Beer and Moaning in Las Americas: Steak Country Continued

Next stop on our journey through Argentina was four hours northwest of Buenos Aires on the western shore of the Parana River to the city of Rosario. Rosario is the largest city in the province of Santa Fe and the third-largest city by population in Argentina. For me the city itself is very metropolitan  and the neoclassical architecture which is visible in hundreds of buildings throughout gives Rosario a very European feel.

It was here that our good friend Facundo lived with his sister and cousin and he had kindly offered to let us stay. We gladly took him up on this offer, what with us being poor/stingy travellers. We had met Facundo and his two friends when we were in Florianopolis so it was cool to have a familiar face in the city and a friendly Argentine to put a roof over our head. After the bus journey and a jolly taxi driver with a severe case of verbal diarrhea we arrived at Facundo's and made ourselves at home. In true Argentine style a meal of steak and salad was served up to us which went down extremely well before going for a little night walk around the city. Facundo lives in the central part of Rosario and just a short walk from The National Flag Memorial of Rosario. The statuesque memorial is a monumental complex made up of several parts built near the shore of the Parana River. It opened on June 20 1957, the anniversary of the death of Manuel Belgrano - the creator of the Argentine flag. Each year on June 20 they celebrate National Flag day. This was a pretty impressive statue by night all lit up in the patriotic blue and white lights and I was keen to see how it looked by daylight.

The next day as Facundo went to work we headed out for yet another tourist day around the city - armed with a map and a camera we were ready. After walking along the river accompanied by our side kick for the day in the shape of a chubby, old, black street dog we headed for Casa Natal Che Guevara. The big man himself was born in Rosario on June 14, 1928 and this was one of my main interests when visiting the city. Considering Che was such a prominent figure in Argentinean history I would have expected his birthplace to be a little more impressive or been made more of a feature of in the city. Instead it was simply a block of flats with a relatively small post outside with a sign highlighting that this was his birthplace. However what particular flat was his wasn't so clear and it took several questions to several strangers to work out which one it actually was - the one with the small Argentinean flag in the window. We stayed another night in Rosario and the next day with a few hours to spare before the bus to Salta and a very sweet tooth calling Facundo recommended what he considered to be the best Ice cream parlour in the city so we were off yet again. Argentina in my opinion do two things extremely well.....Meat and Ice Cream!(however I would not be inclined to mix the two). After walking five blocks we saw heaven on the horizon. It was well worth the walk. I treated myself to an enormous Dulce de Leche con bom bon flavour and I think it would be fair to say it was quite possibly the best ice cream of my life...... I thank you Rosario (and Facundo).

Another long old bus ride later (over 11 hours) and we arrived at our next destination, Salta which was further northwest Argentina. Nicknamed Salta la Linda (Salta the beautiful) it has become popular with tourists due to its old colonial architecture, stunning Argentine countryside and of course its empanadas which are said to be the best in the country.

When we came to South America three years ago we stayed in the Loki hostel in La Paz, Bolivia and made friends with some of the staff there so this time (thanks to the wonderful online community that is Facebook) we were told by my friend Osgur that a new Loki hostel was in the process of being built in Salta and we could go and stay there for a while.....for free! Rude not to really. The main house which was serving as the staff quarters was built so we stayed here with the four staff that were working and setting the hostel up for the opening. The site was massive and the building was coming along with future plans showing that there would be a massive bar, swimming pool and hopefully a small ranch in the future with horses - definitely one to remember for next time.

Whilst in Salta we got familiar with the locals which considering we were about 40 minutes out of the city consisted mainly of the street dogs which decided to accompany me on my daily runs in the countryside. Bless them for trying but they were definitely more of a hinderence than a help. We visited the main city and walked around the beautiful 9 de Julio plaza in the centre and enjoyed a couple of nights out - one of which was to a rather strange 'Rock' concert in the city but by far my highlight of Salta has to be the horse riding. Emma who was working at the hostel recommended a ranch to go to so early one morning we headed out. The ranch itself was about an hour away in a beautiful quiet part of the Argentinean countryside and after meeting our friendly Gaucho guide for the day who went by the name of 'River Footsteps' (bit of a mouthful) it was time to saddle up. I feel that now would be a good time to mention that when I was a youngster I fell off a horse and broke my arm, this horse just so happened to be an evil white horse named Milo and this is the reason why I will not ride a stupid white horse again. So I hear you cry what horse did they try and partner me up with ........ YES a bloody white horse! After flatly refusing to hop on I was instead given the biggest, craziest horse of all but in their defense he was brown. There was only 6 of us in the group so it was a really fun day galloping through the countryside and enjoying the views whilst trying my best to stay upright on my horse. The difficulty of this task increased some what after a lunch where Enrique (the owner of the ranch) poured as much red wine down our throats as he could manage so its fair to say the afternoon ride was a little wobblier but a lot more fun.

I have absolutely loved my time in Argentina and really appreciate everything about the country from the extremely warm people, to the laid back culture and the interesting history and it goes without saying that the steak and wine are a bit of a bonus too. I will definitely be returning but for the time being its Hasta Luego Argentina. Don't cry for me.