Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2003 - 6:40 p.m.
Cordoba
The next day (Oct 7th) I joined Pete & David for a mid-afternoon lunch. Then we walked along the pedestrian mall for a bit and went to a music store to buy some CD's. I was surprised to discover regular CD's (not pirated ones) for so cheap! They even have imports from the states that I bought for about $5 each. Argentina is so cheap right now, still in the wake of their economic and financial crisis of 2001 when the banks froze all their accounts an dno one could get any money. My guidebook lists prices that I find are half or a third of that.
Later I went up to the bar and said my goodbyes to David, Pete and the English guys (John from France and Astrid had already gone). It turned out that David had decided not to go to San Pedro de Atacama after all. He was gong to stay in Salta for the football (soccer) game between Salta and Boca Junior, a very cool team from Buenos Aires that I like. I'd heard about the game earlier, I wish I could've gone. Then David was going to join Pete in La Paz. I thought it was a little risky to be headed straight to a place that was currently a hot spot, so to speak, but they didn't seem to care.
I took an all night bus from Salta that took about 13 hours to get to Cordoba. It was also a nice bus, and also, like a double decker bus, had two levels of seats. This was a first for me in South America. I was on the lower level and seated next to a middle aged woman and a young girl of about 7 who sat on her lap.
Several hours into the long haul we stopped at a resaurant where we had 15 minutes, hardly enough time to sit down and have something to eat (you have to figure at least an hour for a meal at a restaurant in South America, I've found). I got some take out food and went outside to where the bus was. The woman I was sitting next to approcahed me and started chatting. She asked the usual questions; where I was from, how long and to where was I traveling, if I was married, etc. She was from Salta going to visit her daughter in Cordoba who had just had a baby about a month ago. This was her first time to see her new (second) grandchild.
During the busride the young girl (her granddaughter I think) slept on her lap (and lightly snored, very cute). Most everyone else slept too and I tried to write in my journal (the roads are a lot smoother in Argentina and Chile. It was impossible to write while on the buses in Peru & Bolivia).
Every once in awhile the lady next to me would talk a little while with me, she was very nice. I don't like to talk a lot about my travels with the locals because most of them can't afford to travel and the majority never leave their own country. But this woman told me it was great what I was doing, and wanted to know about the places I'd been and plan to see.
Later, when it was early in the morning I fell asleep. I aoke when it was light out, but still early. I looked out the window a lot, looking at the brown fields and grass plains while the sun had peeked out just above the horizon. Most everyone else was still asleep, including my travel companions.
Later, as we were approaching Cordoba and most people had woken up the lady next to me again started chatting. She told me she had 5 days in Cordoba to visit her family. She could only afford one seat on the bus, which is why the little girl sat on her lap.
Just before we arrived the little girl started talking to me. Unfortunately I had a hard time understanding her, in part because she spoke quickly and in par because I didn't know all the words she said. I smiled uneasily and told her in Spanish I didn't understand. The little girl just kept repeating herself, using the same words and at the same cadence. I could tell she was getting exasperated with this stupid tourist. I told her that I only speak a little Spanish and that English is my first language. She finally gave up and I changed the subject, but at this point we arrived at the bus terminal.
When we were congregated outside waiting to get our luggage from under the bus, the woman introduced herself and gave me her daughter's phone number and told me to call her. It was a generous thing for her to do. I thanked her and said I'd call.
I took a taxi to the backpackers hostal that a fellow traveler in Salta recommended. The staff at the hostal were great. They also had a resident dog, some kind of dauchound, very cute. I got a small room with a single bed and bunk bed. No one else was currently occupying the room. I took the single bed, got settled and before falling asleep I read the Che Guevara book Mairi had lent me for about an hour...
Up to now I've been reading "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac (appropriate, huh?) I checked it out from the CEDEI library (failed to mention I'd be borrowing it for 4 months) and have to take it back when I return. Since I have to return this book to Mairi soon I decided to start reading it. Besides, Che Guevara was from Argentina, born in Rosario, near Buenos Aires, he grew up near the city of Cordoba (where I was) I thought it might be appropriate to start reading it now.
As I was falling asleep I heard voices speaking Hebrew out in the hall and could've sworn I heard Efrat or Oshra, but I knew they were going to Mendoza from Salta...I was just imagining things...
Later I woke up about 8pm and was hungry. I discovered there was a restaurant nearby in my guidebook so went there for dinner. When I entered it wasn't very full and a football match of two Argentinian teams was on TV.
When I returned to my room I found two Israeli guys had moved in. One of them introduced himself. His name was Niev. I told him I'd met an Israeli named Yaniv and he replied "Yeah, I probably know him."
