Buenos Aires... via Rosario! I depart Iguazzu Falls and head for Rosario, a stop off prior to Buenos Aires.

Rosario

I stop in the university city of Rosario to break the journey and have some rest prior to arriving in Buenos Aires... a city that never sleeps.. and given I have rather hesitantly booked into Millhouse, which I hear is ´party party´ house, I thought some quiet time would be good!

Rosario, why hear, well, why not and to be honest, was fascinated to hear that they had a beach on the river.... given it is inland and a 100Km or so from the coast! I arrive and stay and Punto Clave, a lovely hostel ran by a young family and find myself in a 7'bed dorm.... all to myself!!! Bliss!! In fact, only 5 people stayed ther for the 2 days I was there... thats where I met Hayley and Craig from England and also a couple of argentinian girls holidaying from BA!

I walked miles..... its fairly flat and walked along the river, along the treelined street and across the park in Rosario...miles I tell you! I had a chance to catch up with some emails and what followed next was a bit of a coincidence! Having sent an email to a chap from Aberystwyth, mentioning I was now in SA and I mentioned where I was, he then responds, whilst I am sat at PC to inform me that is where his wife is from and her family live in Rosario! So... a trip followed to his sister-in-laws cafe and met up with Frederic and William! Small world and bizarre timing on my part!!

Whilst strolling the streets, park, river side of Rosario, I came across a flowerbed.... that had the date laid out in flowers.... that day´s date! I later find out they change the bed everyday!!! Wow!!!

As mentioned, one of my reasons for making a pit stop at Rosario was to see the beach! Well.... that was a bit peculiar! The street resembles that of any beach town... bars, cafes, clubs (ok not every beach town...imagine a beach in the Med!). Whilst there was sand.... it was obviously put there and there were even beach bars.. bars on the actual sand as well as some beach umbrellas and some trees! But, it is a river and I noticed that `bathers`were only allowed into the water about 2 metres from the shore. Floating foam pipes lay along the river, in the green growth (plants) that also acted as a barrier. Beyond that, the river was quite wide and you could see the marshes and islands across from the mainland as well as see industrial tanker ships pass by!

A peaceful couple of days and now I am ready to hit the bright lights of the city of Buenos Aires!