Belén, Cordoba, Rosario - Argentina

19 November - 15 December - Belén, Cordoba, Rosario, back in Buenos Aires and onwards to Ushuaia, Fireland/Tierra del Fuego

The last morning in Cafayate we went to a cybercafe first to do some work for our company BeOnTop. Afterwards we went in the direction of Bélen our destination for the day. After driving about 10 kilometers we noticed that the front of the car radio had been stolen from one of our bags. We drove back to the hostal in Cafayate and luckily the owner was able to get this part back from the cleaning lady who had stolen it out of our room.
Unfortunately after many days of beautiful car rides this time the ride was not that beautiful and on top of this the view was hindered by huge sandstorms. In some little tornado shaped storms the sight was so limited that we had to drive very very slow. Only after driving for hours in the neighbourhood of Belen, while driving through the Quebrada de Bélen the surroundings became more beautiful.


Vine yards "en route" to Belén	Tucuman	Cathedral in Cordoba

From Bélen we drove to Londres first. In Londres you can find ruins from the Inca era. The leftovers are a little better than other ruins we visited in Argentina, but again it is mainly the beautiful mountain scenery and this time also the lack of other tourists which makes the visit absolutely worthwile.

Unfortunately also the ride from Bélen via Andalgalá to Tucuman goes through less beautiful and a bit boring scenery. After passing Andalgalá we cross the Cuesta de Chilca a huge pass which brings us to Bella Vista on the foot of the Nevados de Aconquija, a mountain range of more than 5000 meter high with eternal snow. Here the scenery is getting more beautiful.
Once in Tucuman, our suspicion that Tucuman must be Quecha language for rain is confirmed. Before our 2 week car journey we had a lot of rain in Tucuman. Now it is raining continuously from the moment we arrive till the moment we are leaving. Mostly not that severe, but sometimes heavy showers which change the streets in little rivers. But luckily the temperature is still very pleasant.

The past few week of emptiness and quiteness Buenos Aires seemed light years away, but in Tucuman and later in Cordoba we come back in the life of a busy city with busy and smoothly dressed businessman who have their cellular glued to their ears and women who seems to be participating in 3 competitions a the time:

- who is the one who can send the most SMS-messages per hour
- who is the one who fits in the smallest, tiniest and lowest pair of jeans, preferly in combinations with the lowest, tiniest and highest shirt
- who is the one who can turn their cute ash in the most interesting way in that smallest, tiniest and lowest pair of jeans

The result of these competitions are, besides loads of well shaped women (and of course the aforementioned loads of way too slim women) and a huge army of very young mothers also a couple of well performing businesses:

- jeans stores and mobile phone stores
- farmacies with many weight products
- gyms
- baby stores
- and not to forget the "hoteles por hora". For the secret adventures there are many hotels that are renting rooms per hour, including all good movies & toys for raising temperatures even further.

In Tucuman and Cordoba we find ourselves suddenly in a city which is completely in Christmas atmosphere. For us this is a little unusual which such high temperatures of more than 30 degrees. After Tucuman we went by bus to Cordoba, because of it geographical position and the 7 universities both the geographical and intellectual centre of Argentina.


click on the picture for larger version	Plaza in Cordoba	Church in Cordoba

Cordoba might be just another city and for a tourists maybe not that interesting besides as a base to explore the Sierra de Cordoba and other places in the province. But for a longer stay (for instance for a study or Spanish course) it might be a very pleasant city, because of loads of students, excellent (lounge)restaurants, trendy bars and clubs give the city an very pleasant atmosphere. On Saturdays everywhere in the centre it's busy till early in the morning (on the main square there is some spontanous Tango dancing in the middle of the night), and therefore on Sunday it gets only busy at the end of the afternoon.

After having paid a visit to Jesuits crypts that have been rediscovered only in 1989 on Monday morning, we leave for Rosario, the birth place of Ernosto (Che) Guevara and our last stop before going back to Buenos Aires.

On that very moment the Dutch princess Maxima pays a visit to local entrepeneurs in the Jujuy province who receive micro credits from a development project of the World Bank. On Tuesday her visit is mentioned on the frontpage of many newspaper which has the memories of the Argentines freshed up and suddenly many Argentines show some form of recognition after you tell them you come from The Netherlands.

