Tommy Tour

Post by Ella

We headed over to San Martin Plaza late in the morning to meet up with the guy holding a red umbrella, sporting a head set and top hat, and making bendy movements with his knees as if he were about to cha cha cha. This was Tommy Tour (aka who knows?) who would be leading the walking tour of historical places in Córdoba.

There is a San Martin plaza or street in every town. So says Tommy Tour. Because Jose de San Juan Martin is responsible for leading the Argentine forces in achieving independence from Spain in the early 1800s. 

The Cathedral of Còrdoba, construction started in 1520 and completed some 200 years later because, well, it just took that long.

Córdoba was founded in the late 1500s by Spanish settlers followed by an influx of Jesuits. The Jesuit crypt was built in the 1800s. An iron gate (with a sign stating the bathrooms were out of order) protected a dank set of stairs which led down to the crypt. The bathrooms were in perfect working order and Tommy explained the sign was to keep out those riff raff tourists and other sundry undesirables who were only looking for a place to go.

On we went while Tommy regaled us with bits of stories, interspersed with lots of “hashtag Argentina” exclamations. Not all his stories were about the past. We heard about the University graduation tradition where your loving family and friends tear your clothes (be sure you have underwear on says Tommy) and throw all manner of sticky, foul smelling things at you, after which you and your friends squeeze into a car and drive around town honking and drinking. He had the pictures to prove it.

At the end of the tour, Tommy gathered us around to teach us the Cuartedo. Start with the bendy knee movements then sashay back and forth. A dance everyone loves to do he says. There are YouTube videos if you want to learn. There we were, on a street corner in Córdoba, Cuartedo-Ing away to the whoops of onlookers. All photos of this event have been censored.