I´ve gotten used to the bus (and the funky legrests) and have a lot more faith in its abilities now (good bus!)- They put on a rather boring DVD for us, without sound (though I´m not certain wheterh it was broken or they just didn´t want to bother the other passangers), but with Spanish subtitles.
We´ve just crossed the Argentinian border - and I realized this was my first overland boarder crossing outside Europe. Yeah for me! May many more follow.)
At 10 am we arrived in Córdoba - the second largest city in Argentina. I used to think that Argentina was a very rich country, but you also hve slums on the outskirts of the towns. So far I haven´t been too lucky with my sightseeing: the better part of the Jesuit Mission (a UNESCO World Heritge site, that now party houses the University of Córdoba) is closed for restauration, the Monastry is always closed and the Cathedral was closed for no apparent reason. I´m going back in a second to check whether I just happened to walk in during siesta tiem - nope, still closed.
In comparison to Montecideo, Córdoba is really cheap - at least as far as clothing, books, eating out and movie tickets are concerned. (I went to see Star Wars, and for a price of just over $ 1 the force certainly was with me.) I´ve had a hard time finding bookstores, though - they are all next to each other in a side alley. Safety in numbers? I´ve been told by a local that pocket picking is very common here and that I should watch my stuff with four eyes. How lucky that I´m waering my glasses!
Oh, I almost forgot - I´ve found a SPAR-Supermarket in the bus station. Aldi in Australia, SPAR in Argentina - Germans are industrious people, indeed.
At 7 pm I ´boarded the bus from Córdoba to Salta. The company´s name was "La veloz del Norte - now THAT was what a comfy bus should be like. They had leather chairs just like on a business class flight, two plus one in one row - I had a single seat, which means that I was both on the aile and next to the window. The window seat wasn´t much use, though, as we travelled only during the night. I don´t think there would habe been a lot to see anyway - lots of open land and not much of anything else. At least the movies were better. And once again I was glad that I brought my polar fleece blanket and pillow with me - I figured I´d spend 4 nights on a bus, I might as well be comfortable.
|  | 
|
