I am laying in bed in Hotel del Carmen, on Avenida San Roque in the quaint town of Villa Carlos Paz. We're 12 or so hours west from Buenos Aires, Probably an hour west of Cordoba, in a little valley around a rather large reservoir that feels like a lake. The mountains around us feel like mountains, too, despite their diminutive name (montanas chicas). The weather each morning is a sunny 40-50 degrees, but you can see your breath. Feels like autumn in Minnesota. Except the trees are rather grumpy here, not ready to green up for at least another few months. Nothing like having TWO winters in one year! (I get one in each hemisphere!) Villa Carlos Paz is a town of 70,000 until about September, when the weather warms and people flee the city for summer vacations. Then the town swells to 450,000. No joke. Hospitality thrives here, and degrees in business and tourism from nearby Universities in Cordoba are expected here among families who've had hotels in their blood here for a century. Haven't had much time to reflect, explore, or actually leave the hotel since the overnight bus got us here from the capital four days ago. Days start at 9AM with breakfast, then two classes, then group stuff, then lunch, then another class...evenings conclude around 10PM following more group activities. Not much time to breathe, think, sleep, work, plan, etc. But, after a weekend trip to Mendoza we'll be back here but sending the students off to spend afternoons and nights with host families for a week. Can't wait.
Here's a stand at an open air market in Puerto de Frutos, Buenos Aires
A tour of Rio Tigre, one of the rivers that comprises the delta north of the capital. The folks from Bs As some here to chill in the summer, and cabins line the waterways for miles upriver of the ocean/mouth of the river.
Cram session with the lads in the hotel in Bs.As.
Graffiti in Bs.As. near the southern ports...Riachuelo river. The word "PRENSA" means the press...cops, the church and the local press are depicted.
some sweet rides in the Cordoba bus station. i was running on very little sleep, and the old autos seemed pretty neat.
