Top reasons to visit Cordoba… Or not?

If you had considered going on holiday to Cordoba, the second largest province in Argentina, then maybe you shouldn’t. Or then again maybe you should.

Good or bad, Cordoba Province’s tourist board must be delighted with all the recent publicity the province has received following the Presidential run-off last Sunday, 22 November. As one of the country’s oldest settlements, it is not short of attractions, not least the beautiful Sierras.

Even before our move to Buenos Aires, we had already planned a trip to the surrounding countryside of La Cumbre as our first holiday outside the metropolis. Yet, in the past few days the province has become the centre of a political battleground for reasons other than travel. 

This is after Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s ruling party, Front for Victory (FPV), lost power to Mauricio Macri, leader of opposition party Cambiemos (Let’s Change).   

Militant Kirchneristas were so affronted by their heaviest defeat in Cordoba Province - 71.51% votes for Macri, compared with 28.49% for FPV’s Daniel Scioli - that they launched a campaign urging people NOT to travel to Cordoba. 

Unbelievable. Not surprisingly, a counter-campaign was quick off the mark to promote the benefits of the province, notably as “the first province free of kirchneristas”.

Despite all the propaganda, hype and blatant incidents of fraud, while both in and soon-to-be out of power, what CFK has shown is that being a semi dictator does not work. Either be a dictator (which I do not advocate, just to clarify) or be a democracy – thankfully just over half of the electorate voted for the latter.

In just under 10 months, Argentina’s political landscape looks very different to when we first arrived in February 2015. And in fewer than 10 days times, Macri will assume power. What a great moment for Argentina, and most likely for Cordoba too.