Blogs from Santa Fe, Argentina, South America - page 3

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 ... read more

Finally, my first excursion outside of Rosario. I woke up at 6:00 AM to get ready to catch my 8:00 AM non-stop bus to Santa Fe. Once I got to the bus terminal I found where my bus would be departing from after some confusion between my seat number and the platform number. After that was figured out, I was instructed that my seat was on the second level of the bus (it was a double-decker) and after some more confusion to as where my seat actually was, I found it to be the very front seat looking out through the front window. Needless to say, this was the most fun bus ride that I've had traveling from one place to another. Though my preferred form of transportation is still by train. Upon arriving in Santa ... read more

A couple days ago over the long Easter weekend, I walked up to the Cathedral in Rosario to see the place before it became packed with people for the Easter day services. I had seen the cathedral before and loved the building, though I had never been inside before. So I took the opportunity to step inside while they had their doors open for Easter. Once inside, I was even more impressed by the building. There's stained glass on virtually every wall somewhere or another and the statues were made and placed so wonderfully that I had forgotten that I was in Argentina and was taken back to my days of visiting the Cathedrals in England. Now that I'm able to compare the Cathedral here in Argentina with those in Britain, I can say that while ... read more

This post title deserves an explanation. So I was out last night with some friends. I intentionally wore jeans, long socks, and my larger pair of shoes in order to keep the bugs out because from what I've been hearing, others in my group have been getting swarmed by mosquitoes. So we go out and I get back in around midnight and hit the hay. This morning I woke up, went through my daily morning routine and took off for school. About half way there I start getting bugged my these itches on my legs. I would walk about a block, stop, reach down and scratch just above my ankle, and continue on. When I got to school I pulled up my pant leg and pulled down my sock and was surprised to see at least ... read more

Each country has its own little quirks. Argentina is no exception. The following are a few different things that I have encountered in the one week that I have been in this country. 1) In the United States, some people look for sympathy in order to get handouts by bringing their dog with them to beg on the streets. They do this in Argentina too, though in Argentina it’s more common to see women do this with their children. For example, when I first arrived in Rosario, I saw a lady with her baby walking through the cafes asking for handouts. Later that same day, I saw the same woman and baby in a cell phone store buying a 900 peso cell phone. So be wary of these women, they have more money than they claim ... read more