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Having finished in Buenos Aires for now, my plan was to follow the Paraná River northwards to the Paraguayan border. The Paraná meets the Uruguay river to form the River Plate just outside Buenos Aires, and is in fact the second longest in South America, with one of the largest basins in the world. The first stop, 4 hours by bus from Buenos Aires, was Argentina’s third city, Rosario. Rosario proved to be quite an interesting stopover, though it definitely didn’t feel like the 3rd biggest city in the country. The compact centre (el microcentro) was full of the same sort of shops that Buenos Aires had, only quite a bit cheaper, as well as a few interesting museums and places to see. The main reason Argentinean tourists come to the city is to see the Monument to the Flag, which is a large tower built on the spot where General Belgrano first raised the Argentinean flag during the War of Independence. It only cost 2 pesos (33p) to go to the top (by a lift), where there were 360 degree views over the city and the Paraná. The riverside itself was really picturesque too, but as it was low season
the boats to all the small islands in the middle of the river weren’t operating frequently, so I wasn’t able to go and see these uninhabited, sandy islands. I was going to explore the area a bit more, but I fell ill with quite a bad stomach bug on my second day (no idea what from - don’t think I ate anything overly dodgy and I was only drinking purified water), so I couldn’t really do too much more. I found the energy to go and spend an afternoon in the massive park, where there were a couple of museums, some lovely gardens as well as a few stadiums, including one used in the World Cup the last time it was held in Argentina.
There are a few national parks in the area that I originally intended to visit, but as the weather had started to turn to rain, I abandoned the idea of camping in remote parks and decided to stick to cities only. The landscape in general between Buenos Aires and the far north seemed rather boring and plain - flatter than Norfolk in fact, so I don’t think I missed too much by not visiting these parks.
Two and a half hours north of Rosario is the regional capital of Santa Fe, which was to be my next stop. This turned out to be a reasonably quiet, but historic city, though once again after a day strolling around the city centre, I was pretty much done. There were a couple of good museums explaining the local history, but its most famous attraction is a Franciscan convent and church from the 16th century. I only spent 1 night in Santa Fe, as it was really more of a stopover rather than a destination in itself, but as the next day I had a night book to the northern city of Resistencia, I had another day to spend in the area, so I visited Santa Fe’s sister city of Paraná, 40 minutes away on the other side of the Paraná river. The gloomy cloud and drizzle put a dampener on seeing the city, even though it did appear to be quite a nice place. The river side park, which stretches along the Paraná river for at least 5km, would have been really nice had it not been cold and raining, and the colonial architecture in the centre was
impressive. It was strange that the town seemed deserted when it was a Saturday afternoon - virtually all the shops and restaurants were shut, and few people were on the street. Things started to pick up again at around 6, when I was about to head back to Santa Fe, but obviously by then it was a bit too late for me.
The night bus from Santa Fe to Resistencia arrived early (shock horror!), and was one of the most comfortable night buses I’ve yet had. Resistencia lies 1000km to the north of Buenos Aires, but yet the weather was still the same - damp and dreary. As the city is the capital of the mostly desert region of the Chaco, I was expecting it to be a bit warmer at least, but as we’re nearly in midwinter here I guess I shouldn’t expect too much. The city is known as the City of Sculpture due to the 300 or so statues dotted around the city, the most famous of which is a statue of Fernando, a stray dog who caught the residents’ hearts in the 1960s. Quite a few museums again, though as it was Sunday most were
shut - the only one open at all on a Sunday had the strange opening hours of 6pm - 10pm, and I was the only person there. I also don’t understand how there are so many ice cream shops in the city. I counted at least 10, and all were open, despite it being cold and wet. They were, unsurprisingly, all deserted.
Like Santa Fe and Paraná, Resistencia also has a sister city just across the Paraná river, the city of Corrientes, another provincial capital. My brief visit to the city was once again spoiled by the persistent rain, as well as some dodgy buses not going where they were supposed to go and consequently getting me completely lost (or possibly me misunderstanding the complicated bus network). The bridge over the Paraná river itself between the two cities is quiet a sight - it makes the QE2 bridge look small in comparison! In response to Resistencia’s claim to be the city of Sculpture, Corrientes has decided that it is the City of Murals, and there are certainly quite a number dotted around the city, though I would say not as many as Resistencia has statues. Besides this, and
some quite grandiose architecture in the centre (Corrientes is one of Argentina’s oldest cities), there isn’t too much else to make the city stand out. The whole river front area was very nicely laid out, but not a great attraction to me in the rain.
The next stop after Resistencia and Corrientes, and my last in Argentina (for now), was the border town of Posadas, 5 hours east of Corrientes. Many people simply pass through in order to travel to Paraguay, which lies on the opposite bank of the Parana river to Posadas. But it turned out to be a nice enough stopover for 3 nights. Posadas is the capital of Argentina’s most northeastern region, Misiones, which juts out and is surrounded by Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay. The name of the region, Misiones, comes from the Jesuit missions which were established in the surrounding area in the 17th century, before they were expelled by the Spanish monarchy in the 18th century. As a result, all 30 of the towns they built are in various degree of ruin, but form some of the most visited attractions in the area. The 30 towns are spread across modern-day Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil,
and the best preserved in Argentina was close to Posadas. San Ignacio Mini, as it is called, was about an hour by bus from Posadas, and was frankly a bit disappointing, especially given how much it cost to get in. The town was much more ruined than I thought, but was nevertheless still interesting, though the guided tour was a bit rushed. Even though it was a wet weekday, there were still plenty of visitors - San Ignacio is the second most visited attraction in the area, after Iguazu waterfalls, which I’ll be visiting later on in my travels.
After 3 nights in Posadas, it was time to move on, but in terms of distance, it would be one of my shortest journeys so far - a hop across the river to the Paraguayan city of Encarnación. The next blog entry will be from there.
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