After Buenos Aires, the next place we were keen on visiting was Mendoza. Known for its proximity to Aconcagua (the highest mountain outside the Himalayas) and with world renowned wineries, it was a place that was always going to appeal to our tastes. As we were in no rush, we decided to visit Rosario and Cordoba, the second and third biggest cities in Argentina, on the way.
We didn’t know anything about these two cities, and while a couple of people had told us that Cordoba was nice, no one seemed to have anything positive to say about Rosario. After experiencing both, we couldn’t find fault with people’s opinion of Rosario, and Cordoba wasn’t much better.
It’s not like we hated Rosario and Cordoba, they were just very “meh”. To me, they felt like the worst songs on great albums. Like Up in the Sky on Definitely Maybe, or Electioneering on OK Computer. Not the worst songs, but pretty disappointing given what is around them. I guess having experienced banger after banger through Patagonia, Antarctica and Buenos Aires, there was always going to be a letdown somewhere.
Known as the Chicago of Argentina, Rosario was our first stop. I couldn’t really see many architectural similarities with Chicago. I think the comparison may have been the high murder rate. Located on the Parana River, Rosario is a key city for drug smuggling, and all the associated gang violence that is generally also associated with the drug trade. This doesn’t affect tourists much, as the violence is predominately confined to to the outer suburbs.
What does affect the tourists is the lack of things to do. There isn’t a great nightlife area. There aren’t many interesting buildings or museums. And given the crime problems outside the downtown area, there are no interesting suburbs to safely go and explore in order to get a different perspective of the city. There are some “beaches” on either side of the Parana river, but the colour of the water is enough to keep you well away.
For a city that comprises just 3 per cent of the Argentinian population, it’s impressive that two of arguably the five most famous Argentinians of all time (Che Guevara and Lionel Messi) were born in Rosario. It is even more impressive that for a city with not many things to do, there is hardly anything celebrating these two icons. In fact, it seemed like the only celebrities that Rosario wanted to acknowledge were late 60s/early 70s rock bands. Probably the most enjoyable thing we did in Rosario was visit the Beatles (!) museum.
Cordoba was nicer than Rosario, but it felt like a mediocre European city. And if we wanted to spend time in mediocre European cities, then we wouldn’t have come to South America. There were some nice buildings and churches, and a “bohemian” quarter with some reasonable drinking establishments, but that was about it. One day in Cordoba we visited the town of Alta Gracia located in the surrounding hills, where Che Guevara had spent most of his childhood. There was a decent museum honouring Guevara, but the most enjoyable thing about this day trip was being outside a major city for a few hours.
When we first got to Buenos Aires, we’d been six or seven weeks without staying in a big city. Initially we had enjoyed the hustle and bustle and variety of bars and restaurants. This enjoyment of cities evidently didn’t take very long (around two weeks) to disappear, and by the time we got to Mendoza we had no interest in spending time in the downtown area. Fresh off an overnight bus (well two buses given the first bus broke down) and running on about two hours sleep, we did a winery tour. While the Malbecs that the area is famous for are not our favourite wines, it was a pretty great day riding bikes around and visiting different wineries. I think I can even count it as an exercise session given I took a wrong turn at one stage and ended up riding a few extra k’s more than everyone else – although the fact I was slightly intoxicated by this point likely negated the benefits of this exercise.
Our other activity in Mendoza was travelling towards the Chilean border to do a walk at the foot of Aconcagua. With a four hour bus ride each way, it was a long day. But getting completely out of a city, to not have to listen to constant car horns and people yelling, to be in the fresh mountain air with great Andes views, made it totally worthwhile.
Comparing the enjoyment we felt near Aconcagua with how disappointed we were with Cordoba and Rosario was a timely reminder that while travelling, you don’t need to see everything. Like listening to your favourite album. When Up in The Sky or Electioneering are up next, there is always the skip button.
Andrew
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