Second time around in Cordoba

Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral, Cordoba

In Cordoba, we didn't need to tick off every site, as we'd been here before, but now, with a bit more time on our hands, we did take a tour of the Jesuit Manzana.

If you know a bit of Spanish, you may know that manzana means apple, which may be causing you some confusion, as it did us when we first saw the word in this context. No apples were involved; in this instance, manzana means block.

Cordoba University

The tour is run by the university, which now occupies most of the former site. The world of education is important here in Cordoba, where the city is nicknamed La Docta, or the learned one.

Its dominance owes much to the Jesuits, who built up a university for those studying to become part of the order. Whilst the focus was then of course on theology, they did allow some additional study areas, and over time, both the content and the type of students were broadened.

Cordoba University

The tour took us to the library, which houses a number of old and rare books, including a bible from 1645 that's written in seven different languages.

Cordoba University

It also took us into the room where students would have had to read out, and be questioned on, their final dissertations. The process for any single student could take a couple of days, and they spent that time sat in a lone chair, with rows of examiners on one side, and other students on the other.

Cordoba University

It was in this room that students barricaded themselves in 1918 as part of their attempts to gain reforms of the university. Up until this time, the universities in Argentina, and here in particular, were very much controlled by catholic and conservative regimes. This included decisions about the appointment of the heads and lecturers, which was a source of much discontent.


The students rose up against this regime, and won reforms that allowed the university to become more autonomous, and established student participation in its leadership. These reforms gradually spread across other universities in Argentina.

Church of the Society of Jesus

After the university buildings, the tour took us to the Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesus, or the Church of The Society of Jesus.

The church, one of the oldest of those in the city in terms of when it was completed, was built between 1640 and 1668. It originally had two side chapels, the southerly one being for the white Spanish, and the northerly being for the black indigenous population and black African slaves.

Church of the Society of Jesus

On a side note here, based on the current population, you could be forgiven for having no idea that black Africans were ever in Argentina, but in fact they were used as slaves here, just as in other South American countries and the USA. In Brazil, the black African heritage and culture is still evident, but here in Argentina, that is not the case, and it has all but disappeared.

Slavery was officially abolished in 1813, but continued anyway for around forty more years.

Church of the Society of Jesus

After that, it seems that the black African population was not really wanted and a couple of factors combined to largely wipe them out. Firstly, black Africans were major casualties of local wars, in particular the 1865-70 war with Paraguay. Then in 1871, there was a major outbreak of yellow fever in Buenos Aires.

The incidence of deaths of black Africans may have been a simple matter of coincidence, but there are also some who believe that Sarmiento, President at that time, may have orchestrated them into the military and areas where disease was prominent, to help reduce numbers. It is unclear whether there is any real evidence to support such allegations. Sarmiento appears generally to have been a more progressive President, but not a very popular one, so it could be true, or it could just be the rumblings originating from those who were unhappy with him.

Church of the Society of Jesus, side chapel

In any case, numbers of black African men in particular were decimated, leading to women marrying white men, and the gradual dilution of the genes. These day, it seems that there remains a culture of whiteness in Argentina, so even if you have black African heritage in you, it is unlikely that you would celebrate it.

After that not so cheery interlude, let's get back to the church. The outside if the church is simple and even quite austere. Some experts believe that the outside was never properly finished, and there would have been plans to add decorative features. There is also much debate as to the reason for the holes in the walls. There is some suggestion that they could be putlog holes, to house a wooden spur that held scaffolding or a walkway in place, but it seems to be to low down to be just that. So answers on a postcard please...

Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral, Cordoba

The roof of the church is unusual, because the builder had made boats, so his solution for a roof that needed to cover a large expanse was basically the upturned keel of a boat.

Aside from Jesuit manzana, we also took another look inside the Cathedral, and generally wandered around looking at old part of the city, but Nic's sprained ankle meant that we didn't get too far afield in our walkabouts.

Cappuchin Church of the Sacred Heart, Cordoba

We made it back to the Cappuchin Church of the Sacred Heart, which must have been cleaned since we were last here, as the multi coloured outside seemed rather more vibrant.


Disappointingly though, there was scaffolding on the front. I know that it is totally unreasonable of me, because works on places are necessary, but it is annoying when you go to a lovely building and it's covered in tarpaulins.

