Saturday ended up being great from start to finish! After breakfast I headed to Patio Olmos to meet up with the group at 10:30. We met, walked the few blocks to the little regional bus station, paid our 18 pesos for our tickets, and got on the bus to head to Carlos Paz. Carlos Paz is a smaller city outside of Córdoba in the sierras, so the bus ride was only a little less than an hour long. When we got there we went to the tourist information building, picked up a map, and then headed off in the direction of the sierras. There was apparently a famous, big, white cross thing on top of one of them, and they had aerosillas (basically a ski lift) that could take you up there; however, we had gone on this little trip because we all wanted to hike, so instead we set off down the trail that would take us to the top. It was a lot of fun! The day was overcast and colder than most days have been here, and at first it seemed like it was kind of going to be miserable. But only a few minutes into the hike we realized that the weather was actually perfect. Also, the city is situated right next to a big lake and the views on the way up were awesome! Being outdoors and doing something active was a lot of fun, and the fact that we were hiking up a hill/mountain (I don’t really know how to describe the sierras…they’re kind of in between) in the Sierras de Córdoba just made the day even better. On the way up we kept passing little white monuments with a cross and a roman numeral carved into them. We didn’t know how many there were when we started, but there ended up being fourteen and I am guessing that they stood for the stations of the cross. Once we finally reached the top the huge white cross towered above us. It was built in 1934, but other than that I didn’t really read what its purpose was. We were more excited about just reaching the top! We stayed up there for a little bit taking in the view of the sierras, the city, and the lake around us until we decided to head back down. Once we got to the bottom we turned in the direction of town and headed towards the main street to find a place for lunch. We found a restaurant that looked good to everyone and went in and sat down to order. Luckily we were just in time for the USA world cup game, and we were able to relax, hang out, and watch the first half while we ate our pizza. During entretiempo (half time) we decided to leave so we could go see the other main parts of the city before we had to head back to Córdoba. First we went to an alfajore factory and taste-tested some of their homemade products. Then, on the way to the city center, we stopped by some gift shops and hung around the entrances of some of the restaurants to catch parts of the second half of the game. One of the things Carlos Paz is famous for is their huge Cuckoo Clock, so we made reaching that our goal before we headed back to the bus station. We finally made it and, even though we read the sign next to it, we still aren’t really sure exactly why it’s there. But after that we went back and got on the bus and arrived back in Córdoba around 6:45. The whole time that I’ve been here I’ve been wanting to go to the weekend artisan fair here called Paseo de las Artes, but the first weekend I had no idea where it was and I’ve been gone every weekend since. So when we got back I headed over to that part of town and had a blast! There were so many interesting things for sale; I definitely could have looked around for hours. Also, I’m kind of glad that I hadn’t been able to go until the end. Now that I’ve been here for five weeks I had a really good time talking to all of the people who I bought things from. Everyone I met wanted to know where I was from, how long I was here, what I was studying, how I liked Córdoba, if I had traveled around Argentina at all…the list went on and on. A few weeks ago I know that I would have frozen up if I would’ve been asked questions like this, but last night it was extremely enjoyable just visiting with everyone! I hung around until the vendors started packing up and then I started to make my way back to the apartment. I had had a long, wonderful day and was really glad that my last weekend in this place that I’ve called home for almost six weeks now was turning out to be so awesome!
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