading out at 22:30 for dinner (getting into this South American time!) We went to a pizza place in Guemes, which was packed and had a great atmosphere! I tried the fernet and cola drink, which is one of the most popular drinks here! Fernet is an Italian bitter herbal liqueur, and South America consumes more than 75% of fernet produced globally. And as Cordoba has apparently been labelled ‘the world fernet capital’ I had to give it a go. It was absolutely disgusting! But I can see how, as Mate drinkers, South Americans would like it. I pinched my nose and saw it down, didn’t want to waste it of course! Josh and I shared some pizza and then went a few blocks to a bar. Josh ordered a beer and deer, which said it was a beer and a shot. We were quite surprised though when he got served a shot of tequila in his pint of beer. I was happy as they had gin, which hasn’t been on the menu too much the last few months! The bar was full and there was a DJ spinning some good tunes, but there was no-where to dance and no one dancing to our dismay! We unsuccessfully wandered the streets to find somewhere to dance before calling it a night at about 01:30. The streets were so busy, it kind of felt like day time! The people wandering around were not merry, they were walking their dogs, just finishing dinner, having a skate. I guess when it is so hot it makes sense to come alive once it is dark!