Helado

I must say other than meat and wine Argentina is very famous for their ice cream. Here in Cordoba we eat ice cream almost every day, only excepting the days that we are sick, its too cold, or we dont have time. Here are lots of ice cream places but I think that Grido is most well known. Every time we go into a Grido they are packed and the Gridos are everywhere. Sometimes I dont think that you could throw a stone without hitting a ice cream place.
The categorys of most ice cream places are: fruit sorbets, special creams, regular creams, chocolates and dulce de lece. The chocolates are very good. My favorite chocolate is Chocolate Bariloche. Usually it has mandarin cherrys and nuts. That all depends on the makers though. Recently while we were in Cordoba workers tore down the old Bariloche and built a knew one. The new one was very nice and took a suprisingly little time to finish. We as a family went and it was superb.
Ice cream places dont only sell ice cream here. Helen and I have tried Grido Batido which is just like a milk shake. Except you dont have to have the usual chocolate, strawberry or vanilla. You can pick any cream on the board and they make it for you right there. We have also had fruit bars when we have to grab it and go. They are made by all sorts of companies. Mom and I have also tried the Grido "Chocolate Bath". That means that you pick any ice cream on the board and they dip in chocolate. Its so messy that they have to give you an extra cone to hold the messy one. I LOVE IT!!!
This blog isnt the most important thing on the planet but I think that you have to know everyones favorite flavors. Mine is Chocolate Bariloche, Helen's are Dulce de Leche and Lemon, Moms is Dulce de Leche Chip and Dads are all the chocolates. I think he has tried all of them but one. I must say I am going to miss all the ice cream when we move to Peru.

Jesuit Estancias

We rented a car today and headed North out of town to visit three Jesuit Estancias within close proximity to Cordoba - Caroya, Jesus Maria and Santa Catalina. After driving right past the touritica office in Caroya and taking a very scenic though unplanned detour we made it to our first estancia. Along with Alta Gracia, which we visited weeks ago and Candelaria, a little out of the way for our tour today, there are a total of 5 estancias in the province of Cordoba built in the 1600s to financially support the church and university in the city center. The four that we have visited are very similar and resemble convents or missions with a chapel, dormatories, and beautiful courtyards. Massively tall walls walls suround these compounds set on well maintained grounds. The estancia at Jesus Maria made wine, Caroya served as a country retreat and Santa Catalina specialized in mule raising. Santa Catalina is also the only estancia of the 5 that is privately owned, operated and enjoyed by a collection of 140 families. During the week they offer tours and on the weekends use the beautiful estate for retreats and gatherings. Set away from any town on a long dirt road, this one was definitely the largest and best maintained and our favorite.

Villa Carlos Paz

Today we went to a city called Villa Carlos Paz. We thought it would be a sunny day but it turned out cloudy. We took a one hour to the city. We got off at the bus station and started wondering around, looking for place to eat. Finally, we stopped at a place called Junior B's. While we sat there waiting for our food, Mom asked us if we wanted to go swimming or on chairs to the top of the mountain. We immediately chose the chairs to the top of the mountain because it was too cloudy and we were afraid when we got to the water it would start to rain.



We walked up the street to find the chairs. When we got there, it was still closed. It opened at 3:00 and it was only 2:42. 18 more minutes.



We waited until finally it opened but we had to wait again because there was a whole school in line and they got to go first. We climbed a set of stairs and waited in another line. There were two cushions on each chair, it was for 2 people. Meghan and I were going to ride together. We walked over to a yellow rectangle painted on the ground and the chair came around.




When it reached us, we both immediately sat. I was careful not to lose my flip-flops because we were going straight up. We got to the top and there was some sort of house. We hung out there for a little time and then went back down.



Then we decided to go to the coo-coo clock. We walked over it. It looked like a house. It had a door and three windowss. We waited and then the top window opened and a bird came out. He did not say coo-coo, it made some sort of "gwak"-ing noise and then the window shut tight. It was over.



We decided to go back to the bus station from there. We got on the next bus back to Cordoba.

Manzana Jesuitica and Other Musings

Okay, so I'm going to start with the musings... you can skip down to the photos if you'd rather.

We're unhappy here in Cordoba. Nothing I can really put my finger on. The people here are very friendly, the city itself has lots of thing to do, the food is good ... there's just something missing. This country is beautiful, but the culture is really about the same.

For example, when I went shopping for a skirt for my birthday, I walked into a store in the mall and there were probably 20 people in there. I kid you not, at least 15 of them were texting someone else. Not to mention that there's been a Christmas tree in the grocery store since the week of Halloween. sigh.

So, after meeting my parents in Mendoza (wine country) for Christmas, we'll be heading back to Peru. We're really excited about the holidays with some familiar faces and then being back on the road for a few weeks. We leave Cordoba on the 22nd.

Manzana Jesuitica

We went on a tour of the Jesuit buildings here in Cordoba today. Since we've decided to leave, we're doing the tourist things we thought we'd have time to do.

The Jesuits first settled in this area in 1599. They built the first university in Argentina (it was the 3rd or 4th in South America). They built 5 estancias (ranches) outside the city to fund the running of the school. Alta Gracia was one and we are planning on visiting more of them next week.