Archivo Provincial de la Memoria, Cordoba

We did make sure to get into the Archivo Provincial de la Memoria, which is all about the plight of people during the 'Dirty War' that ran from the early 1970s up to 1983.


The military junta that was in control at that time arrested, imprisoned, tortured and often killed, those who opposed their regime.

Archivo Provincial de la Memoria, Cordoba

There are some 30,000 'Disappeared', who are believed to have been murdered, but in many cases, their fate and whereabouts is unknown.

Some of you may recall that last time we were in Argentina, I wrote about the 'Madres' of the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, which is the group of mothers that walks in protest every week to try to find out the fate of their loved ones.

Archivo Provincial de la Memoria, Cordoba

But it isn't just about the young men and women who disappeared. Some of those people had young children, who were taken away and given to couples who supported the regime.

Some of those children have since been identified and reunited with their biological families, but many remain lost and unaware of their true identities.

Archivo Provincial de la Memoria, Cordoba

This place, which was a secret detention centre, where some 3000 of those arrested would have been brought and tortured, is now a archive for records and testimonies, and used as an educational tool.

There were a couple of school trips making their way around when we were there, which is good to see, as I believe it is really important that we understand the bad bits of our past as well as the good stuff; sadly, that is something that we in the UK seem to have failed at.

Archivo Provincial de la Memoria, Cordoba

This is clearly a good place for educational purposes, but for ourselves, we didn't find the archive very useful. The information was limited, and it didn't really tell us much that was new.

That said, I think it is still an interesting place to come, as if nothing else, it helps you to envisage the terrible things that happened here, and the raw emotions in some of the displays are evident even if you don't understand everything.

Cappuchin Church of the Sacred Heart, Cordoba (with Creambury café)

On a happier note, as we were in Cordoba over my birthday, and we enjoyed a wander through the artisan markets and shops in Guemes.

We also allowed ourselves a bit of a break in the eating plans, and we found a few great places to partake of tasty things. Our favourite restaurants were, unusually for us, both in hotels.

Cappuchin Church of the Sacred Heart, Cordoba

One was Republica, which was in our own hotel, and the other was Sibaris in the Hotel Windsor. We also enjoyed excellent medialunas (sweet croissant) in Medialunas Calentitas, and some very tasty chocolate, dulce de leche and meringue cake in Creambury café. We even treated ourselves to a couple of cocktails in two bars, Don't Worry Guemes, and MILK. Well, you can't be good ALL of the time!

Church and Convent of Santa Catalina, Cordoba

Plaza San Martin, Cordoba

Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral, Cordoba

 

Jesuit crypts, Cordoba

 

Archivo Provincial de la Memoria, Cordoba

Archivo Provincial de la Memoria, Cordoba

 

Church of Saint Teresa and San Jose Convent, Cordoba

Cordoba University

Cordoba University

Cordoba's Jesuits

Cordoba is now the second city of Argentina, but during the period from 1604 to 1767, its primary importance was as the administrative centre of the Jesuits in this region. Now I have to admit, whilst I have of course heard of them, I actually knew very little about the Jesuits, so before I get into talking about what we did here, I figured I'd drop in a quick background post about who they are and what they were doing here.

The Society of Jesus was formed in 1539, by the man who would become its first Superior General, Ignatius Loyola, and was given Papal approval the following year.

Loyola was a Spanish Knight, who was injured whilst defending Pamplona against the French. He was hit in the legs by a cannonball on 20 May 1521, and complications in his treatment brought him close to death and led to a lengthy period of recovery. It is said that the only books available for him to read during this time, were about Jesus Christ and the Saints, and it was this that caused him to change the course of his life to religion.

A pilgrimage to Monserrat in Spain was followed by a year spent as a beggar and in prayer, during which time he wrote down a book of 'Spiritual Exercises'. He made a further pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he wanted to stay, but was not permitted to do so. Instead, he returned to Spain, and began a long period of study.

He soon developed a band of followers, but his teachings caused concerns, and having twice been arrested, tried and acquitted of heresy, he moved to France. After getting himself into similar trouble there, he refrained from further teachings until after he was ordained in 1537, not saying his first Mass until Christmas Day in 1538.

The following year, he and his band of disciples created a formal union of the Society of Jesus, with him as its leader, and it was given approval by Pope Paul III in 1540. The Order took a slightly more modern approach to the church in some aspects, but requires vows of chastity, poverty and obedience It is committed to both spiritual development and education, following a vision of  'finding God in all things'.

