Quick stop in Che's hometown
Trip Start
Jan 16, 2008
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20
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Trip End
Jan 01, 2009
Rosario,
Argentina
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Our stay here was only going to be 2 days so we fit everything in nicely. The town of Rosario, is a very very nice place. Although it's a Argentina's second city, it's not it's second biggest so it still holds a lot of old charm and architecture. And the people were absolutely fantastic, really friendly and always willing to help. They also seemed genuinely happy that we'd traveled so far and chose to visit their city. It seems to be a town where Argentine people go for a weekends break, and the hostel was full of Buenos Aires locals who gave us loads of info on other places to visit in the country.
Che or, Ernesto Guevara Lynch de la Serna, to give him his full name is the big draw to the town but I got the feeling they were a little embarrassed by it, or even unprepared to capitalise on it
Argentina Flag
. Apart from loads of books in the shops, there wasn't nearly as many images of him around. His birthplace was a major disappointment though. We actually walked past it twice without noticing, mainly due to the lack of anything other than a smallish red sign outside...and nothing else, no museum, no souvenir shop, you can't even go into the apartment block. I was actually struggling to take two photos of it! However, we saw it so at least it was something.The next sight to see was Monument to the Flag, which is exactly as it sounds, only it's an extremely impressive structure. The initial part of it contains an Eternal Flame of Freedom housed in a massive unit of pillars, which also has one of the best inscriptions I've ever seen on a monument, on the front it says "Listen mortals to the sacred cry of Freedom!, Freedom!, Freedom!" and the back says "And all the free people of the world responded to the grand city of Argentina" Powerful stuff!!!
One other main attraction of the country is the current exchange rate, which at the moment is worth 5 pesos to 1 euro, so it's almost half the price of Brazil and an awful lot cheaper than home! We made the most of this and stocked up on warm clothes ahead of our upcoming journey's down south.
Before those journeys we had a quiet Sunday night in a local bar...which turned out to be a nightclub with about another 1,000 people, complete with a hen night, and amazingly they all wear pink cowboy hats here too! The following morning we made the "short" bus trip of 8 hours north west to Cordoba for a quick stop off before heading to Mendoza for a few days of wine tasting a horse riding...yes I know that I'm gonna get comments about that, so I'm prepared!!! There wasn't an awful lot to see in Cordoba, which is mainly a university town
The Monument to the Flag
. If they weren't there I don't think there would be as many people. Oh and there is a tour of the churches that can be done....we passed though!So we 've just arrived in Mendoza at 8am after an 11 hour bus journey and have to wait until 12pm for out bed in the hostel. The last few days of long bus trips and moving about a lot has caught up on us both and we look as bad as we feel, so it'll be a day of rest before getting stuck into the activities tomorrow!
Just a quick note to say thanks to Liam for the Portuguese phrase book, it came in very handy lad, thanks! And a belated happy 60th to my Dad....sorry I couldn't be there, but we managed to have a Guinness for you in Rosario...the receipt is in the post (it's a bloody dear drink out here!!!)
All the best
James
Comments
Any action?
Lads,have yiz even got a sniff between ye yet? Cmon' your letting us down badly here :-)
Must try Harder.