Day 43: Arica, Chile

Arica is a border city near Bolivia and Peru. It does have a little bit of the sketchiness you would associate with a border city, but overall its very nice and has a flourishing non-border scene. It lacks the major tourist attractions and therefore was a nice place to get away from the super saturated tourism of San Pedro. I saw a particularly entertaining hand puppet act for children on the main pedestrian street which had everyone, adults and children, in stitches. I was there on a Saturday, and the scene at night was rowdy and rambunctious. There were lots of places to go and I got a couple of drinks near my hotel but didn't stray too far because it was clearly not the safest place to be drunk and because I had a long journey to Peru the next day.

This church was designed by the same Eiffel who designed the tower.

I had originally been planning to go to Bolivia for a 4-7 days, but when I learned they charge all Americans (and only Americans) $130+ to enter I decided I would rather spend that money in Peru. It just didn't seem right to spend that kind of money just to cross the border into a country I was planning on spending less than a week in. Fortunately, this turn of events led me to the great Machu Picchu.

Cordoba, Argentina

Cordoba, Argentina's second largest city, is great. A college town simmering with energy and culture, the pace is hectic and the city is full of surprises. With the great metropolitan and cultural climate also comes one of those environmental climates which causes your eyes and nose to burn. The city is primarily on a grid setup, with a few cross-cutting streets, and a huge area in the center composed purely of pedestrian walkways and streets. I was chatting with my seat neighbor Lucas on the bus, shortly after we arrived his brother's girlfriend made us a delicious chicken and pasta dinner:

At night I went to a local bar which had some folkloric bands playing, I saw three bands. The crowd was relatively sparse at the beginning of the evening, but in Argentina it is most common for the big crowds to arrive at bars etc. around 2am, and by that time the place was packed. The headlining band was composed solely of a guitar/singer frontman, a classicly scraggly drummer hitting a freestanding bass drum with mallets, and a singing midget who switched between playing the mandolin, flute, and pan flute. The music was very good, and local Cordobans were dancing folkloric dances in front of the stage. Appearing to be a combination of indigenous tradition with heavy Spanish influence, it was amazing how they all knew how to do these fairly complicated dances, often appearing similar to a flamenco, with arms raised above the head and intricate stomping moves. Sometimes they would include "props" like scarves in their dances. Some of the dancers were very good, and I felt as if they were putting on a touristy show for the benefit of tourists, to showcase their culture. The thing is, I was blatantly the only foreigner present in the establishment, and they were not putting on a show for anyone apart from themselves. It was one of those cultural things which we lack in America, where everyone knows this cultural tradition which is hundreds of years old and shares it together in a celebratory manner. It is obvious that the youth is not leaving this cultural tradition behind. 

Pictures of Cordoba:

Argentinian fast food in a mall. Looks pretty fancy to me!

They have these!

Museum honoring organized workers and labor unions:

Museum of Fine Art: