This little adventure out from Córdoba was so extraordinary we thought it deserved its own short entry (the main story for Cordoba can be found below!)
We got the bus terminal but had no idea what company we were supposed to be looking for. Katy had found a route online, but none of the offices in the ticket sales area seemed to be heading towards Cosquin.
Through sheer determination, we kept wandering around both the bus terminals until we finally saw, tucked in a tiny ticket booth, a sign for Cosquin. We walked over and navigated the sale of two return bus tickets in our awful mixture of Spanish and English. After a long, drawn-out conversation, we had managed to book a specific bus for the outward journey and any bus we wanted, within a few days, for the return (AKA an open return in UK rail ticket language).
We boarded the bus and enjoyed the stunning scenery of the nearby towns to Córdoba as we made our way to Cosquin. Many of these towns fall into various must-see lists for Córdoba and it is easy to see why. They are picturesque and peaceful. Had we had more time in the area we would’ve stayed in some of these towns ourselves!
When we arrived in Cosquin, we weren’t really too sure about what to make of the situation. Yes, there was a buzz in the air, but there was nothing visible to show where festivities may be happening. We walked down the road a mere 100 meters and were stunned. The festival was not just a one venue type of affair. The whole town had been taken over with various stalls and stages, all playing out the, what I assume to be, latest South American folk bangers.
Katy and I decided we would sit down at a bar nearby and enjoy a beer while a local band played to the crowd. After being offered the finest tourist wares from the local street sellers, we settled up and explored the area a bit more. We found lots of people in traditional dress and, all in all, a very happy atmosphere in the town.
We walked down the busy avenue and eventually came across the open-air concert stage which would host the main event. Mobile police CCTV vans were in place which provided a small sense of relief that the event was being controlled somehow (though the locals actively voiced their displeasure to this monitoring).
We were pointed towards the box office, and to our amazement, there was no queue. We were warmly welcomed by the Argentinian ticket seller who proceeded to talk at us at a rate of a billion words an hour. Barely having comprehended the Hola, we started pointing towards the seat map and asking for tickets. We chose the super cheap unreserved ticket option at 700 ARS each. (On MasterCard at the time. This was around 10 pounds).
Katy handed over her MasterCard and we were ready (to get our seats and) rock! However, our optimism and self-praise at navigating the box office were short-lived. The lady behind the counter started asking something again, this time holding up 1 or 3 fingers. We were perplexed! My confused response of “dos, por favour” didn’t help the situation as the lady at the counter responded with an even more confused look.
Having gone as far as we physically could, we had to bring in the big guns. The phone came out, and the translate app was fired up. Where we handed the phone to the ticket seller and asked her to type her question in Spanish. It turns out she was asking if we wanted to pay in 1 payment or in 3. This seemed more bizarre than anything else and we responded happily with 1, wondering who in the right mind splits a payment like this across three cards? Also, why are the only options 1 and 3?!
Anyway, the payment was successful and we had the tickets in our hands. We walked back up the carnival road in search of food and a t-shirt. I managed to Pick up an official t-shirt for 400 ARS.
We headed into the arena and took our seats. Sitting down, we opened our take away bag of empanadas thinking we would have to be sneaky. Nope. South America is all about having a great time and not about commercial rights to food stalls inside venues. As a result, we soon spotted many others who had done the same as us and no longer hid our treats.
We finished the empanadas and their salty goodness reminded us we should probably have a drink! Katy offered to go and get some fernet and cokes and I was hardly going to turn this down. However, when Katy returned from the bar, she carried what only can be described as a bucket of fernet of coke. I liked the drink but this portion size was a real dedication to the unique taste. Katy explained that there was only one size available, and the barman, all too eager to ensure the crowd were pleased, really emphasised the fernet in this mixture.
We sat back down and the excitement around the stage started up. A MUCH younger demographic than we had first spotted inside the arena swarmed into the aisles with their signs and started waving them in the air. The band to play were Los Tekis. Yup, coming from the UK we had no idea who they were but as soon as they started we loved them!
My classification for the band would be pan-flute rock, with a hint of funk. What this translates to is incredibly fun carnival music which got the entire venue to their feet. We also discovered why there was a clear abundance of party foam salespeople around the place. The sky became filled with soapy suds as everyone who had bought a can of the stuff let rip! Their set entertained from start to finish, and once over, they were replaced by the interrupting MCs!
As the night continued, we both came to the realisation, at 1:00 am, that we were now freezing and that the last bus of the night (until 5 am) was at 1:20. We decided that staying in the cold would be a decision we would come to regret come the early hours, so we stood up and made our way out.
In a matter of seconds our seats had been taken. Clearly, all night partying requires some recharge time. I left my unused canister of party foam behind, and I hope it was put to good use in foaming the crowd!
We dashed back to the bus station and waited for our bus to show up. When it did, we showed our return part of the ticket and boarded into the warm embrace of the bus. Time passed by and we still hadn’t moved. It turned out that the 1:20 service worked on a condition, it would be a 1:20 service as soon as it was full. This took until 2:30am which annoyed us a bit as we could’ve carried on the fiesta for a little while longer. Still, we were glad to finally be on our way back to our warm cosy bed.
As we neared our apartment in Córdoba, a few others in the bus asked the driver for a favour by being dropped at the next corner. This was perfect for us, so we quickly gathered our belonging and ran off the bus too! A few minutes later, we were back in bed and in the blink of an eye, asleep.
This experience was incredible, and for a complete shot in the dark as to what we were doing, we had the best time! We can easily understand why the festival makes it into the top things to do in the area. Also interesting, in doing some post-event research, the event is actually a collection of music and arts from each argentine province! This will be highlighted as a must-see when we write our South America travel guide!