Octoberfest in July

I arrived in Cordoba a day late, bearing a giant lolly pop as an offering of peace and begging for forgiveness. Elisa quickly forgave me (after all, she's shown up at my apartment at 3 and 4 in the morning needing a place to crash numerous times and I never gave her shit for it), we threw our stuff in a locker and jumped on a bus to Villa General Belgrano.


VBG is basically a Bavarian town in the middle of Argentina. Though it was vaguely disturbing to know that the town was set up by ex-Nazis who ran to escape the War Crimes tribunals after the second world war. But Elisa and I ignored that, and focused instead on the sun drenched streets, adorable tiled roofs and the crazy assortment of stores and statutes dedicated to the Argentines' strange obsession with fairs, gnomes and dwarves, and managed to have a fanastic time.

There are bratwurst and saurkraut stands galore, as well as a plethora of some of the best artisan beers I've had on my trip. Elisa had been eager to get out of the big bustling city and this definitely did it. . . we strolled down the streets, gaped at the strudel in windows and wandered in and out of cermaic stores selling hand painted beer steins. We spent hours catching up over Weisswurst, dark beer and goulash (she's been in Argentina for the last 6 months.) Then we hit the annual chocolate festival (which just happened to be going on while we were there . . . read: our whole reason for going to VGB) and bought several extremely tasty souvenirs. There is nothing better than chocolate, beer and old friends.