Its my last week in Cordoba and time to begin the inevitable process of saying goodbye. I would like to be able to say I felt ready to move on, but the truth is I am desperate to stay, exciting though the next few weeks will certainly be. I keep trying to think of crazy ways to avoid having to leave, but I am only delaying the inevitable: as of Wednesday, Cordoba will no longer be my home.

Buenos Aires is a spectacular capital city, with loud bellowing lungs and a strong porteño identity, Salta is a sweet colonial town and a great hippie hang-out and Mendoza is the perfect spot for a wine sensation. But Cordoba, often overlooked by foreigners, is simply great. It’s great because, by virtue of having nothing in particular to boast about, it is genuine and relaxed. The people are open and friendly beyond mere courtesy, and you will never run out of places to explore and cafes to sit and wile away a couple of hours. There are European-style leafy boulevards and wide open spaces full of green, but unlike in Europe, where the boulevards are jammed with stressed and weary workers and the parks with young yuppies on laptops, here the streets are full of people chatting or couples taking a stroll and the parks are packed with mate drinkers.

I know that I will love Bolivia; from what I have heard it really is beautiful. But in Argentina, with an accent that turns uncannily “cordobés” when I am tipsy, I can pass for a local, and get all the insight into the country that that entails. A man yesterday refused to believe I was English, even when I spoke my native language to him. He said it was good but he wasn’t fooled. Perhaps the cultural transformation has been more permanent than I realized… I can strongly recommend this city to just about everyone. But, if you come here, don’t unfold your map and wonder blindly round the city´s chuches. If you look at this city as a lot of red lines on a piece of paper you will be done in a day. Sit down, breath deep and take a gulp of this unique city. Let the atmosphere wash over you and get swept up in a crazy merengue dance with a stranger in a nightclub. Most of all, say hi to everyone you meet. Cordoba is what it is because of the people that live there. And so it is with a great deal of reluctance that I turn my back on this city, even though I know I will be back. To all the people who have made this experience so unforgettable I owe a huge thanks, so if the sponge cake I intend to attempt tomorrow goes belly up, then know that the thought was there. I will miss you greatly.