As the sun came up I realized the Andes were right outside the window. Watching the sun break over the mountains and the red-orange glow from behind them was indescribably beautiful. We descended into Santiago which was hidden completely by fog until we were a few feet off the ground. After a few hours layover I flew over the Andes (which were so high they got lost in the clouds and made flying a little nerve-racking) and landed in Cordoba. Extremely thankful my checked luggage made it no problem I hopped in a cab and drove through Cordoba to the hostel, arriving a mere 28 hours after leaving home. I did a little exploring before passing out for 12 hours, even managing to sleep through the infamous nightlife of Cordoba.
The rest of my group was not arriving for two more days so I had to explore the city on my own. I checked out the Jesuit block, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, full of fantastic old Jesuit churches, statues, plazas, memorials and the Catholic University of Cordoba. Cordoba is a university town with most of the colleges in Argentina within the city. This means the population is young and the nightlife is vibrant. Most people here don't eat dinner until after 9pm, and don't go out to bars and clubs until 2am. Many clubs don't close until hours after the sun comes up.
The next day was the first match for Argentina in the World Cup. I was rudely awakened at 6am as the sounds of cheap plastic horns and singing/chanting filled the streets. Once I made it outside everyone was dressed in Argentina jerseys and was wearing flags as capes. I went to a bar down the block to watch the game. I got the last seat in the house and soon the people who came in after me were sitting on the floor of the bar. The energy in the bar rivaled that of any major championship sporting event I had ever watched (this coming from a Red Sox fan who experienced the 2004 World Series win). After the victory over Nigeria, the people I had befriended during the game told me to join them for a celebration in the streets. Seemingly everyone in the city simultaneously made they're way to a major intersection in the middle of town and within a few moments it was mobbed with thousands of people singing, chanting, beating drums, shooting off flares and fireworks and waving hundreds of flags. It literally became a sea of people in every direction and down every street. Despite the crush, somehow the city buses managed to continue running their routes (albeit very slowly) through the crowd and miraculously managed not to run over anyone. Me and my new found friends returned to the same bar to watch the US-England game. We were the only ones in the bar (same one that 2 hours before had people sitting on every available space on the floor) at that point as the rest of the city stayed out celebrating in the streets for the next few hours.
After barely being able to sleep through the noise of the celebrating and nightlife that night, I was excited to meet up with Geoff and Jersey at our hostel nearby in the morning, and relieved when the first thing they wanted to do was nap. After some much needed rest we met up with Professor Adler and his lovely wife Mary Margaret for a fantastic steak and Malbec dinner capped of with Dolce de Leche desserts. After such a crazy few days, a nice quiet meal and conversation was just what we all needed. Between me surviving the first World Cup victory in Argentina, Geoff and Jersey just arriving by bus and plane that morning, and the Adlers having just flown in after a rafting for a week in the Grand Canyon I'm sure we were quite the pathetic looking table of diners. Despite our tired states and extremely different experiences over the past few days, all we could talk about was how beautiful the city is and excited we are for the things to come.
