Ro ro Rasario

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Mid way through week 2 of our trip and we have a crisis, we are completely out of reading material and the huge amount of activities available in Corrientes and San Ignacio mean that we have watched nearly all he movies stored on the laptop. Rosario’s bus station shop has one piece of English language literature and it even comes with a DVD movie, the only problem is that the magazine in question is called “filthy housewives” and the DVD included is entitled “Buttman bends over Brazilian babes”, neither of which would be deemed appropriate as bus reading material although I am tempted to purchase the DVD book combo purely to see blondies reaction or better yet hid it in her luggage so it can be found by niamh later in the evening, preferably when she is unpacking in a crowded hostel dormitory and introducing herself to her roommates.

Rosario is empty when we arrive on Sunday morning and there isn’t a soul on the street, The city is based on a grid system with the various streets and avenue named after south American cities and countries, nevertheless we still managed to get lost on a number of occasions but thankfully getting lost in an Argentinean city like Rosario is far less exciting/underwear fillingly terrifying then getting lost in Rio.

Rosario is also the birthplace of the legendary Che Gurvara. Che was born here before moving to the nearby city of Cordoba. After travelling through Latin America and witnessing the American backed overthrowing of the socialist government in Guatemala Che gave up his career in medicine and became a revolutionary, fighting in Cuba, the Congo and eventually being captured and executed in Bolivia. His house was only around the corner from the hostel but unfortunately the famous revolutionary’s home is now in use as an office. There is however a really nice mural of the man on a nearby courtyard which we had a good look at.

The hostel was very central and top notch, big kitchen, roomy dorms and piping hot showers. There is only one other occupant in my dorm and he’s a Brazilian man named Antonio. I don’t have a word of Portuguese and he hasn’t a word of English except for “Guns and Roses” but unfortunately Antonio loves the having the banter and talks away to me at length while I smile say the occasional “Ci”and throw in the odd bro fist and look stupid back. God knows what questions he is asking me and heaven knows what I am saying CI to. When his wife goes to bed Antonio likes nothing better then to join me and whoever outside for a beer where he plays guns and roses on his ipod speakers and kisses niamh or any other nearby female on each cheek. He’s a lovely chap.

Rosario streets are lined with leafy sidewalks and punctuated with the odd green space, the centre of the city is the Parc de independence which contains at least 3 museums and a football stadium. The bank of the river Parana is lined with bars and cafes and there’s nothing better then chilling out in the evening necking a bottle of beer so cold it glass is covered by a film of ice.

In keeping with the budget we decided to cook in the hostel kitchen during out stay, promising to eat somewhere nice on the last night. Cooking in the communal kitchen is an interesting experience, Niamh vets and inspects all food utensils for any particles of dirt or contamination and once the shortlist is made the selected utensils are washed again before being put to use. I am tasked with the manly task of creating fire by lighting up the hob without blowing off my hand in a gas explosion. It’s worth noting that on one of our cooking adventures we managed to defy physics by managing to set a metal pot on fire.

While eating in the kitchen isn’t the same as eating out it has its advantages, a group of English backpacks in the next dorm invited us for beers outside and considering the very subdued few days we didn’t need any encouragement to join them. Ended up drinking the hostel dry of Quilmes and as the night went on we were joined by Antonio and eventually Ezze, an Argentinean who works at the front desk of the hostel. Ezze brought along his guitar and began to do spot on renditions of pretty much any song you can think of, while my memory is very very hazy I remember bits of u2, pink Floyd and even Michael Jackson. Of course I ended up getting very fond of the Quilmes and ended up with my head down the toilet bowl regurgitating the spaghetti I had cooked only a few hours before. Niamh advised me in the morning that her roommates had to don earplugs to drown out the noise of my gagging, great suceess!!

Final night in Rosario and before we went out for dinner we said our goodbyes to our English buddies who were heading for Mendoza, a city located in the west of Argentina and where most of Argentina’s famous wine is produced. They promised not to drink all the wine and leave some for us for when we get there later in the month.

Dinner was at a place called “La Estancia” which loosely translates to “the Ranch”, so you can guess what type of food they specialise in. The Argentineans are night owls and don’t like to eat until 10 O clock, prior to that they normally have a few pre dinner drinks at a bar so myself and Blondie helped ourselves to some two for one Quilmes until we deemed it late enough to get some steaks in.

La Estancia is massive, with tables spanning in all directions and funnily enough only serviced by 3 or 4 waiters who still manage to look after everyone, The waiter takes your order, casts a glance at the two pony tailed cooks who are at the back of the restaurant who nod in acknowledgement and produce a massive hunk of fresh cow and dump it onto the Asado BBQ.

Argentina signature steak is eaten in a style called Parrilla, you start off on the offal and move onto the choicer cuts down the line, the parrilla typically serves two people. Niamh wasn’t gone on the idea of eating cow guts and kidneys so we got another form of steak for two people, nevertheless people on the next table got the full treatment and it looked incredible, Argentineans seem to be so well schooled in cooking red meat they can make food made from the cattle’s excretion system smell and look like a delicacy

After about half an hour a huge t bone was left between us and going about eating it was an experience, both of us agreeing it was simply the most mouth watering helping of food we have ever eaten during either of our lives.

The steak itself was 12 Euro, served two people and was being washed down by a bottle of Chablis that cost us 4 Euro.

Back at the hostel we ran into Ezze and his family we were visiting for the evening and seeing as we consumed al the Quilmes we set about working our though the Brahma(anther beer). Ezze during this time blazing through a lot of u2 on the guitar and we all had a great sing song until 2 in the morning,

Next stop is Buena’s Aires, where we are laying up for 5 nights and its only 4 hours away…but can we get there before the god damn bugs whack it!

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