The Jesuits were a key part of the missionary movement, immediately beginning to travel to other countries to establish Missions, with the intention of bringing their religion to the inhabitants. South America was one of the many places that they went to.

The Colonists there, in this case predominantly the Spanish, had a devastating impact on the native communities. As in so many cases of colonisation, (including the British Empire, which many of my compatriots still seem so proud of,) they arrived with an attitude of superiority and entitlement, and set about 'civilising' the people whose lands they had invaded, forcing them to work in return for 'teaching' them.

Many fought against this enslavement, and were killed. Others were hit by the diseases that the Europeans brought with them, against which they had no natural defences. The result was that many indigenous tribes and communities were wiped out.

Whilst the Jesuits were not responsible for the colonisation, and the Order appears to have been more restrained in its behaviours than some other parties, that doesn't mean that they didn't make use of slavery, and the indigenous people were clearly regarded as a lesser race than the white Europeans.

Nonetheless, the Jesuits became a key part of South American society, and the Jesuit Province of Paraguay covered a huge area of what is now Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. That whole Province was run from here in Cordoba.

The order acquired a whole city block to use for its headquarters, and outside of the city, they had six key Estancias, or ranches, where they ran farms and mills to support their organisation. We toured the city block and visited one of the Esstancias in Alta Gracia, but I'll tell you about those in the next few posts.

The Jesuits' importance wasn't just in South America; they had gained tremendous influence in society as a whole. They were often the chosen confessional priests for European royalty, and were also known for having a key role in the notorious Spanish Inquisition. They may have given us British our Bonfire Night, having been said to have been behind the November 5th Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament in 1605, although these days the prevailing opinion is that the theory may just have been a sneaky ruse to discredit them.

Certainly there have been tales of other nefarious deeds over the years, that have been comprehensively debunked, including involvement in the assassination of President Kennedy, and suggestions that they had the Titanic both built and sunk as a rather slow, expensive and elaborate - not to mention remarkably unreliable - plan to get rid of three men who were opposing the creation of the US Federal Reserve.

But conspiracy theories aside, the Jesuits soon had their problems. As ever, when a group becomes too popular or powerful, there are those who want to usurp their position and influence, and in due course, the Jesuits suffered a major downfall. In 1767, the King of Spain expelled them from Cordoba and South America, and then six years later, after pressure from the governments of France, Spain and Portugal, Pope Clement XIV issued a decree abolishing the Jesuit Order entirely.

The order would eventually be re-established in 1814 by Pope Pius VII, and they returned to Cordoba in 1853, but in the meantime, the University had taken over much of the property that they had controlled. Nonetheless, Cordoba remains an important place for the Jesuits, and indeed it was here that Jorge Bergoglio, rather better known these days as Pope Francis, spent two years in exile. But that would be a story for another day.

Cordoba - and how the amount of time you spend in a place can make all the difference.

Cordoba, Argentina

The world is a huge place, so even though we spend so much of our time travelling, we know that we are still never going to get to see all of it - it just isn't possible.

With that in mind, it can be difficult to decide whether to do a frantic dash between as many places as we can, or to spend longer in fewer, getting to know them a bit better. We also have to think hard about whether to return to a place we've been and liked, or to forego that in favour of a new destination that you might prefer, or may not like at all.

Cordoba, Argentina

In general, we do tend to travel slower, but we try not to return to most places. But we decided to make an exception for Cordoba.

I'll write about what we did in Cordoba in the next post, but for now, what we found interesting, was they way that our two different visits demonstrated how much your experience of a place can vary, depending on how long you spend there.

Last time we were in the city, it was a flying visit. It was the first stop on our Dragoman trip in 2011, and we only spent one day here. In an effort to fit in a few more of the sights, a number of us took one of these sightseeing bus tours, something we rarely do.

We quite liked what we had seen back then, with the grandeur of the old cathedral and the Jesuit buildings, being complemented by the more modern park and sculptures. However, having re-read our blog post from back then, it confirmed our feeling that we didn't really feel we'd had long enough there.

Cordoba, Argentina

So we decided to go back, and get to know the place a bit better, making it our 'luxury' treat for my birthday, and spending five days there, at a nice hotel. As it turned out, with the change to our travel plans, we added another three days at the start, staying at the same hostel that we had the last time. This was actually a coincidence, as Nic booked it, and he hadn't realised it was the same place.

