Day 3: A More Practical Cordoba

Day 3 is a bit difficult to remember now, slept very little and lighly last night so my memory isnt at its best.

My dad and I started the day relatively easy. We went to go enjoy a cup of coffee and croisant at a small little shop and talk most of the morning. The shop was in an indoor shopping mall where the windows are all set up for window shopping. The coffee shop was set up right at the bend of two walk ways, with the chairs set up to see both ends of the mall. My dad told me more about Cordoba, its people, and stark differences between the expectations of living here versus where we live. Here, work is very difficult to find. The majority of the work isnt overly professional either, most of the population (as far as I can tell) works small jobs at a shop for a small wage. A good number of people work all day as well. The waiter who brought us the coffee has probably been working there all his life, greeting the same people each day. Towards the end of our chat my dad joked we should walk over and mingle with the cute girls 2 tables over. I was a bit too shy to outright introduce myself, so instead I opted to lure one of them over by asking her to take our picture. The plan worked somewhat, we pulled her out of her herd and tricked her into a conversation. Turns out they worked just down the inner shopping mall.

We went to have speghetti for lunch at an italian retaurant with a waiter who seemed Italian, but was actually Spanish. He had an extremely pompous attitude, but was still friendly. He was the type of person who acted like he knew everything (kind of like me sometimes, doh!), meaning he highly recommended to have such and such item on the menu, or youre eating something inferior. He also seemed like the kind of guy who has been doing this all his life too; when we asked him for a menu, he told us he is the menu. Ha ha.

Afterwards we took a cab to the place my dad grew up and I got to see the house he grew up in. The trip there was interesting. We hailed a taxi, and the setting changed from the lively downtown Cordoba to the more practical outskirts. It seemed like Redondo beach again :-P . As we moved away from the center of the city, the town seemed to be less and less taken care of. My dad mentioned that it was some what depressing to see the town from his childhood rundown like it is today. On the way there we could see political graffiti everywhere. Apparently after the militiristic government was abandoned for a more democratic one, the people exploded in a wave of free expression on the walls and streets. A good bit of the graffiti didnt make much sense to me, the Art Museum MBNA was tagged with: Aguero es Pueblo (I think that was it), and another that was repeated several times was: Montero es su suicido lempio [Montero is a clean suicide]. My dad explained that the Monteros were an underground terrorist group that existed during the military government period. If you were even suspected of being affiliated with the Monteros you mysterious disappeared. Crazy!

Once we got to my fathers old house, we took a few pictures out in front. In a fantastic bit of luck, an old friend was arriving home across the street. He stopped his motorcycle mid street, looked at us for a few moments, then shouted for my dad. Turns out that guy knew my family while they still lived in Cordoba, and he lived with the woman who looked after my oldest sister. It was such an expected surprise to see them again! This visit sparked a really old memory in me as well. I last went to Argentina when I was 3 years old. Looking out their back window, I remembered digging up worms in their back yard to keep myself entertained. hehe, what a difference it was to be a kid. My dad and I tried to refuse tea to not bother them, but since its such a strong Argentinian custom to bring out the tea for a chat we found ourselves sitting for a good conversation. I got to overhear their conversation a good bit, but we were soon out of there after a few pictures.

We gave a stroll around he area some after that. My dad showed me the preschool he went to and shared a small funny story too. He was once student of the month, and at that school the student of the month would carry home a large flag with two people marching behind him. It sounded like good times :-) . We stopped by to say hi to one last person, an elderly lady who lived by herself. At the door my dad told me to keep a close eye on her reaction. We ringed the bell, and as she stepped out she recognize us one bit. My dad pointed out she looked like she was expecting us to be the bearers of some bad news, like her husband (who was living in another city for a reason I forget) had died. Once we announced who we were, she gave a shocked and happy expression all at once that I wish I could have caught on camera! We talked a bit, she told us how she had eye surgery a few years back and some other details on how the neighborhood changed. The neighborhood wasnt all run down, on one side they were renovating some houses with new paint and new structures, so hopefully that will continue through the whole way.

Afterwards my dad and I made our way through town. I wore sandals all the way through town. My mom would chase me with a broom if she knew I wore sandals, and shes probably going to chase me with a broom once I get home since shes going to read this :-P . It turns out the floor is slippery, and especially slippery if youre wearing sandals. I was literally skiing every step I took in Central Cordoba, I traveled a meter every step I took with my sandals in the rain. A funny thing, Cordoba is laced with traps for foreigners when it rains. The loose tiles like to gather up a bit of water under them, so stepping on them is like slipping on a ketchup packet. Not only do you lose your balance on these slick tiles, but you get a nice juicy splash surprise every time you step on one. Luckily I didnt fall once here, but I did get a little splashed.

Later that day we visited some old Italian friends, then that night I went to go play pool, pingpong, and some video games with my cousins. Ill write more on this later, I have to head out. More to come later!