Cordoba. City Tour/ memorial to the 'disappeared'. Tues 28 March

 

Tuesday 28^th March 2017

Cordoba.  Met by very apologetic guide, Sol, who said that she had been at the bus station where we were until 11pm… mmmm.

City Tour following the, by now, standard 3xC route – Cathedral/Church, Convent, Cabildo.  Cordoba is a big University City, with the Jesuits founding the first university in the country in 1613.  It’s the second largest city in Argentina, founded in 1573, but not quite as impressive as Buenos Aires.   

 

The Cabildo this time, in the Plaza San Martin (national hero), had a really nifty marble paving outside, which was a pen-picture reflection of the building, with all the arches and windows in the ‘shadow’.

 

What was heart-stopping was a series of flags and pictures of some of the 30,000 ‘disappeared’ hung over the road outside of the Memory Museum, and put up to commemorate last Friday’s ‘memory day’.  Very moving when you see all the young faces, many of them mothers whose children were also taken. The museum used to be the torture chamber and jail, so one highlight was a group of schoolchildren all sitting listing to their recent history. Hopefully they will learn….

Around the corner was a man demonstrating against Las Malvinas territory.

There is still a group of ex-military demanding their pay for their role during the war (not at the Falklands, but in reserve etc), and clearly still a will from some to restore the Falklands to Argentine rule (many others can’t be bothered).  We kept our Brit mouths shut whilst taking some quick photos.

Confusion reigned when we asked about the 10am collection for the bus to Salta. Found that it was actually the 10 pm overnight bus and we were booked on for tomorrow night.  Not wishing to hang about in Cordoba, we changed the booking and used the room facilities to relax and shower before the overnight 13 hour+ journey.

Left Cordoba at 2230 hours. Very luxurious bed-seats, wide and reclined to about 180degree. However at a slippery angle so still not easy to get comfortable.  Also some idiot decided to put a film on in English but Spanish subtitles with a gory plot – bank heist, serial killer etc – so everytime I started to fall asleep there would be screams and gunshots.  Great idea to relax people for bed!  Top Tip – take earplugs next time!

Eventually managed to sleep and woke up near Salta Province.