Rendezvous with Jim and LB

Wild Stallions in Cordoba

Sarah and I arrive in Cordoba on 04 December 2009 after a fairly painless two-bus trip. We arrive in the AM and the hostel dude is nice enough to let us in early to our room. This is a big relief as we are really keen for a hot shower and some quiet time, away from the hustle of travelling and negotiating a new city. The morning is spent relaxing before heading out onto the street. The people of Cordoba are very friendly and patient to us and I would have to say that if anyone wanted a big city to stay in to learn Spanish this would be the one.

In the evening Jim and LB arrive and we head out to have Middle Eastern for dinner. There is a wait for the table so we go next door to a bar for beer. On the walls there are paintings of horses – some as portraits and some as stallions raging through a river – which are, unintentionally, homoerotic and completely awesome.

The following day is a busy one where we hit a couple of museums. The first one is a natural science one which I cannot recall the name of for the life of me. This place was pretty fun and was the first place that made me realize how important anthropology and palaeontology are to South America, as a generalisation.

The second museum we went to was Palacio Ferreyra. This was a solidly compiled selection of Argentinean art that spanned the last 100 years, give or take. It was really nice to be back in a gallery looking at painting with no rush to be somewhere else. My find of the trip was an artist called Francisco Fader, but now I Google him I see that no such person exists. Something for me to get the bottom of later, I guess…

During the day we also went for coffee and decided to sit inside which is a fairly uncommon choice for us. While we were sipping away a massive squall came though in the street adjacent to us sending leaves and rubbish up in the air and pushing the smaller trees to a 45 degree angle. It was really remarkable and seemed to come from nowhere. It is things like this that make you realize that the conditions work in a very different way when you are on a continent as big as SA.

In the evening we teach LB and Jim the dice game and have a few beverages. Jim wins well. Later we head to town to see some very mediocre jazz (there is a jazz festival on in the city) which is played out the front of a mall. The mall is new but uses an old colonial for its façade, basically an abomination. The coolest part of this scene is seeing the young Latin American Goths hanging out the front of the mall. The full spectrum is represented here, from the obese guy with a trench coat all the way through to the newly beginner Goth who is now wearing all black but is making the pleasing gaffe of wearing a t-shirt with a “Rip Curl” on it. Rad.

Mina Clavero

The umpteenth bus trip and we are now in Mina Clavero. The journey is very unique this time and there are moments when I get glimpses of what Scotland might be like.

When we arrive Jim and I sit in a bus bar which is humble but clean and austere. The lady who serves us is curt but efficient, the locals at the front talk loudly but do not jeer us. We drink beer and play coin rugby, I cannot even recall who won this epic battle but it should be recorded. For now I will say it was me as I do not have any lingering pangs of loss. We drink beer while LB and Sarah go and find a beautiful place to stay. Jim and I joke about how we would never do such a thing (i.e. we would not investigate, just take the first place we found) but then concede that they will probably come back with a great find. Our better judgement serves us right and the girls land us a place that is more or less a cabana with a kitchenette, grassed and garden courtyard, TV and pool; all this for the price of what it would be to stay at a hostel. The place called Los Angeles.

The Week

The week is spent playing dice game in the evenings and doing mini trips in during day. Jim seems to win every other game of dice, and we play a lot. I complete 100 Years of Solitude and begin reading When Gravity Fails. This is a book that I have been obsessed about reading for over a decade. Many moons ago I played a game called Mines of Titan obsessively. The same maker also made another game called Circuits Edge which was developed from When Gravity Fails. Based on the cover of that game alone I have always longed to read it. Childhood dream #34 fulfilled.


The rest of this week is spent attempting to see condors, visiting a massive collection of curiosities, Museo of Rocsen, created by a man you are never told enough about, somehow watching 27 Wedding Dresses for the second time while in SA, drinking Quilmes and going swimming.




Journey to Quebrada del Condorito


One of the attractions in Mina Clavero is the condors. The day we go it is overcast but we do not think anything of it. It has been hot for the last four weeks so I do not think anything of wearing anything other than a t-shirt. When we arrive at the park we are literally in cloud and the visibility is very poor (10-20 meters at a guess). Nonetheless we have a great day looking at birds that are not condors and getting out in nature for a change. The cloud never cleared while we were out here and we never saw a condor. Something to come back for perhaps.


During our trip we come to a sign that instructs us to keep to the track and not to mess with the surrounding habititat to avoid being mauled by a puma or bitten by a snake. It is refreshing to be in a place where there are animals other than birds (as in NZ) about the place. We do not encounter any puma or snake while on our hike.


Swimming


The stand out activity for the week is swimming. At the cabana it was nice to swim in the pool, playing puerile diving games with Jim, but it was the river that ran through Mina Clavero that really made the place. I lack the vocabulary to describe the amazing rock formations that have led to the formation of this river but I can tell you that this is the place that you dream of hanging out in when you are a kid. On our first day we made a new freind: a dog we named Spike. Whether he was stray or not we could never figure out (likely), he did not have tags on him, but he had a great nature. While we were walking along the rocks looking for an appropriate place to swim Spike wandered into some bushes which LB also approached. Therein he located a snake. Spike was our protector from then on. Sarah did not enjoy this encounter and was not happy about walking past or through bushes thereafter. We saw no more snakes that week.

We returned to the river again later in the week. The first trip we made was nice but we kept it conservative in terms of our exploration. Now back again Jim and I were keen to step it up (James had actually been back subsequently and found a spot were the local youths hung out and he recommended it highly). This afternoon turns out to be a crazy one, firstly because Spike turns up out of the blue and secondly because there is a small rapid next to the pool that James brings us too.


Once we arrive we cautiously look around the pool and wonder how to get to the far side in order to jump off the choice-looking rocks. Spike, possibly bored, decides he should check it out first and jumps into the water right next to the rapid. As he does he starts to get sucked-in by the pull of the water and we see his four legs working like mad to get back up stream. I start to get my stuff off to assist our friend but before anyone knows it Jim is in the water trying to rescue him fully clothed towel and all. A few seconds after entering the water Jim has a reflection on the decision and says "what am I even doing out here?" A brief moment later the two are washed down the rapid. We all have a mini-panic and I get front row seat to the sight of Jim with his arms wrapped around Spike looking stoic, though alarmed, going backwards down the rapid. It is all over very quickly and both are OK though there is some mild shock and Spike is afraid to go back in the water thereafter.

The flipside to this mini-catastrophe is that I have observed the strength of the flow of water. I end up travelling back floating down the river head first (doggy-paddle); scampering over rocks to avoid the dangerous parts. I have a boyish grin on my face the whole way. It is just me, my togs, the amazing rock formations and the river.

This all happens on our last full day together. In the evening we drink Quilmes, talk cheesy and big as we have a tendency to do and play the dice game which Jim monotonously wins again.