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Published: December 9th 2013
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After a week of Spanish classes Liz has progressed to being able to answer philosophical questions about the past and Ross has learnt how to order a litre of beer. We both agree that Ross' classes have therefore been much more useful.
Having spent ten days in South America's second largest city (we think) we were keen to get out into the nearby Pampas in search of gauchos (cowboys), so we headed to a small and what appeared to be sleepy town called San Antonio de Areco. We arrived during siesta time and quickly begun to wonder whether anyone actually lived in this town. After checking into our hostel, we had a wander around and realised almost the entire population was either in the river or barbecuing next to the river. Whilst Liz really wanted a swim, the "don't swim, contaminated water" sign was a bit off putting, so we decided just to watch the locals hurl themselves off a bridge into a whirl pool of very dubious looking water.
We spent a very happy day wandering around Areco, visiting the gaucho museum, walking along the river whilst salivating over giant barbecues (we only had
a cake base for lunch... this wasn't intentional and was the result of a slight translation issue) and finally finding ice creams within our budget.
In the evening, this sleepy little town comes alive and a popular past time of the male youth of Areco seems to be circling the main square in a beat up vehicle (preferably a Fiat Uno), with your windows down, your music up and your head bobbing. It appears smiling or talking is not cool. We're not sure what the purpose of this was though, as no one seemed to pay them any attention, but we did find it very amusing.
After Areco we moved north west to a city called Rosario, which sits on the banks of the river Parana. We had low expectations for this city as Liz's Spanish teacher had told us there was not a lot to see or do there, but we found a really friendly hostel and enjoyed exploring the city and taking a boat trip around the fifth largest river delta in the world. Again Liz was pretty keen to get in the water at one of the river beaches but the
stingrays, slightly questionable water quality and what our guide described as "alligators" (we think these were Cayman perhaps) were again slightly off putting (plus would you swim in a river called Rio Parana?).
Apart from the river and visiting the "birth place of the Argentinian flag", Liz's Spanish teacher was right, there's not a whole lot to do or see in Rosario (particularly when half the city loses power for most of the evening due to "something exploding"), so we spent our last evening chatting to fellow backpackers at our hostel by candle light, which rounded off a lovely couple of days.
Realising that we hadn't really travelled very far in this giant country, we decided to take a seven hour bus ride from Rosario to Cordoba. We'd heard lots of good things about Cordoba and so arrived with high expectations, but for some reason we didn't take to the place (the most memorable thing about our day in Cordoba was a giant pot of frozen yogurt covered with frosties), so we quickly headed up to the Sierras de Cordoba, the "small" mountains close by.
Very pleased to be back in
a small town (Mina Clavero), we checked into a hostel right by the river where Liz finally found some water she could get in! Since then we've spent a couple of days walking up to a mountain stream, swimming in river pools whilst watching condors gliding over head and relaxing in our hostel with a giant black cat called Castro and a timid Jack Russell. We're pretty sure Castro is planning a revolution, he's just waiting to evolve opposable thumbs...
Having now spent more time in Argentina, we are learning more about the country, including:
- Dulce de Leche, a spreadable, spoonable, moreish milk caramel can be consumed at all times of the day. Croissants are particularly good dipped into Dulce for breakfast. Liz is addicted.
- There's a "clown university" in Rosario. We didn't visit but it sounds intriguing.
- Power cuts appear to happen quite frequently. If you are in a supermarket when one happens, you just carry on shopping in the dark. It makes shopping more interesting as it's pot luck what you come out with.
- In backpacker hostels full of
Aussies and Brits, the most pressing concern during a black out is how to keep the beer cold.
- There is a crazy black market for US dollars. We have heard you can apparently get a better exchange rate (the blue dollar rate) if you change money with a salubrious looking man on the street than if you visit a reputable bureau de change (this is due to the fact you can't purchase dollars in Argentina and there is a high demand for them). This then makes everything a third cheaper, although it is of course illegal to do this.
- Cash points run out of money before a bank holiday weekend so people queue up to withdraw cash on Fridays.
- Stray dogs will adopt you as their people if you simply smile at them. In Areco, you can be escorted to the bus station by a hairy, black, lopsided mutt, who will then wait outside for you whilst you buy tickets and then escort you back to your hostel.
- When there's a storm in South America, there really is a storm!!
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Geoff
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The Pampas, Rosario and Sierras de Cordoba
Yep, definitely got the hang of it now. Your managing to find your way round South America and I have taken this long to start traversing your blog. Geoff