Festival of Flags

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Che Guevara was born in Rosario said the guidebook before i arrived. Situated on the banks of the Rio Parana 320km away from Buenos Aires, the reason I decided to come was a promise of arty types, musos, good beaches, nice galleries and a picturesque river nearby.

After what I can honestly say was one of the best bus rides in history from Salta (2 very comfy seats to myself, air conditioning, stops at restaurants and bars en route, and the crowning glory - showing The Shawsahnk Redemption...in ENGLISH. Anyone who has trouble with the rapid Spannish used in most films over here, and on buses there are a lot of films, will appreciate my happiness at seeing one in English) I arrived in Rosario.

First order of the day was to find a hostel. Normally this is quite an easy affair on arrival somewhere new in South America, as on disembarking from the coach, usually 50 or so reps from the towns hostels pounce on you. For some reason Rosario didnt have any of this, and i managed to find the only cab driver in history not to have a recomendation. Or for that matter a clue where there was anywhere to stay. Consequently after a rather confusing exchange I ended up being dropped off in the middle of nowhere with no town map or a clue of where to go. Luckily my Spannish is improving these days, and i was able to soon find a helpful local chappy who directed me to Rosarinos938, which I may add must be one of the best hostels i´ve stayed in on all my travels.

Arrival usually means finding out the same old useless information, but here it turned out i´d arrived randomly on the most important day on Rosarios calendar. The evening would see the start of the ´Festival of Flags´which i later found out could be loosely translated as the Festival of Beer and Food - with some flags in the background. The idea basically is that 30 countries from around the world set up stands in the huge river side park. Then for 3 nights you go around and eat that countries food, drink their drink, and watch thier traditional dances.

So I spent the rest of my first day here wandering around town (i went to Che´s house. Not so much as a plaque, but I can say I went there. Also it´s quite a nice biulding in it´s own right, designed by Architect Alejandro Bustillo) and awaiting the festival.

I was quite dissapointed to see that despite having 30 countries present, good old blighty wasn´t there. The nearest was an Irish pub - theres always an Irish pub. However the ´Irishness´of those manning the pub was highly questionable. When asking the bar people if they were from Ireland, or had at least relatives from Ireland, they looked at me funny. Then thought about and said ´no´, but they did like the ídea´of Ireland. Not sure what to add. Also i must say some of the dancing didn´t look particularly Irish, and indeed bore close resemblenses with the dancing over on the Greek village...and the Spannish..hmm..and the Polish..in fact I think that Rosarios rsident dance troops had all been to the same dancing classes in the weeks previous.

Still it was good fun, and despite a gypsy curse on the festival that is meant to make it rain every year. This one was thankfully dry. Food wise i tried Iranian kebabs, Italian pasta, Lebaneese mush, Sirian mush and Greek mush. All the mush´s were jolly nice but i couldn´t tell you what the actual names were.

Somehow Rosario is an easy place to get stuck for a bit, and hence i stayed an additional 2 days mooching around the festival, trying more food and sampling Rosario´s nightlife.

Finally today i get myself to Beunos Aires, if the lazy banks ever open and i can change some money.

marc

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Photos

Rosario by night
Near the water front, and near the Falklands memorial. I kept my head down there.

Me and the Charango
A mini Bolivian guitar. 12 strings and everything.

Che´s House
Noboby knows which window is the room he lived in. But it´s a jolly nice building. Sadly now a department store of some kind.

Hero Status
The chef ast the greek village...respect this man

Argentina
Lots of

Syria
Has its turn on the main stage

Rio Parana
And marc

Random
Although now no longer about in the UK here C&A is doing steady business

Comments

[Terry and Mick's bandwagon of joy]

Girth, the international standard of hero
Good to see that wherever you are in the world a rotund gentleman in a chefs outfit can still be assured of hero statues, ahmen.

[rrruss]

Great blogging.
Keep it up, and welcome to BA. I presume you are here by now!

[claireandmarc]

yep got here
and what a lovely city it is too. thanks for the comment. managed to get stung with some fake money from a taxi driver as soon as i arrived but hey.