Rosario

• ants have been fumigated
• work visas are on their way
• crate from Chicago has arrived!!!

• we (I) might have broken down and gotten the 2x1 kilo of helado (to be fair, do you see the frozen vegetables next to the ice cream?)

• life is good

Sa 5.19

• girls night out - first experience at a disco in BA...
• met for dinner at 9 (this is early), made our way to the club around midnight, girls were out until 5ish...but unfortunately due to my heels, I had to call it a night at 4am (I am not a heels kind of girl) 
• somehow managed to wobble myself the 5 blocks home...the only thing keeping me from taking my shoes off was the fear of stepping in dog business
• Jake had a boys night...got home at 5am...no late night food places open for delivery (that we could find - any suggestions?) 
• that didn't stop us from making our first McDonald's run when I could finally roll myself out of bed the next morning/afternoon
• we had a worthless Sunday, but the fun was well worth it!

F 5.25

• May Revolution = National Holiday = day off = trip to Rosario
• we hopped on the early bus to Rosario; very comfortable 4 hour trip in a semi cama (semi-bed seats) charter bus....slept the whole time after a night out with friends
• Rosario is the third largest city in Argentina known as port for agricultural commodities (mostly soy and corn); it's a beautiful river-facing city with fun things to see and do

• the best deal we found for accommodations was at the Holiday Inn Express, funny enough...so we checked in to our hotel then were in search of a place to grab lunch
• the restaurant on the corner was offering a May 25th deal that included locro (traditional stew with meat and corn) and empanadas.  I guess this is what people eat on this holiday here, so we joined in...not my favorite dish, but happy to try
• then we walked along the Paraná River, saw the apartment where Che was born, and the flag memorial

churros and pastries sold on a bike

can you spot the kid standing on the back of his dad's bike?

STOP, have a smoke

• Argentina's flag was created by Manuel Belgrano and was first raised on the banks of the river in Rosario on February 27, 1812, during the Argentine War of Independence.

• most people see the flag like this, which our tour guide later told us that it's used when the country is at war (but seems to be used basically all the time now):

    

• ...and that this one is used when the country is not at war:

this dog wants in!

• lots of city wandering and admiring the beautiful architecture and graffiti 

• this park had one of the highest concentrations of one of our least favorite things about Argentina:

• this was a parade of cars full of Rosarinos waving banners, honking horns, and banging on pots and pans, in support of greater security in their neighborhood

• a long nap had us heading to dinner around 10:30pm...to a really neat place called El Oso Sala la Sopa (translation: The Bear Salts the Soup)

• the place was filled with antiques from the old children's magazines to read in the waiting area, to the variety of lamps hanging from the ceiling, to the tables and chairs in all shapes and styles
• another unique feature well-known to the place is their HUGE menus...the one Jake's holding has the appetizers and drinks, and I'm holding the smaller one with the main dishes, which change daily

• DELICIOUS meal of homemade fusili and sorentinos (~ravioli)

• how could we not try the "world famous" tiramisu?! the decoration on top was fun

Sa 5.26

• 9am: 2.5 hour bike tour through the city including the riverfront, Rosario Central soccer stadium, old neighborhoods and neat architecture
• Jake and I were the only ones signed up for the bike tour, so we had a great opportunity to ask Sebas, our guide, any question we wanted, such as
• 1. Q:Why are weed wackers so often used in place of push mowers to cut entire lawns? A: Because weed wackers provide more jobs.
• 2. Q: What are your thoughts on graffiti in Argentina? A: There is a lot of it and it will usually fall into one of the following categories: a. political b. football c. proclamations of love (Jake would probably add a few more categories--we have really seen a lot here, after all--although he agrees with his generalizations). Sebas laments seeing especially the single, staining political nonsense so selfishly sprayed on public space; we all agree.  Like us, he says he likes much of the "artistic" graffiti.  Jake asked if the police will make arrests or give fines for those caught.  He said that yes, one can spend up to a day in jail, but that repercussions are based on whether or not you have the verbal permission of the property owner.
• 3. Q: What do you think of low teacher salaries here? It seems like they're very low and you have to do a lot of convincing in order for the school administrator to take you seriously and give you a raise. A: I agree with you that the salaries are low. If you don't cry, then you won't get any milk from mother's teat.  (El que no llora no mama.) (Me: Awesome.)

this was part of the old Rosario Central train station, the soccer team's namesake

• just off the coast from the soccer stadium, we saw the Olympic rowing team practicing; Sebas used to be on the national kayak team, so he has an idea of what kind of personal sacrifice it takes to train; he described how, likely these guys had been out there on the water training since 7:30am and they'll put in 9-10 hour days

• also on our bike ride we rode past the largest boliche (night club) in South America (supposedly); Sebas said it has 3 levels and can hold 10,000 people (we didn't hit it up)
• we opted for the bike AND kayak tour, so we grabbed lunch before getting out on the water; Sebas informed us that helado is famous in Rosario...so naturally we had to judge for ourselves...it was pretty good
• we met Sebas at the dock at 2pm, hopped in his boat, picked up a couple other tourists and headed upstream (he was nice enough to not make us paddle against the current)

• we took the boat up to Puente Nuestra Señora del Rosario, the bridge pictured above, then turned around down a narrow offshoot of the Paraná River, where we began to kayak

• the sun came out and we ended up having a beautiful day for this excursion
• on our way down the river, we were able to spot a turtle or two, birds, farm animals, and see a snapshot of how the people on the islands live very simply, mostly surviving off what they catch, grow, or raise

• after the 9k kayak, we hopped back in the boat for some mate (~tea) and factutras (pastries)
• on our way back to the dock the sun was making its way down, giving Jake the opportunity to snap some great sky shots

• also on the way back, we were stopped by the Prefectura de Rosario (Rosario Coast Guard) for a routine check of the boat; 6 guys with guns checked Sebas' papers, life jackets and fire extinguisher to see if they were up to regulation; this isn't uncommon, but was a new experience for us

• what would a vacation be without naps?  we rested for a bit back at the hotel, and unfortunately the late afternoon mate and facturas were not settling well in the ol' tummy...so we decided to order in for dinner...
• for some reason pizza sounded good at one point, and so did the provolone, olive, and ham pizza...let's just say I couldn't eat much of it, even after peeling off the layers and layers of slices of deli meat and cheese

Su 5.27

• slept in, enjoyed Holiday Inn's fabulous hot breakfast, then walked to the river to do some reading before getting on the bus back to BA
• had a fun, relaxing weekend...was great to get out and see another city in Argentina!