Rosario

June 20 is the day of the flag here in Argentina, but for the convenience of a 3-day weekend, they celebrated it yesterday. The creator of the flag, Manuel Belgrano, was an Argentine General who was born in Rosario, and June 20 is the anniversary of his death. Along with the two Americans at the lab, I headed about 3oo km up the Parana River to the site of el Monumento de la Bandera (monument for the flag), the birthplace of Che Guevara (whose 80th birthday was this past weekend), and Argentina's 3rd largest city. A few Argentines and travelers I had met warned us that we were likely to face problems on the roads because the farmers have renewed their strike in response to an increase in the export taxes, but the trip was uneventful. Although a little dated, the double-decker bus was quite luxurious with only three seats across and fully reclining seats. The only matter of discomfort was the profane cartoon drawing that someone had scribbled on the back of the seat in front of me--I quickly found a solution!

We had read in the guidebook that Rosario contained over one million inhabitants, but the streets were quite calm when we first arrived. After finding the first three hostels we visited completely booked, finally a hotel owner called around to other establishments to find us a place to stay for the weekend, proving the friendliness of the Rosarinos in general. It was refreshing to have someone take the time to help out, since the only Argentines I've been exposed to are the generally rushed Portenos (natives of BA). After checking in, we walked to the river and had a long lunch of steak and wine in a cozy place with a wood burning fireplace. In the summer, this turns into a beach town that hosts people from the surrounding countryside and young people from BA who sunbathe on the riverbanks and take boats out to the various islands in the river.

At night we went out to Madam, a "boliche" (dance club) in town that by the end of the night must have contained more than 3000 young dancers on three different dance floors. The night life here doesn't start up until around 1 am and everyone heads home at 6 am. Gretchen, the person with us who best knows the BA night-life confirmed that she's never seen such a huge place in the capital and that Rosario is known for its impressive joda (nightlife). I guess everyone had been napping all day to show their best face at the club.

We dragged ourselves out of bed on Sunday to check out a local artisan fair, the 80th birthday concert celebrating Che Guevera, and the monument to the flag. Between the fair and the monument we stumbled upon a public dance class (that we ended up joining for a bit) and a small rock concert. For this reason, we had a chance to see the monument lit up!