Kerry from Derry

So second year running I got to have a hot Christmas, although this year thankfully there were no broken bones involved - only lots and lots of mozzie bites and humidity that could knock you flat on your back. The temperature averaged around 40 most days so we were extremely grateful that we had a small swimming pool in the courtyard to cool off in when the need arose.

Cordoba is Argentina´s second city and is home to just over a million people although the population increases in term time as there are thousands upon thousands of students here, hence its reputation as a party city (not bad for shopping either). The city is quite pretty particularly around the main square but then that is true of most cities I´ve been to in South America - that would be the Spanish influence then!

It is also close to Alta Gracia - a smallish town about a 45min bus ride away and home to the house where Che Guevara grew up - now of course a museum. Did you know Che was Argentinian? Well now you do! Pretty interesting little place and it also has the famous motorbike so of course had to take the obligatory photo with the legend that is La Poderosa II ("The Mighty One"). Hopefully I´ll get around to posting it before I manage to wipe it of the memory card this time - sometimes I am so computer illiterate I surprise myself! Alta Gracia also has an old very well preserved Jesuit monastery dating back to the 1600´s but bloody expensive to go in and have a look. I´m still of the mindset that you should not be charged to go in to places of religious backgrounds - surely thats against the point of being inclusive to all??

Anyway Christmas....what was that like? Well i can only say different and (queue dramatic sad music here) no presents! Christmas Eve is more the thing here so we had a huge barbecue with so much meat I surprised I didn´t turn into a steak myself and a hideously equal amount of red wine so not too bad at all! At midnight there were fireworks set off all across the city which continued for approx 2 hours and this was then followed by nature´s own fireworks - yep, yet again thunder and lightening and an enormous amount of rain but at least that cooled things down a bit.....for ooh maybe 2 hours or so before the humidity kicked in again. Chistmas dinner sadly was not a curry as the guy who was going to cook it decided him and the wife would go off into the mountains instead - how inconsiderate! So back to the old favourite....pasta and tuna with a bit of salsa thrown in for good measure. Christmas Day involved go for a little wander and then back to the hostel to play cards while cooling off in the pool - the evening was the old staple of settling down on the sofa to watch some truly terrible christmas films - ahhhh normalcy! Boxing Day was a wander through the streets as well as the rather onerous task of tying to find a cheap bus ticket to Chile (another 20hr journey) but I persevered and got a good enough deal - left on the 27th on my way to Santiago for New Years, more about that later!