We got a tour of their Chapel (for the indigenous), their Church, part of the University itself and their Library. The library was my favorite (go figure). They had books that were printed on the first printing press in South America. They had maps from the early 1550's to the 1700's.

The 2 coolest things they had were:
1) a copy of the bible translated in 7 languages (none of which would I be able to read- Aramaic, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, etc) It was on books the size of an end table and the stack stood about 4 feet high. Apparently there are only a couple of these still around.
2) a set of Spanish - Guarani dictionaries. This is how they were so successful in converting the locals, they were willing to communicate with them in their own language.



The Jesuits believed that the power of God was bestowed on the people and the people gave it to the King. At that point in time, the Kings of the world believed in Royal Supremacy (that they had a direct link to the will of God). The religous beliefs that the Jesuits espoused were responsible for insiting revolution. They got the royal boot from Argentina in 1767.

Villa General Belgrano

All of us were craving to get out of the city so we took a trip to Villa General Belgrano. The town was settled by German men who were shipwrecked off the coast of Montevideo, Uruguay. They decided to not go back to Germany so they found a place two hours outside of Cordoba to build a town. I loved it there. Everything was made out of wood. Even the street names were carved very nicely into wood stuck on posts. The main street (San Martin) had lots of souvenir shops and some restaurants. We checked in at our hotel to find that we weren't actually staying at the hotel. We had a space in a little cabin a block away. It was very nice. Helen and I shared a trundle bed and mom and dad got the double. We also had our own kitchen that we didn't get to use and a bathroom. We got there, checked it out, dumped our bags then went to lunch. We ate lunch at "El Ciervo Rojo" the red deer. My old Spanish teachers mother owns the restaurant and she told my mom via email to eat there. we ate lunch which was very good. Dad had sausage with sauerkraut, Mom had pork chops with potato salad and Helen and I had hamburgers. Here a hamburguesa simple means the hamburger, tomatoes on the side, no bun, no lettuce, and no mustard or ketchup. Well now I know!!! After lunch we went to go see if the staff remembered my teacher. Yes they remembered her and I got to meet her brother. We talked for a while then left. The rest of the day we enjoyed moms birthday. That means of course ice cream. We shopped until it was really late then we went to go eat dinner around eight forty five. dad and I decided that we would split a big Picada. Picada means a little bit of everything on one big plate. We got salamis, hams, bacon, olives, cheese, bread, sauces, pickled veggies etc. Right after dinner we all went to bed because it was ten. We all agree that the third birthday was a good one!
Above is a picture of Helen and I by the deer in front of the restaurant.

A Sad and Happy Day

We said goodbye to our teachers this week. Thursday, we did a crossword puzzle. Everything on it was Spanish but I understood most of it. While I was doing it, Analy was taping and cutting pieces of paper that had a word like 'to sleep' on it and a picture of 'to eat' on it. When I finished the crossword puzzle, we played dominos with the cards. The picture and the words were totally different. Since the picters were all different we had to attach them together the first time we got it all wrong by putting one picter with the wrong word because the picters were very confusing . We played two times and both of us won one.




On Friday, Analy (my teacher) and I made a poster. I drew pictures of our family because I had no photos. So we glued my pictures to the poster. We designed the poster and I wrote in Spanish what the drawings meant. I wrote on a piece of paper what my name was and how old I was and so on. At the end, we both signed our names to the poster and taped it to the wall next to other pictures of other students.





We got medialunas after we were done. Meghan and Dad and I went to get them. We came back with 10. I was very sad to say goodbye to my teacher because I'd learned so much Spanish with her. I finally was able to tear myself away from her and Carlos he is Meghan, Mom and Dad's teacher.

House of Che

We traveled outside of Cordoba City for the day to the little town of Alta Gracia - an hour south by bus. Small buses leave the Mercado Sud (just 5 blocks from our apartment) every 10-13 minutes. We packed sandwiches and headed out around noon. The main attractions of Alta Gracia are the Jesuit Estancia there and the childhood home of Ernesto Guevara.
After getting to town and learning that the Jesuit mission didn't re-open until later in the day, we headed on foot, following our map and an occasional directional sign through a cute, older, middle class neighborhood to the Casa del Che. Other than the signage, and folks milling around the front porch and yard, the house appeared much like others on the street. Inside, the rooms were full of photos, maps and memorabilia of his facinating life. We all had english guidebooks and even the girls enjoyed walking from room to room reading about his past. His bicycle that he rode across the country was there as well as the motorcycle that he traveresed the continent on. After crossing paths with his legacy since Bovivia guidebooks, it was enjoyable to see the beginings. Che enjoyed golf, which he is credited with introducing to Cuba (although I never saw a picture of him with a 9 iron, gun, cigar and beret), and chess which he only played while drinking mate - convinced that it improved his skill (I will definitely test this theory in my next match with Helen).
From Che's house we stopped for some helado (super cucharachos) and then headed to the Estancia Jesuitica for a glimpse back to the 1800s when this town was centered around this church. Today it remains the only functioning church of the once many estancias in the region. The well preserved buildings and courtyards attached to the church have been converted into a museum full of period furniture, paintings, clothing, tools etc.
After poking around for a short while, we caught our return bus and headed back to the big city.