Day 2: Cordoba!

On the second day we arrived at the airport like at 2pm. Oh, I forgot to mention, the flight from Santiago to Cordoba was fantastic! We flew right over the Andis on our way over. When I say flew over, I mean flew *just* high enough to get over this terrain. The view was incredible, the mountains looked like theyve been shaved down over the years to have a smooth yellow red surface. Theyre immense, and right next to some other mountains with a bit of ice on them. They looked like those ice mountains from Al Gores documentary about global warming, I hope it wasnt actually effected by that!

Once we arrived in the airport, my dad and I were greeted by Rita and her son Maximilio. I couldnt spot them at first, instead my dads sharp eyes spotted them first and he pointed me in their direction. We hugged and said the usual good words when family see each other for the first time after so long! Maximilio seems like a great kid, hes pretty much the same as me (as far as I can tell), except he speaks Spanish! Its kind of funny, Maximilio says hes interested in learning how to program and he wants to get himself going with computer science. Sadly, he doesnt have the opportunity to do so here because he hasnt finished secondary school here yet (argentinian version of high school). Hes trying to learn visual basic, although, slowly but surely, Im trying to get him to learn Java instead because its much simpler in my opinion :) (ahh all the keys are different on this keyboard).

Driving back, I got to make my initial impression of Cordoba. It looks like Radondo Beach from the 1960s. Its somewhat run down, but there are people everywhere, in old cars, some standing in front of their houses, walking from place to place, and many, many people riding around on motorcycles. Also, here they have yellow taxis, and green cars that act like taxis. Ive asked them about this, and they tell me that you have to call on the phone ahead to time to be driven by the green cars. Its kind of like a shuttle, but its cheaper to use a green car, and the green cars dont stop in the shopping centers. Oh, and it was funny too! On the way back, a flood of memories hit me like a good splash. We drove by a green central, where there was a statue of a man riding a horse. I remember being here when I was 3, maybe 4 years old way back when my family visited Argentina the first time. The difference was that when I was a kid, the statue had a thick layer of shit to keep him warm. The park pigeons are so thoughtful.

Once we got home I got to meet my other cousins, Juan Cruz and... I cant remember his name... (shh, dont let him know I dont know! >_< ). Theyre really great guys! Theyre also promising me theyre going to take me out dancing wahoo! The oldest one, Juan Cruz, works with Industrial architecture, and the second oldest is studying to become a lawyer. The youngest, Maximilio, is the one that wants to be a computer science. Oh, hehe, Juan says Im in luck, since the second oldest is just the man to ask to take me out to a disco teque or however you call it =D . We got to know each other a good amount, and I seemed to get along best with Maximilio, hes a fun kid! He dreams of coming to live in Newport beach, and spend a bit of time around town just like he sees on the show *The OC*. Shh, no body tell him that its not actually like that show =P.

Once we were settled in, they took us for a tour around town. I have to say, living in Cordoba blows every other city out of the water. Literally, for a good time, London, LA, Italy, even France doesnt compare. Theres so much to do down here, and the people are so friendly, that its an Amazing time!!! My aunt Rita lives in an apartment just above some store, the place has Italian architecture all around it. The floor from the entrance is made of marble, and the elevator is old style with bush buttons to lift you up, a gate you manually have to close before the elevator moves, and an actual door you have to pull open to enter the elevator. I hear my dad used to own a machine shop with his brother just a few doors over in this same apartment, I will have to ask him about that later today.

Alright, for the main event, my dad, Maximilio, Rita, and the second oldest (ahh whats his name!!) walked around town. Juan Cruz caught up with us later, he and his girlfriend caught up with us later. Guess they wanted some alone time :-P. The movie theatres here show American films, except theyre all subtitled in Castilian. Theyre cheap too! On our way around town I got to see a few different churches, theyre magnificent! I also got to see the very high school my mom went to school too. It was a catholic school. There was a friendly guard on the way in. The entrance was old, broken stone. As you walked in though, you entered a large court yard with a gigantic statue of a priest in the center. It looked like he cried himself into a good rusted coat =P, he was mostly covered by a good set of white rust. Well after that we walked through *El Paseo de las Pulgas*. It was kind of neat. They sold really old crap, and some neat stuff. It had a few people walking through it, but Maximilio tells me that it was empty like that only because its Sunday, you can hardly walk during the week. We made our way to a nice place to set down and have a drink. It was kind of funny, while we were there my couisins and I were treated by one of the greatest looking waitresses Ive laid my eyes on. We snickered under our breaths about her good looks hehe. Towards the end of the meal Juan Cruz joined us and we drank some beer with salted peanuts. Apparently theres a local myth that a good serving of salted peanuts and beer is just what a man needs to give him that little extra umph, if you what I mean, to get him popular with the ladies. Surprisingly, the beer here is good!

My cousins and I stopped for a bit of bowling, and finally made our way back. There was one moment where I went *oh crap!*. I joined Maximilio on the blancony to enjoy the good view (the apartment has a nice 5th story view of people going about their day on the busy street below). Standing up here, I recalled a pleasant memory from Italy. I remembered there was some middle aged man leaning over his balcony overlooking the plaza in front of the Prometheus, enjoying life in his wife beater. Well I told Maximilio that this balcony felt like it was made for rich people to sit, enjoy life, and have a sip of fine wine. That or smoke a ciggerette, but I hate smoking so thats out of the picture (sadly my two younger cousins smoke, it breaks my heart to think that theyre going to die younger and have shitty teeth because of that bad habbit :-(...). I then got in to a conversation about different kinds of alcohol I tried, and my thoughts on all types of liquor. It turns out, the balcony has great accoustics where everyone in the apartment can you, so my aunt and dad heard the worst of it. Whoops! Im a bad influence on Maximilio >_<, although I doubt I said much that would influence. Now my aunt and dad think Im mad about alcohol, the funny truth is I actually dont like drink alcohol much unless its to celebrate somebig big! haha, oh well.

Ooo, one thing I wanted to mention. Theres so much to do here, its incredible. My mom always mentioned how she could go walking through the plaza and enjoy a good chat. Its completely true, you can spend all day and night walking around here and never be bored. Oh before I forget, there are tons of stray dogs here its sad. They told me breeders some times have dogs that get mixed, so they toss them to the streets :-(. Well anyhow, on our way home, there was a set of clowns doing a performance in the park, and with an audience of at least 4 dozen! Imagine that, just a random show, and theres enough people sitting on the grass to turn it in to a great event. They tell me theres always something going on in the park, so people visit it pretty often to see whats going on. Also on the way back, there was a tango plaza. There someone has a radio blasting tango music, and people who would like get up and dance. There were fathers with daughters and couples strutting their tango moves. There was a good number of people though that just liked to watch on the side lines (my cousins didnt care too much for tango). Maybe one the nights this week I will have the balls to ask a girl to tango, well see ;)

One last observation, there are couples *everywhere* here. You cant take a step in Cordoba without seeing a couple, makes me wonder because Irvine isnt so couple infested. The people here must really be in to love =D. Ohh! Before I forget, Cordobas most known music group known something like cuadro with their type of dance, and buenos aires has another kind... that I forget. Then all the other provinces copy us hehehehhe. Well, time to actually live the life here. Chau!