Ramblings

My first entry into Cordoba was a big bucket of fail. I had a difficult time figuring out how the bus station worked in Buenos Aires as the platforms and ticket pickups were all over the place. I had a bitch of a time falling asleep as well. When I finally did, I awoke to an empty bus, realizing that I slept past Cordoba and past my stop. Cursing madly, I got off at this ghetto stop and wasted two hours getting back.

Anyways, Cordoba is a nice city. It’s the second largest in Argentina and located in the central region. Here is a link to a wiki description of the city and here is a map for reference (should have done this earlier, oh well)-

I wanted to go rock climbing here as I read that is one of the many activities in this city. I woke up at 9 and went with a guide here (pesos$200, $50). The wall wasn’t very tall (20m). That said, there were still alot of various climbs offered.

I idiotically wore shorts instead of jeans…I chose to get my legs cut up instead of sweat profusely (moron logic)-

It was good fun all around. The last one was a 6A crack. On the way back I tried ‘maite’ (sp?), this weird tea-like drink that you scramble up/mix with hot water…wasn’t really a huge fan overall but meh, whatever.

My original plan was to move on to Mendoza. I changed it and decided to go to ‘Los Gigantes’, this area outside of Cordoba which featured many hills/small mountains/caves.

Sheep-

Many cows roamed the fields-

Here is a picture of a dead cow that has been dead for a year (more or less)-

Saw a bunch of condors flying around, huge things-

We saw our first cave here…it was extremely narrow and not very deep. We had to climb over large boulders to go up, eventually climbing up the other side.

Bird rock, can’t recall the name of it-

We got to the top of this large rock, I can’t recall its name…something ‘la cruz’ (cross). We had a great view and ate lunch up there.

We climbed down and walked along the valley. We saw a dying cow who was mooing away, unable to move. It looked like it fell from the rock 20 feet above. It was obvious that the cow could not move and probably had a broken back. It was still alive and breathing though…nothing we could do-

We entered another cave…this one was very narrow as well. The entire cave slanted downward at a weird angle-

We entered our last cave, one that was much more open/wider than the others.

Leaving tonight for Mendoza…will not put in my ear plugs and I better not sleep through my stop.