What do a Jesuit, a Condor and a Volkswagen Gol have in common?

The province of Cordoba!!! - which is where we spent the final few days of our road trip.

We left Malargue and the Mendoza wine country for a day long drive with the Andes waving good-bye in the rearview mirror. Along the drive, which was one of the straightest roads, I’ve ever driven, we had a chance to see an impressive creature. We were one of the very few cars on the road, and ahead of us we saw something very large picking at some road kill. As we slowed down and got a bit closer, the road kill (a fox) took flight, in the claws of a huge eagle. It landed in a tree about 40 feet away and posed for our pictures, impatiently waiting for us to leave so that it could finish its lunch.

In the evening we arrived in Alta Gracia, a pretty little town just south of the bigger city of Cordoba. We spent the next day wandering around one of the Jesuit missions, the Tajamar, a 17th century dam used for irrigation purposes, and Villa Beatriz, the childhood home of Ernesto “Che” Guevara which is now a museum with many interesting photographs, letters and possessions of the famous revolutionary.

That night we made the short drive to Cordoba, which was quite a shock. Although it is the second largest city in Argentina, it seemed that the hectic traffic was 3 fold of the madness in Buenos Aires. We found a neat little hostel to stay at, which really was a relief to find and arrive at, but to our dismay they had no room. Crushed by the news and just looking for a place to crash, we stayed at the nearest and cheapest hotel we could find. Luckily, the next day, the hostel had room for us, where we felt much more at home with our fellow backpackers.

Instead of spending time in the downtown part of Cordoba the next day, we took advantage of our little Gol and headed for the mountaintops. Our destination was the newest of Argentina’s national parks – La Quebrada del Condorito, the Canyon of Little Condors. For the second time in a row, we were the only visitors to the national park for the day, which is a great feeling. The trip was simple: from the entrance of the park, walk to the lip of the gorge, where there is a small balcony built, and walk back, the only catch is that it’s a 10 km hike each way. The hike took about 2 hours to reach the balcony where we were supposed to see condors. Sadly, we saw no condors. So we sat down to have lunch and wait for some birds. There was a little one that joined us for lunch but no condors. Grace decided that maybe a little song to the condors may bring them out, and lo-and-behold, as she sang, condors began to soar! The canyon we were at is special in the way that it lies against the prevailing winds and with such steep walls, huge up-drafts are created, ideal for parent condors to teach their chicks how to fly. Since it is almost winter, chicks already know how to fly, so we only saw young adult and adult, male and female condors. They really are incredible, especially in their size – standing up, they can reach more than half of Grace’s height, and their wing span is about my height with my arms stretched above my head. (In the picture, it is that tiny little black and white speck - they were usually flying pretty far away from us. and when they were close, we were too awestruck to take pictures!). We also saw a variety of falcons and eagles; we watched these magnificent birds for well over an hour. When the clouds started to roll in we decided to head back. On a break during our hike back, I comfortably fell asleep sitting on a rock, my day was complete.

The next day was to be our last day of the road trip, and fittingly, one of the longest driving days. We took the morning pretty easy and visited some sights in Cordoba. Our main draw was the Jesuit block, where in the 1600’s they built a large university and church. The university still exists, now as the Univesidad Nacional de Cordoba, where students take classes in the same rooms as they did when the university was created. The university also houses the Jesuit Grand Library, which has some of the earliest books in South America, mostly books printed in Europe and brought over or written here by hand. There is a set of the first publication of a Spanish dictionary, a bible written in 8 different Arabic languages, and other religious and philosophical works all made in the 15th and 16th centuries (as well as much newer works). The church was just as an impressive sight. From the outside, it is one of the plainest churches in existence, but the inside is ornate to the max - everything is carved or covered in gold leaf.

After our visit to the Jesuit block it was time to start our trip home. From Cordoba it took us around 10 hours to get back to Buenos Aires… it was such a relief to be back in our apartment! It was a great feeling to be able to spread our selves out and know that we would be cooking our own meals again and showering in our own bathroom and sleeping in our own bed. However, this feeling will be short lived because in three days we are going back to Peru, but for now, we are enjoying the apartment and our routine life in Buenos Aires.

Our road trip lasted 29 days, on the 30th we returned the car. We drove a total of 7,750 km or 4,844 miles! We both loved every minute of it… for me the best was the 7 lakes drive in the south of Argentina and the Argentina/Chile border crossing drive where we climbed up and down the Andes. For Grace the best was the time we spent in Valparaiso, Chile. But both of us agree that our favorite day was the day before her birthday, in Bariloche, where we stayed at the super fancy hotel and spa, as a thoughtful gift from my sister (thanks Laura and Luke!).