After a couple of days in Santiago, our next stop was Cordoba, Argentina, followed by a few days in Salta, before the the big white continent.

Cordoba

Cordoba, is an hour flight from Santiago, Chile. It’s the second largest city in Argentina, after Buenos Aires, with a population of 1.5 million people.

Accommodation in Cordoba  – Azur Boutique Hotel

Our hotel in Cordoba, Azur, was a boutique hotel very close to the historic centre and Plaza San Martin, the heart of the city. It was small and quirky, which is what we like. However, the food was a step too far with Otter Roulade on the menu. Likewise, the breakfast and lunch food was very unusual, grazing boards, with little substance other than an array of condiments. However, despite the somewhat different food, we enjoyed our stay and the staff went above and beyond to ensure we were well cared for.

Dinner at the Azur Boutique Hotel in Cordoba.

The breakfast grazing table at the Azur Hotel.

Food in Cordoba

We had very high expectations of finding good food in Cordoba, but truthfully it was hard. However, there was no shortage of meat, all cooked on large grills. Not great for vegans, but good for the rest of us. However, as big food lovers we persevered and eventually found a great restuarant, Sibaris, in the Windsor Hotel. The food and service were both outstanding. We ate there twice and would highly recommend it.

Entrees from the Sibaris restaurant, in the Windsor hotel

Jesuit Block and Estancias in Córdoba

The Jesuits and their Estancias, (farms) are without a doubt the main attraction of Cordoba. In the Plaza San Martin, in the centre of Cordoba, was the impressive Jesuit Block. The Jesuits were an order of Roman Catholic priests that arrived in what is now Argentina, in 1585. They settled in Córdoba making it a hub for their work, namely, to educate and convert the local natives to Catholicism.

In this Jesuit Block they set up The University Cordoba, one of the oldest in South America, a secondary school, a church, and residential buildings for the Jesuits to live.

Jesuit Block in Cordoba.

To fund the university, school and the good work they were doing, they established and operated six Estancias (agricultural establishments or farms) around the province of Cordoba. They all comprised of a large plot of land for farming sheep, cattle and crops. There were also a residences and a churches.

Five of six Estancias remain, of which we visited three: Jesus Maria, Colonia Caroya and Alta Garcia. Towns grew up around these Estancias and today the Estancias Jesuiticas Trail is about 250 km long and is visited by thousands of tourists every year.

The Jesuit Block in the city of Córdoba and the five remaining Estancias in the province of Cordoba were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 2000.

Colonia Caroya

Jesus Maria

Alta Gracia

Eventually the Jesuits were seen as a threat by the monarchy and all six of the Jesuit Estancias in Cordoba were abandoned. The Jesuits were expelled from the country in the 1760’s by King Charles III of Spain. The Estancias then passed into private hands, however, this has changed. Today, all but one are owned by the state. The university and secondary school were nationalized a year later.

At Alta Gracia Estancia.

Villa Carlos Paz

We also had a day exploring Villa Carlos Paz.

It’s a resort city, west of Córdoba. We followed the provincial route E55 from the city centre, a windy route called the “Road of 100 Curves.” It borders the Suquía River and we eventually ended up at the San Roque Dam. It has an incredible spillway in the shape of a funnel, where the water is sucked in through a hole, before it’s spewed out back into the lake on the other side of the dam.

The spillway on the San Roque Dam.

Water returning to the lake.

We continued on to Villa Carlos Paz. It’s in the Punilla Valley, on the shores of San Roque Lake. In the city centre is the Reloj Cucú, a huge wooden cuckoo clock. The town is a little like New Zealand’s Lake Taupo, but on steroids given the large number of tourists.

We rode the chairlift up Cerro de la Cruz, a small peak in the town, to view the lake and city. To the southwest is Quebrada del Condorito National Park, a vast area of rocky grasslands known for its Andean condors.

View of Villa Carlos Paz from the top of the chairlift.

The house where Ernesto Guevara grew up

We visited the house where Ernesto Guevara spent his childhood, in Cordoba. He was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary and a major figure in the Cuban Revolution.

He was the eldest of five children from a genteel, middle-class family, with liberal parents, especially his mother, Celia who was a political activist.

Ernesto Guevara was a child.

As a young man he rode his motorbike across Latin America and was heavily influenced by the poverty and injustice he saw. As a result he developed a political ideology rooted in communism believing armed revolutions were the answer to overthrowing repressive regimes represented by capitalism.

The motorbike Ernesto rode accross Latin America.

Following university where he studied medicine, Ernesto became an Argentine Marxist revolutionary. He was a major figure in the Cuban Revolution serving as second in command to Fidel Castro.

He later left Cuba and headed for the African Congo, to support and train the Congo rebels. The liberation attempt failed, and Guevara soon returned to Cuba, before being advised by Castro to travel to Bolivia. He joined guerrilla rebels, but was the subject of a manhunt led by the American-trained Bolivian Rangers. He was captured and executed.

Guevara is one of the 20th century’s most controversial icons. He is romanticized as a martyr and hero by many. His face continues to appear on Cuban currency, and the famous image of Guevara wearing a beret has become an iconic symbol of rebellion. But others consider him a ruthless tyrant, guilty of human rights violations, nickname “the butcher of La Caban.”