Thursday, Oct. 9, 2003 - 8:07 p.m.
Sightseeing and a Movie
I forgot to mention that the previous night while I was resting in bed with the lights off someone suddenly opened the door, speaking Hebrew, obviously looking for someone. I sat up in bed and the girl spoke my name in surprise. It was Efrat! I found out she was here in Cordoba with Oshra and Inbar. They had changed their travel plans to go to Cordoba instead of Mendoza. Niev, the Israeli had been in my room, but moved out the next morning to another room downstairs, to be with the other Israelis.
I decided to do some sightseeing today. But first I needed to get some food so I got some take out and went to the nearby Plaza de la Intendencia and ate it there. It was a nice day, the sun was out and people were hanging out, some were walking their dogs, something I never saw in Bolivia and only a few times in Peru.
Afterwards I walked to the nearby main Plaza, Plaza San Martin that also has the Iglesia Cathedral with a "Romanesque dome" that began construction in 1577. There were a lot of people milling about with little kids chasing pidgeons around the fountain. I noticed lots of people sitting on the church steps and that the iglesia was closed. I thought that was a shame, because I would've liked to have seen the inside.
From there I visited the Museo Historico Marques de Sobrmarte which is a mansion, one of the city's oldest houses (1752). I only had an hour before they closed, which was just barely enough time to see it. At one time a very wealthy family lived there and there were some collections of different relics from long ago eras. There was a chapel with a pipe organ disguides as a piece of furniture that I think was built in the lat 1800's. There were some nice courtyards, a kitchen and servants quarters and upstairs had a few bedrooms, each with exquisite antiques. One room had lovely things of silver, that had been mined in Potosi, Bolivia.
After that I wandered around downtown, and felt like I could've been in North America or Europe, not South America. Except that the signs were all in Spanish.
On my walk back I passed by the main Plaza and found the main cathedral was open. So I went inside and noticed a fair number of others inside, some praying to side altars or sitting in the pews. I walked around a little bit, it was a typical Roman Catholic church with lots of saintly figures and paintings of religous art. It also had some colorful stain glass windows (nothing like in Europe, but hey, I'm not complaining).
Then I walked to the nearby Iglesia de la Compania. That was also beautiful inside and then I checked out a few adjacent buildings that belong to the University of Cordoba (1613). A lot of university students were walking around at this time, classes must've been just starting or finishing or both.
On my meanderings back towards the hostal I came across a cinema, so I thought I'd see what was playing. Maybe I'd go to a movie the next day. The cinema turned out to be in the middle of a modern 3 level shopping mall. Now I really felt like I was back in the states! I didn't really like it very much.
I went to the cinema and didn't recognize any of the movies. I saw a movie poster for "Valentin", an Argentinian film that looked really good and has been nominated for an Oscar. I noticed the next showing was starting now. I debated...I'd planned to call the Argentinian lady from the bus from yesterday. But I decided to call her afterwards and on a whim, went to see the movie. It was in Spanish, of course, but I figured I'd (hopefully) catch the key words and that I could figure out what was going on from the context.
Immediately I realized that the people were speaking to quickly for me to catch most of the words (much less understand a lot of them) but it started out introducing a little boy named Valentin, who's 8 years old and lives with his grandmother in Buenos Aires. I wasn't sure where his parents were but it appeared that they had abandoned him. Well, the movie is a drama and the actors, especially the little boy, are very good. I looked on the internet later and learned that it is or will be released in the states. I really want to see this movie again (with English subtitles). Even though there was a lot I didn't understand & moments in the theater when everyone was chuckling except me, I still enjoyed the movie and I would recommend you check it out yourself.
After the movie I found a pay phone and tried to call the Argentinian lady, but the line was busy so I decided to try again later.
I ran into Oshra, Inbar and Efrat on the street before our hostal and walked back with them. They told me they were going to go to Buenos Aires that evening. I told them I planned to go to Mendoza the next evening.
When I returned to my room at the hostal I met an Italian couple that was also going to go to Mendoza Saturday eve. I thought perhaps I would be taking the same bus as them.
Before I fell asleep I realized I'd forgotten to call the Argentinian woman. I decided tomorrow I would first buy my bus ticket and then I'd call. I felt a little strange calling her, she hadn't said specifically why she wanted me to call her, but I figured if she didn't want me to call her, she wouldn't have given me her number.
