Rule #5: Don't Burn Down Any Places of Historical Significance...

We had a busy weekend on our first school-planned excursion to the province of Córdoba! Friday night we were supposed to go out with Terry so we would have something to do while waiting for our bus at 3 am. We hit the town HARD - aka we all fell asleep in Karie and Terry's living room while watching Evita (a musical with Madonna and Antonio Banderas as a creepy waiter). It wasn't very good sleep since we were curled into armchairs, but it was probably better than trying to go out before our excursion. Around 2:30 am we woke up and started our trek across town to the gas station, where we met up with the students from the Language and Justice program and our guides for the weekend, Karina and Fernanda. At 3 am we all boarded the bus, which we assumed would have nice seats like the bus we took to Iguazú - no such luck. The seats were very close together, and you couldn't lay your seat back without ending up in the lap of the person behind you. Needless to say, the sleep Beba promised us didn't happen.

Around 9 am, we arrived in Villa Carlos Paz, a town in Córdoba. We ate breakfast of pasteries and café con leche, which made me slightly happier because bread is my favorite and there was chocolate on this bread and it was so good. After breakfast we had our tour of Villa Carlos Paz, which we assumed would be a walking tour like every other tour we've been on. No such luck - we were back on the crowded bus with our tour guide Mariana to tackle the 100 curves and sierras chicas (small hills) of Villa Carlos Paz. Carlos Paz is one of the most important touristic cities in Argentina because of the lake and its mild temperatures that create the ideal climate for people with health issues. We drove down by the lake and got off the bus to to look at a dam that provides most of the electricity and energy for the city. Then we were back onto the bus to drive around more, and I ended up falling asleep because I was really tired and there was a good length of time when Mariana wasn't guiding us at all. Needless to say, at this point I wasn't too thrilled by our excursion to Córdoba. We were jolted awake when Mariana told us we were entering downtown Carlos Paz, where the world's largest cuckoo clock is located. We made it to the clock right before 12, and we were ushered off the bus and ran down the street to watch the cuckoo make its appearance at the top of the hour. Unfortunately, the cuckoo was stolen last week (I remember seeing this on the news) and had just been returned, so it wasn't functioning as it should be. The whole thing was slightly anticlimactic.

On the corner by the cuckoo clock was a chocolate shop called La Quinta. They gave us a sample of alfajores, which are these delicious candies with dulce de leche in the middle, and watched them make candy in the back of the store. Then we were back on the bus, headed for lunch. We drove through what looked like a neighborhood where we stopped at what looked like a cross between a dude ranch and Bethlehem Farm. It ended up being a restaurant called Shangri-La, which had a gaucho themed interior and we got to eat carne asada - BBQ! The meat was good but very fatty, and we had oranges for dessert. I never thought I'd see the day when I looked forward to having fruit for dessert, but this fruit was long overdue and was very tasty.

My archery-pirate getup

After lunch at Shangri-La, we were off to Complejo Aerosilla, which was a park for archery and zip-lining! We had to take a chair lift to the top of the mountain to reach the park, which was really neat (I've never been on a chair lift that shows views of a city below). At the top, we were divided into two groups, and my group was off to archery first. At this point, I wasn't sure how things were going to go. I told my friends stories about how the last time I tried archery at Conner Prairie day camp, all my arrows ended on the ground about 5 feet in front of me, and I wasn't sure that I could do much better this time. After watching the group in front of me practice and seeing how their arrows actually made it to the targets by the end, I figured I could do it as well. What I didn't expect was that I would have to become a pirate in order to practice archery. If you know me at all, you probably know that I can't wink, and I look like an idiot when I try. In order to shoot a bow and arrow, you have to close one eye in order to shoot at the target. Since I couldn't wink, they gave me an eye patch to wear to keep my eye closed, which was super embarrassing. Even with the eye patch, I didn't manage to shoot my target once. I was, however, quite successful at hitting Mary's target in the lane next to me. At the end, they gave us our target sheets with our scores on it. I don't know how I managed to score a 9 - I'm pretty sure they were pity points. I threw my target sheet away so no one else would feel inferior by my awesome score. Needless to say, my dream of becoming Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games was officially crushed.