Some Argentines have a funny way of dividing the world: countries which are close (United States, England, France, Spain) and countries which are far away, most of the other countries outside South America, amongst which The Netherlands and Belgium. As you can see, the geographical position does not have anything to do with this concept of being close or far away.

Some more new besides Princess Maxima: reducing the inflation which is more than 10 percent per year is a hot item. The government has reached an agreement with a number of large supermarket chains about reducing the prices with 15% percent. So, apparently not only in The Netherlands large price reductions are suddenly possible. Many Argentines ask whether they have been mislead before by the supermarkets.


View from the flag monument in Rosario	Flag monument	Riverside beach in Rosario (Rio Paraña)

Tuesday December 6 we decide to relax a little on one of the riverside beaches of Rosario. Here you will find many nice terraces and sandy river beaches, which we enjoy a lot and where we have time to practice our Spanish.
In Rosario you can also find the national monument in honour of the designer of the very complicated Argentine flag (Manuel Belgrano), see upper left corner. Below a huge structure (in boat shape) of 78 meter high there is a crypt of this Belgrano. On top you have a good view over the city of Rosario and the Rio de Paraña.

Near this monument we also find yet another monument for the victims of the Falkland (Islas del Malvinas) War. Near such monuments there are also statements that the Falklands will be Argentine forever. Also on many official maps and documents it says that the Falklands are Argentine. Whether true or not, for us it is not clear why the Argentines bother so much about the islands which are said to be very very empty and boring and also pretty far from the mainland.

On December 7 we returned in Buenos Aires. The next day is another holiday, therefor it is pleasant and quite in the otherwise incredible busy streets of the microcentre. This Thursday on Plaza de Mayo it is more crowded than usual on a Thursdays, because this day the remains of one of the founders of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, being killed by the military junta some 28 years ago, are being buried near the Obelisk. Her remains were only discover and identified last summer (uh, winter in Argentina).


First house of Che Guevara in Rosario	monument op Plaza de Mayo	Square in La Boca

We spend the following days on working, Spanish lessons, tango lessons and orientating on a new camera to replace to one being stolen at the Retiro busstation at the end of September. It is very difficult to find a good one and on top of this they are more the twice as expensive as in The Netherlands because of huge import tarifes. After some serious bargaining we decide to pay to rest of the extra costs and call that extra development aid ;-).

On Sundag December 11 we went to another exciting football match, another derby: Boca Juniors against Independiente, the number 2 against number 3, the latter also being still in the race for the championship. Before the match the number 1 Gimnasia has only one point more than Boca. Gimnasia had to play against Newell's Old Boys from and in Rosario at the same time. Independiente was 4 points behind Gimnasia.
You could feel the tension in the La Bombonera stadium of Boca. Boca had to win and Gimnasia had to lose points. The fans hold their breath and the much stronger Boca, again had difficulties scoring. In the second half Boca raises the pressure on the goal of Independiente and the fans (hinchas) understand it is a matter of time before they will score, which supports a great atmosphere. The already expected goal follows fast and the crowd in Bombonera is going crazy, especially since the score at Gimnasia-Newell's is still 0-0.


Two young Boca "hinchas"	The Bombonera stadium in La Boca

Just before the end Boca scores 2-0. Then the hinchas have to wait another 5 minutes before the final 0-0 of Gimnasia's and the real party can start. The last game of Boca at Olimpo in Bahia Blanca only seems a formality, Boca can't miss the championship anymore. On Wednesday 14 Boca does what it has to do and wins 1-2 in Bahia Blanca and it's party time on Plaza de la Republica on the big Avenida 9 de Julio in Buenos Aires. Thousands and thousands of people change the Plaza in a huge blue/golden crowd and hundreds of cars drive around hunking and waving with flags. A huge party with no incidents.
We call it a day in time, because the next morning we have to get up early for our flight to Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego/Patagonia. We are planning to make a journey of 5 weeks in the South of Argentina. So first Ushuaia and then via the "surroundings" of Calafate and Bariloche back to Buenos Aires.

We wish everybody a merry merry Christmas
and a very happy, healthy and succesfull 2006!


Celebrating Boca players after beating Independiente	Palacio celebrates Bocas goal against Independiente	Juniors celebrate their championship in Bahia Blanca