Relaxing by the River in Rosario

Its been 10 whole days since I've blogged last! While I could think about that, and say, "Wow, self. That just indicates that you haven't done anything worth sharing with the world!" It actually indicates that my adventures around the city are so integrated into the normal patterns of my life here, that they feel like daily business.

Quick summary of last weekend/week:
Friday night and Saturday were spent in services, due to Yom Kippur. Sunday was a beautiful day, in which some friends and I welcomed in Art Week in Buenos Aires with some free symphony in el Parque del Centenario and another movie at the secret movie theatre in San Telmo.

(note: I really wanted to upload a picture here, but my internet connection would not allow it)

The week was only a three day week, with Tuesday off of school for "Dia del estudiante." Then, volunteering at Hogar 4 (with the viejos) as usual on Friday.

The highlight of this weekend, however, was a trip to Rosario!

Rosario is the third largest city in Argentina, and four hours away from Buenos Aires. Well, technically, its 4 hours away, but there were some sort of protests on the route to Rosario causing us to take the "long way," or the 5 and a half hour route. I didn't really mind, Argentina has certainly made me tolerant of long bus rides. These days, anything shorter than 20 hours is ok in my book.

On the bus ride to Rosario, I somehow managed to be the only person to stay awake. But the advantage of that was that I got to watch "Nueve Reinas," a great movie that had my favorite Argentine actor, Ricardo Darín, basically the Argentina George Clooney. We watched two movies, on the bus back to BA today as well. Both starring Darín. I guess the bus company bought the box set?

Anyhow, when we arrived in Rosario, it wasn't too sunny, but we did get to go on a boat ride on the river Paraná! This was great fun and there was singing and dancing to Juanes and other Latin American hits that Americans know, like La Bamba. Awesome! We had a free night, and some friends and I ate a delicious dinner in a cute restaurant outdoors, under a large tree with cascading branches. My friend Saba and I shared a giant fish called Dorado and we ended all up eating and talking at the restaurant for over three hours!

Today, it was a sunny, perfect day! We took a city tour this morning, ending up at the gigantic Monumento a la Bandera (flag), since Rosario is known as the city where the flag was born. We had some free time, spent enjoying the coast and the sun and then made our way back to BA in another 5 hour bus ride.

(note: I wanted to post pictures here too, but my internet would not allow it! sad.)

A very short trip, but a lovely one! I loved the beautiful architecture and the laid back, coastal feel of Rosario.