After archery, my group headed off to the zip-line! It was pretty fun to fly between the two mountains, and it was especially cool to see the other people who were really afraid of heights give the zip-line a go. I didn't actually make it all the way to either side: I slowed down too much (I'm still not sure how) and on the way in, had to have the guy working slide out to catch me. On the way back, I got close enough that the man let me pull myself in hand over hand, and the people who were watching said I did it like a pro :) When we finished zip-lining, we took the chair lift back down the mountain to hike el Cerro de la Cruz. What this path ended up being was a 30 minute hike up one of the mountains following the Stations of the Cross. I didn't realize that the walk was of the Stations until we started, and it ended up being a great reflection as I walked up and down the mountain. The path was all rocks and was probably one of the most realistic depictions of the Stations I've ever seen. It was an unexpected place to find God on this trip, but it was definitely appreciated and worth the trek up and down the mountain to the cross at the top.

Villa Carlos Paz from the chair lift

When we all arrived safely back at the bottom of the mountain, we checked into the hotel and freshened up for dinner. We ate dinner in the hotel's restaurant, where I was so tired that I just kept talking and talking (Mary told me I was being as open and honest as a drunk person) and I felt like a small child when Mary sent me to bed after dinner. Some of the other students wanted to hang out, but I was so tired that I fell into bed and slept very well after hardly sleeping Friday night. Sunday morning we checked out of the hotel and ate breakfast, then boarded the bus for Alta Gracia, another town in Córdoba. This town is significant because it's the town where Che Guevara moved to when he was young. We toured Estancia Jesuítica, which was a Jesuit monastery when the Jesuits originally tried to evangelize Córdoba. It was neat, but parts of the place looked like it was part of a house and I was confused because our guide could only speak Spanish and didn't take us to each room to explain what everything was. When everyone finished touring the Estancia Jesuítica, we were off to Che's childhood home. It was really cool to see the house, and a lot of the things in the house had to do with the things we saw in Diarios de Motocicleta. Seeing the things that came out of Che's involvement in the Cuban Revolution made me want to learn more about Che's involvement because the brief history we heard didn't tell me a lot since I don't know much about the Cuban Revolution. While we were touring Che's house it started hailing, and Karina and Fernanda told us that they never see hail here so everyone was getting really excited. Then we went to eat at this pizza place that kept bringing us pizzas even though we were all so full, and then we were off to our final destination of the day: the house of Manuel de Falla, a composer from Spain that died in Argentina. Basically this house was like a shrine to the man because it wasn't a house that he had built or anything - it was a house that he rented in Córdoba to help improve his health and ability to write music. One of the first things that happened when we walked in the house was that a burning log from the fireplace suddenly fell onto the floor! It was totally scary because some students were standing right in front of the fire trying to keep warm and the log fell out behind them, but the caretakers of the museum acted like it was no big deal and just threw the burning log back into the fire. We quickly left Manuel de Falla's house and were back on the road to Rosario, where I had a good conversation with Emily about the need for education and what patriotism means and explained to Emily, Annie, and Melissa what being a member of Kappa Delta is like (since they have no Greek life at Western, my experience was the only reference they had to base their knowledge of Greek life on besides what they've seen in movies, which we all know is exaggerated). Then at one point the bus pulled over to the side of the highway and jumped outside to check something, then came back in and revved the engine, then left again. We were all worried about was going on, and some students started asking who we would eat first if we were stuck on the side of the road forever. Fortunately we were able to take off and made it back to Rosario only stopping one more time, but the bus was definitely on the struggle bus.

ESOL A at the childhood home of Che

Although I was initially not thrilled by our trip to Córdoba, we ended up having a fun weekend full of meeting new friends from the Language and Justice program, unexpected Godly references, breathing in mountain air, and not sleeping. I'm still tired going into this week, which is not good since this is our last week of classes for ESOL A and I have a lot of projects to finish in a very short amount of time. I can't believe that we're almost halfway through this program, and I'm so glad that I decided to come for the full 6 week program. I can't imagine going home yet - there are so many things I still want to do here!