4: "To Córdoba"

Holy Week was coming. I decided to travel.

I called another Fulbrighter in the province, Amanda. We got a hold of Hallock, the ETA in Córdoba province.

I figured they’d be up for camping, hiking, doing something outdoors. Amanda had done bee research in the Mexican desert. Hallock had been a sled dog guide in Alaska.

Amanda came to Paraná from tiny Gualeguay Wednesday night. We got pizza and drinks near the bus station. She was the first Fulbrighter I had talked to since we had all left Buenos Aires and begun working.

We took an overnight, six-hour bus to Córdoba, the second big city of Argentina.

We got out of the bus terminal and walked downtown, to the main plazas and the Jesuit quarter. The sun was rising, the sky lightening. We stopped in a café and talked for a couple hours.

We met Hallock at lunchtime. He had taken a bus from Río Cuarto, the city where he works. We ate at a Lebanese restaurant then got on a bus for La Cumbre, a mountain village in the Sierras outside the city.

We arrived after dark and hiked to the edge of town, to a campsite at the foot of a big, lit-up Jesus statue. The next day we took a trail that runs behind the the monument, over a couple dry, grassy hills, past a ranch and a creek, and down to a dam. We got a ride back to town in the back of a pick-up. We had clear, warm, bright weather.

We took another afternoon bus, to Capilla del Monte, a mountain village that´s had a lot of UFO sightings. We stayed at a municipal campsite, crowded with holiday travelers.

Saturday we got up at 9. The sun rose and made the tent too hot. We took a cab outside town, to Uritorco, the tallest peak in the range, about 2000 meters high. The cabbie said a Buenos Aires family bought the mountain and charges admission.

We paid the 20 pesos entrance and hiked to the top. It took us a couple hours, with a steady pace. We stopped for a break now and then, to drink some water, look around. At the top we ate crackers and cheese, salami, and apples and oranges. We took pictures. We talked about college, about what we’re doing now. The breeze dried our sweat and cooled us before the descent.

We camped one more night, then returned to the capital in the morning. Hallock left early. Amanda and I stayed another night, checking out museums, going to “A Woman Under the Influence” at an art theater in the evening. It was Easter Sunday. The bars were crowded. People were out.