Travels, Part 2

The weekend after Tigre, I went to Córdoba, the capital city of the province with the same name. The second biggest city in Argentina, Córdoba has lots of well-preserved colonial architecture, as well as seven universities, making it historically interesting and currently vibrant. Although the city itself is huge, it is walkable and possible to see in a day with enough energy. Since there are lots of interesting towns near the city, we, like many people, spent a day in Córdoba, and spent the rest of our time doing day trips.


We spent the first day in the city itself, giving ourselves a tour first of the main plaza, which featured the original cabildo (local seat of Spanish government, see picture below) and a church built in the same era (see above). More than anything, I was interested in the exhibit outside, a tribute to people disappeared from Córdoba during the military dictatorship of the 70s. The exhibit featured clotheslines strung across the narrow street in between the cabildo and a church (not the one pictured above) with pictures of the disappeared people hanging on them. Most interesting was the graffiti written on the side of the church, calling the institution out on its complicity in these disappearances and accusing it of similar offenses today.


After that, we went to several small but interesting museums. First, the historical museum, built in the 18th century mansion occupied by Rafael Nuñez, former governor of Córdoba and then Viceroyal of the Río de la Plata. Although the exhibits went into slightly too much detail about the way Nuñez and his family had lived, it was a beautiful old house with a great courtyard in the middle and featured such ridiculous things as a private chapel and a music room. It was one of those old houses that looks reasonably sized from the outside, but has endless winding passages that lead to rooms previously invisible. Being the history nerd that I am, I'm always interested in seeing things like reconstructed bedrooms and servants quarters, so I very much enjoyed myself. We also went to the museum of fine arts, which was very small and in an interesting, old house. I had mixed feelings about the artwork itself, which ranged in time periods. Some was beautiful, but a decent amount was very so-so. Nonetheless, we all agreed that the museum itself was well-organized, aesthetically pleasing, and an all-around pleasant place in which to spend time.

At the end of the day, we met up with Silvia, my host mom's cousin who lives in Córdoba. She teaches at a university right on the Manzana Jesuítica (Jesuit Block), a world heritage site featuring a church, university and high school, all built in the 17th and 18th centuries. We met Silvia, as well as two of her students and a fellow teache at a café on the corner. They were all incredibly nice and seemed genuinely excited to take time out of their days to show us their city. Unfortunately, we had shown up almost an hour late, due to confusion with directions, so they didn't have much time. We walked into the courtyard of the high school, where they told us a bit about the history of the area, and then essentially guilted us into taking the official tour by forcing us to decide in front of the guide. We had arrived at 7 that morning after an overnight bus ride, so we were all tired and not much in the mood. Nonetheless, we all agreed later, the tour ended up being the best part of the day. We learned first about the history of the church. The tour guide focused on the way the architecture reflected the different attitudes the Jesuits held towards blacks and indigenous people. While they considered the former sub-humans who they could use for slavery without issue, they gave the indigenous people slightly more credit, considering them worthy of skilled crafts and conversion to Christianity. The church featured an entire half devoted to indigenous Christianity, and was in large part constructed by this group. After that, we moved into the school portion of the block (all three buildings were connected), where we saw beautiful old bibles and other books. We also saw an old classroom that had been used for thesis presentations, and learned about the incredibly high pressure manner in which students received (or attempted to receive) their doctorates. Basically, the student would sit on a high podium in the middle of the room. On one side sat all of his friends and family, and on the other side all those in the city who had already received their doctorates. The latter group questioned him while former group sat and watched. Only the student's tutor sat in his area of the room, the one form of symbolic support allowed him. If the student passed, he would parade through the city with all the other academics. If not, he would find out immediately in front of all his friends and family. I found it really interesting to learn about the central role education has always played in Córdoba. It's still considered Argentina's university center, and it has also been the center of several important student movements, including the one that won free and open education in Argentina. My experiences at UBA have made me very interested in the different ways of viewing and enacting education, and this historical quirk added another piece to the puzzle.

We had chosen Córdoba for that particular weekend because Villa General Belgrano, a small, nearby town up in the sierras was celebrating it's very own Oktoberfest, the third biggest in the world. On our second day, we took the bus to what felt like an alpine village in Germany. Though the town really does have a high German population, these features were surely exaggerated for the benefit of tourists. Nonetheless, the town was charming, the surroundings were beautiful, and the beer was good. It was basically an all-day party, featuring a parade of people in traditional German, Italian and Swiss costumes, as well as, more confusingly, Greek, Nordic, Arabic and Japanese ones. We ate pretzels and did folk dances of questionable origin and just enjoyed the lovely spring day. Please note the two men with pointy hats in the background of this picture.

I spent my last day Córdoba alone, overwhelmed by homework and not interested in the horseback riding trip my friends were taking. I went to Alta Gracia, a small town about an hour outside of Córdoba to see the Jesuit estancia (farm) there, another colonial world heritage site. The building and adjacent church were beautiful and interesting, although not very different from what I had seen the first day in Córdoba. I learned a bit about life on the estancia and the activity of the Jesuits throughout Argentina, and then began my trek to the bus station. I think I enjoyed this part more than anything that day, because I saw a large chunk of Alta Gracia. Although it wasn't a particularly interesting town, I realized that I get a thrill just from traveling itself, seeing people and things I've never seen before. As I walked past rows of houses, some dilapidated on dirt roads and others fairly large and new-looking, I thought of all the people in the world, and imagined a life in this little town on a hill top in the province of Córdoba in Argentina. It's amazing how many people there are in the world, and how many different ways they live their lives. To me, traveling isn't necessarily about seeing the most beautiful or interesting of these, although as a tourist, it's hard to get out of that circuit. It's just about going into the world and seeing what I find. To me, this is maybe the most exciting way I can spend my time, as well as the best way to really learn about the world around me.