This time around, we weren't so impressed. Yes, the old buildings - of which there are quite a few - were still lovely. And we did enjoy our hotel and some of the restaurants, but we were left a little disappointed with the city centre itself.

Cordoba, Argentina

It didn't help that Nic had sprained his ankle, meaning that we couldn't walk around as much as we'd have liked to, so we didn't get out to the park to see the Ferris wheel designed by Gustav Eiffel, (he of the Eiffel Tower,) or some of the other less central spots.

But our problem was a bit more fundamental than that. I suppose that we had envisaged a city a bit like Prague; somewhere with some great star pieces, backed up by nice general architecture, a cosmopolitan feel with stylish shopping areas, interesting products, and a few grand cafes. As it turned out, whilst it certainly does have the star pieces, I think that Nic summed it up when he said, as we walked through the main central shopping streets, that it is like being in Croydon.

Cordoba, Argentina

Now, with apologies to anyone who loves Croydon, I think that most people who know it, wouldn't exactly put it high on their list of places to go to. It's one of those towns that just has the same dull high street shops, lacks any positive character, and looks a bit run down. I should perhaps add that I haven't been there in the last few years, so you never ,  know, it may have undergone a transformation in that time.

So this is where Cordoba fell down for us. Once you spend a bit more time in the older area of Cordoba, you discover that they just haven't put in the effort to maintain the 'normal' shops and other buildings. The architecture looks haphazard, with jarring styles, and there are some rather ugly buildings, and bad conversions, that take away what character was there. A lot of it looks unplanned, unloved and a bit dull.

Cordoba, Argentina

It may well be that they just haven't had the funding available to spend here, which if so, is a shame, but we were left with the impression that if they could just get rid of some of the worst buildings, tidy up the rest, add a bit of colour, and encourage some more interesting shops and cafes, they could have a lovely city centre, that matches up to the promise of the more obvious attractions.

But it isn't all bad. On the plus side, the old bits are lovely, and when we looked beyond the centre, there is an area called New Cordoba, which is where all of the stylish and smarter establishments are setting up, and there is a nice little artisan area, which is also where the good bars are to be found.

We liked these areas, and I suspect that, if we were to spend longer here again, we would probably choose to stay around there, and may well find that we enjoyed the city that much more as a result.

So in this instance, it seems that a flying visit is great, because you just do the best bits of the tourist sights. A slightly longer visit is a bit disappointing, because you have time to visit the less impressive sights and see more of the dull and unattractive bits. But with a little longer still, you can get to know the places where the locals go, which raises the experience back up again.

Oh, and the photos on this post are from last time we were in Cordoba.

Cordoba, Spain - part two (Throwback posts)

Another place worthy of a tour around is the Palace of the Christian Kings. The current structure was built by King Alphonso XI El Justiciero (The Righteous) in 1327, but there are still a few remnants of the older Roman and Moorish buildings. It is an impressive palace, and there are some lovely gardens to walk around.

The 1469 marriage of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile, united Spain, and in 1492 the monarchy left Cordoba and the palace was give to The Inquisition Court, where it would have been the site of some terrible acts of cruelty in the name of Christianity.

For anyone whose only knowledge of the Spanish Inquisition is that Monty Python sketch, I'll give you a brief run down. With the wars with the Moors having come to an end, and the Catholics in power, focus had been shifting towards religion, and a desire to make Spain a solely Catholic country.

Religious intolerance had been growing in Spain for some years, predominantly against the Jews. Many had been forced to convert to Catholicism, and were known as 'Conversos'. Some, however, had converted in public, but continued to practise Judaism in secret; they were known as 'Murranos', and were deemed as highly dangerous to the Catholic regime. In 1478, Pope Sixtus IV issued a Bull (an official papal letter) permitting Ferdinand and Isabella to establish The Inquisition, to seek out and put an end to heresy. In reality, of course, much of what occurred was more to do with strengthening the power of the unified monarchy, and with individuals using it to further their own interests.

