Trip Log – Day 5 – Cordoba

A Day of Puddle Patrol

I’m not sure what it says about us that our biggest accomplishment of the day was finding the post office and mailing a post card. Or that, the highlight of the day was another excellent three-course meal with two glasses of wine and a nap. I am seriously considering changing my daily routine when we get home. Let me back up and start from the beginning.

It rained through the night, so we commenced puddle patrol at the civilized hour of 10:45 AM. We roamed around Cordoba in search of “The Old Wall”. I’m not sure why it was so difficult for us to find. It is a three-story stone wall that connects two major sights in Cordoba. During our search, I stopped at several puddles, picked out trash, removed leaves, and knelt down trying to keep my knees out of the water, much to the confusion of locals. One even stopped and watched everything I did and then said “nice”.

After, two hours of roaming, Peter declared it was lunchtime and directed me to a building that spanned a block with a cave-like entrance. It wasn’t just a bunch of tables in a cave, remember this is Peter we are talking about. Every table was set with fancy wine glasses and white tablecloths. The Bodegas Campos opened in 1908 as a place to buy wine, and then added the restaurant in 1995. It was fancy. The waitperson was kind and patient. She didn’t speak English, and well, after 5 days in-country my Spanish is still terrible. She took great pains to make sure we knew that Peter ordered the cheeks of a pig and some strangely prepared asparagus. She went so far as to grab the cheeks on her face when I was having trouble understanding. I had to hold back a giggle, not at her, but at the fact that Peter eats anything. I wish I could have told her, this is the guy that gleefully tucked into haggis and black pudding everyday for the 5 weeks we were in Ireland and Scotland last year.

Peter was intent on ordering a ham appetizer and pork cheeks for his entree, and then I lovingly reminded him that HE wanted more vegetables. I wasn’t performing some weird Vulcan mind meld, it was only because he asked me too, first thing this morning. I quote “Mary, remind me to eat some vegetables”. I won’t elaborate on why.

It wasn’t Peter’s ability to consume about 19 pounds of pork that was mind-boggling, it was the mashed potatoes. We are discovering that mashed potatoes here are better….much better. They are more like a puddle of melted fancy cheese with a touch of finely pureed potato. Really, its more like the essence of potato. Think of them like a martini where they just wave the vermouth over the top of the glass and the fumes infuse the vodka. Cheese infused with essence of potato.

Mark and Cat have finally arrived to save us from ourselves. We will meet up with them tonight for a night tour of the Mezquita – the old church/mosque of Cordoba. I will catch you up on the details tomorrow.