Labelled as ´the cultural capital of the Americas´, Cordoba had a big reputation to live up to. First impressions were a bit surprising as it isn´t a particularly attractive looking city - the culture is clearly in the museums and theatres rather than on the streets. Having said that there wasn´t much at all on the streets the day we arrived as everywhere was closed for the annual flag day celebrations. We struggled to even find a cafe that was open to serve lunch, this in the second largest city in Argentina. There literally was nothing to do that day. We watched Angelas Ashes, got excited about Electric Picnic festival and then watched it sell out before our very eyes, and finally cooked some pasta. Fun day. Cooking your own food for the first time in 10 weeks is a big come down but this is where the trip starts to get expensive again - we were paying the same for a dorm room as we were for a twin ensuite the night before. We ended up being the only people in our dorm though so it wasn´t too bad.

We struggled out of bed the following day intent on making the most of our only full day here (and to get the free breakfast). We managed to walk around most of the city and to the parks on the outskirts. There´s a really youthful buzz in Cordoba, probably from the numerous universities in town. It´s probably the kind of place you need to spend a while in to appreciate but with only a month of the trip left (after changing our flights when we were in Sucre) we needed to get moving. That night we treated ourselves to our first Argentinian steak and wow it was good - it made the scrimping of the last couple of days all the more worthwhile. It was going to be hard to avoid eating steak everyday here.

After checking out the following day we pondered where to go next and couldn´t resist the idea of whale watching in Patagonia, even if it was 18hours away. Taking a night bus means saving on a night´s accomodation and buses in Argentina are more comfortable than some beds. 18hours became 23hours but it was so comfy that it didn´t matter, we could have stayed on for longer!