Che's House

While the rain hasn't let up here in Cordoba. I decided to take a day trip to Alta Gracia, a near by mountain town that serves as a summer resort of many Argentines. However, more importantly, it was the home of adolescent Che Guevara, the famous Cuban revolutionary who was in fact Argentine. While he was born in Rosario, Alta Gracia was his home from the age 4 to 15 and these 11 years were the longest he ever spent living in one place.

With the help of two nice high school students, I got off the bus near the town center and found the Tourist Office, housed in a clock tower. She gave me a map and pointed me in the right direction. Walking around the town, it seemed like a normal place with lots of middle class homes. After rounding one corner, however, I saw the huge Sierra Hotel, a high class resort for many portenos.

A few blocks away is Che's old house. It has now been turned into a museum mostly about his childhood. There were wonderfully preserved pictures of him and his family from when he was growing up. By all accounts he was a normal kid who like to run around the neighborhood playing Indians with the other boys. The exception was his horrible asthma which would hit him at times and almost disable him. Apart from the pictures and preserved household items, there was a wonderful video of his childhood nanny and some old classmates talking about what he was like then. His nanny told how Ernestito (as she called him) read alot and was also friends with everyone, no matter their class. Classmates told how he was always the one to organize the games.

Also impressive were the pictures of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez when they visited the museum together. Just crazy to think about them together in the small simple rooms of that house reverencing Che.

After Che's house, I headed the only other major attraction in Alta Gracia, the jesuit estancia. The Jesuits had a very strong presence in this area and established about 10 estancias, or essentially what served as farms and religious centers. It had some nicely preserved furniture from different periods and a beautiful chapel but most impressive was the old bathrooms. These guys had apparently figured out a pretty good disposal system and had these toilets in which, after a long fall, the waste would be washed away by a small stream. i was impressed.

But as it was raining there too, I didn't stick around long before heading back to Cordoba for a classic great steak dinner. Tonight I will head back to BA for my last four days before heading back to the US. I can't believe it's coming to an end but I think it's about time. But before i go, I have a bit of shopping to do and lots of steak to devour. It will be a good last few days.