In 1492, Jews were given a stark choice of Catholic Baptism or exile, and somewhere between 40,000-160,000 Jews left Spain. In 1526, Islam was banned in Spain. Whilst many Moslems accepted a forced conversion to Catholicism, these 'Moriscos' were still regarded as dangerous, and by 1614, some 300,000 of them had been driven out of the country. In the 16th and 17th centuries, The Reformation saw the rise of various Protestant religions spread across Northern Europe. In Spain, the spread was largely halted, as anyone associated with Protestantism was quickly arrested and dealt with. With Jews, Moslems and Protestants kept at bay, focus turned to Catholics who had adopted ideologies that differed from that of The Inquisition, and they too were persecuted.

The Spanish Inquisition lasted from 1478 to 1834, and was active in Spain and its colonies. As well as people being denounced for their actual religious beliefs and practises being outside of the accepted form of Catholicism, many people were turned in on that pretext, but in reality for other, purely selfish reasons. Once arrested, the victims would be tortured into confessions. If they survived the torture, they were required to denounce other heretics, and if guilty - which most were found to be - punished. The number of those said to have been executed varies widely depending on the source; the lowest suggest 3000-5000, while some others suggest up to ten times that amount. The most serious and unrepentant heretics were burned alive at the stake, especially in the early part.

This was not a good period in Spain's history, but let's not get too critical, as it certainly isn't the only country with skeletons in its past. We did visit the Museum of the Inquisition, which has a large, private collection of Inquisition period torture instruments. This also reminds us that other countries did their own share of terrible things, as the items here aren't all Spanish. There are some truly awful bits of equipment here, designed purely to inflict suffering. It is a fascinating place to visit, but I have to say that I left with renewed horror of the capacity that we humans have to do terrible things to one another.

Enough of that. I think it's time to move on swiftly to nicer subjects.

One of Cordoba's famous past inhabitants in Cervantes, who lived here as a child, and included reference to the Plaza del Potro in his famous tale of Don Quixote. It is a pretty little square, and the old Inn, that Cervantes may well have visited, is now home to the Centro Flamenco Fosforito, which turned out to be one of our favourite things to do here.

The centre is a great little museum about flamenco music, song and dance, with lots of information about its history and people. The bit that we really liked though, were all of the interactive music exhibits, where you could attempt to tap along in time to the flamenco rhythms. Nic and I spent ages trying to outdo each other. We were lucky to have the place mostly to ourselves, so try to go along when it is quieter, for the best experience.

Needless to say, we also found a few places to eat and drink here, and our favourite was definitely La Siesta, just down from Plaza del Potro, in Calle Enrique Romero Torres. The street is much quieter than the main square, and full of restaurants, but this one had excellent food at good prices. Top choices for us included the Berenjenas fritas con miel de cana, a kind of tempura aubergine with honey, and Natillas con canela y mousse de galleta, which it describes as cream custard with cinnamon and cookie mousse, but I just call delicious. We went back a few times.

In the main square, you really should try Bar Santos, a tiny tapas bar that is famous for its tortilla, which for anyone who hasn't tried it, is a sort of potato omelette. The ones they have here are huge great thick wheels of tortilla, and they are stacked up in the bar in huge numbers. Their popularity is justified, it is an excellent tortilla.

We certainly didn't want for good places to eat and drink here. There was a great little beer place, which I can't remember the name of, but I expect you'll come across if you wander around a bit. The final place I will mention is just slightly out of the main tourist area, but worth popping along to is you have time. The Mercado Victoria is a gourmet food market, which has a few stalls with raw ingredients, but is mostly prepared foods of various different cuisines. It is a nice place to go for some good and varied food, but it is busy.

Cordoba, Spain - part one (Throwback post)

Our last main stop in Andalucia was Cordoba. It was a city that I was quite pleased to be going to, if for no other reason than to see the mosque-turned-cathedral that I had seen so many beautiful pictures of.

As it turned out, I ended up feeling a little disappointed, although to be fair, I recognise that my disappointment is probably unreasonable. Cordoba is actually quite a good place to visit, with some interesting sights and great food, and I have to say that overall, I enjoyed having been there, and would recommend it to others.

So why did I feel let down? Well, there were two aspects that caused it. The first was the tourists and the touristy nature of the place. Now I know that complaining about tourists might seem hypocritical, but for me there are different kinds, and places have different ways of dealing with them, some of which are better than others.

Unusually for us, we were staying in a little hotel, that was right on the square where the mosque is. From the moment that we arrived, we felt that kind of claustrophobia that you (or at least I) can get from being constantly amongst a crowd of people. Now bear in mind that I have lived and worked in London for years, so I am quite used to crowds, but some crowds are worse than others. Here, even in off season, we found ourselves constantly coming up against big coach groups of loud, selfie stick toting tourists, who were apparently blissfully ignorant of the concept of personal space.

