“So, did you understand it?”
“Un poco.”
When we first agreed to go see our hostel owner’s performance in Cordoba, we were assured that Spanish comprehension was not integral to understanding the essence of the show. She explained she’d be singing Tango throughout a theater adaptation of a story by a famous Argentine author. After an extremely confusing two hours, we speculated on the walk home about what we had just seen.
Marea suggested that the primary conflict was that a big, black, half-human half-bird was haunting and strangling people in their beds with what appeared to be an oversized sweater.
I suggested the whole show was a discussion about the birth and loss of a baby, as illustrated by the human/bird during his interpretive, birthing sweater dance.
When a Spanish-speaking audience member from our hostel said she was moved to tears by the performance, we decided we should maybe do some independent research before attempting discussion with others.
Long story, short– “House Taken Over” is about a recluse brother and sister living in an ancestoral mansion and slowly being driven to smaller sections of the house by ghosts until they are finally left on the streets. The end. Surprisingly, there was no bird/human and no sweater.
So, we might have been a bit off and as confused by the Google description as the show itself, but we could all agree our host’s tango singing was amazing and it all made for quite an entertaining evening.
Besides impromptu theater shows, Cordoba itself was lovely. We decided to visit Cordoba as a detour on our way to Buenos Aires where we’d meet my brother and his girlfriend. It’s the Cultural Capitol of the Americas with a lot of Jesuit influenced architecture. It’s also a city known for its nightlife. Since we visited during the weekend, we got to see 20-somethings wandering the streets dressed for the discotheque during our 7am walk to the bus for our day-trip.
We realized at this moment that although we were enjoying the itinerary we’d planned for our short stay, we are no longer 20-somethings. We reminisced about our good ol’ college days, applauded their endurance, and were in awe that none of them even seemed drunk. Is it possible that they could enjoy blaring techno music and a long night of dancing without alcohol?!?!?!
Our sober day-trip took us to the little town of Villa General Belgrano. Due to the high number of German immigrants in the area their yearly Oktoberfest is 2nd only to Germany’s. Unfortunately for us, it was the wrong time of year for the festival and without much else to do there, we scooted ahead to the next villa of La Cumbrecita for some hiking and beer.
La Cumbrecita was also founded by a German family who decided to pay homage to their hometown by making an exact replica of it in Argentina. The tiny villa felt like a Disney village with its cartoon-esque details paired with wooden tourist signs pointing us in the right direction. We strolled along the river bank, hiked to a waterfall, and ate lunch by the lake (aka pond). Before catching the bus back, we found some artisanal german beer and alfajores to enjoy.
We stopped again in Belgrano on the way home hoping to eat some brats with sauerkraut and more artisanal beer but were disappointed when we found 3 open restaurants that only served ham and cheese (a staple in Argentina) despite the servers wearing costume-like lederhosen. So, ham and cheese it was.
Over the weekend in Cordoba, we had missed out on the opportunity to see the cultural museums and galleries the city is best known for as they are open weekdays and sadly, it turned out these places enjoyed a 3 day weekend with Mondays off as well. So, we spent our time leisurely walking the streets enjoying the architecture, churches, Plaza San Martin, an underground crypt, the country’s largest artisanal market, and devouring a well-timed choripan (chorizo sausage in a bun with delicious toppings) in the unique Bicentennial Park. As the home to 7 universities, I of course, put on my admissions hat and insisted we wander one of the campuses as well.
Secretly, we were thankful the museums and galleries were closed so we had an excuse to take life a little slower. In anticipation of our upcoming trip to the famed city of nightlife, Buenos Aires, we needed to save up a bit of our long-lost 20-something energy for our last visitors of the trip. Buenos Aires… here we come!!
The Traveling Blues 