This kind of tourist, that appears to have no regard for anyone else - locals or other visitors - irritates me. I know I should be more patient, but I'm not. So having multiple groups of them immediately around where we were staying, added to the number of tacky souvenir shops nearby, and I can't say that it put me in the best frame of mind for the city. In fairness, things improved greatly once you moved further from this main square, but you know what they say about first impressions.

The second thing, was the Grand Mosque itself. I think this was one of those cases where something has been hyped up, and the photos that we see of those lovely red and white striped arches, are so carefully set up and edited, that reality can't quite live up to the expectation. It isn't that the building wasn't remarkable, but rather that, without the perfect lighting and camera settings, it just doesn't normally look like those stunning photos.

But enough with the negative and on to the more positive now; the mosque - or Mezquita de Cordoba - is still beautiful. It was built in the 10th century, when Cordoba was at its peak, by Emir Abd ar-Rahman III. You enter through the elegant Patio de los Naranjos (Patio of Oranges), and inside are greeted by row upon row of the lovely arches. The red and white stripes are created by alternating the use of white stone and red brick, and they sit upon pillars of granite, jasper and marble.

After the Catholics took control in 1236, the mosque was consecrated as a cathedral, and over the next few hundred years, Catholic elements were added, which in my opinion, detract from the original.

If you are visiting on a tight budget, then you can get in for free and avoid the normal €8 entrance fee by going between 8:30-9:30am (Mon-Sat), but you must go around in strict silence.

Aside from the mosque, there are quite a few things to visit here in Cordoba, and we made it to a few of them. One was the Torre de la Calahorra, which is the fortified gate on the other side of the old Roman Bridge. It was originally built by the Moors, but was restored and added to by King Enrique II of Castille in 1369, in his efforts to defend the city against his brother, Pedro The Cruel.

The gate itself is OK, but the main reason to visit is the Vivo de Al-Andaluz museum, which gives an interesting look at life in Cordoba in the 10th century, when it was home to Christians, Moslems and Jews. It is only a small museum, and the exhibits are a little mixed in quality, but there are some really quite fascinating bits, which for us made it well worth while. And there are great views from the rooftop.

That's all for today, I'll continue our stroll through Cordoba in the next post.

Cordoba

The main square in Cordoba

For our first evening in Cordoba a group of us hit a local parilla where, after some initial faltering we managed to order what we wanted.  Nic and one other person ordered the asado, where they gradually bring you a selection of meats cooked on the grill.  They started with an empanada and then some morcilla (blood sausage),  rinones (kidneys) and chinchulines (lower intestines), before gradually getting through two cuts of pork and bit of beef.  By this time the rest of us had long finished our meals including some pretty sizeable steaks, and some of the group were flagging.  So they threw in the towel and we never got to see the full extent of the meal that they would have been served.

The ferris wheel by Gustav Eiffel

Cordoba is Argentina’s second largest city, and with only the one full day there, we did something that we don’t usually do and took the city bus tour – even though it was sponsored by Macdonalds!  It was a beautiful sunny day to be on an open top bus and in fact the tour was fairly decent.  It took in the expected sights like the churches, the Jesuit Monastery and such like, but it also took us to Plaza de Sobremento , where apparently the girls would walk around the fountain to find a boyfriend, and up to the park, where they had a ferris wheel by Gustav Eiffel (of the Tower fame).

The Falklands are not negotiable

We did see a reminder that Argentina is still not happy about the UK's inhabitance of the Falkland Islands ( or  Malvinas), as there was a sign up that said they were not forgotten.

Gauchos ride the streets

But the highpoint for most of us was probably the sight of a couple of hundred gauchos riding through the streets.  They were dressed in traditional clothing and carrying flags in a celebration of their heritage.  Most of the drivers weren’t too happy about it, but we thought it was a great thing to see, and all the better for being completely unexpected.

Most of us went out for a meal in the evening, which I mention only so I can tell you about my Cuba pizza.  Having got them to leave of the tomato and olives, it had cheese, pineapple, ham, sugar and rum, and came to the table aflame.  It created quite a stir and tasted fabulous.  Will definitely aim to recreate this in the future.