I spent a day in Rosario looking at the sights. The main attraction is the "Monumento Nacional A La Bandera" where the person who designed the argentine flag is buried. Its a massive monument and pretty impressive.

On Monday morning I got a bus to Cordoba which is another big city in Argentina, west of Rosario. I got a semi cama bus but actually sat in a cama seat which was a bonus as they are bigger and more comfortable! I stayed in a great hostel called Palenque which feels very homely with a massive kitchen which has loads of equipment in to cook your own meals. It also has a big lounge room with a big tv and 100s of dvds to choose from!

I watched Motorcycle Diaries which is about Che Guevara´s first trip around south america. His family home is 40km outside of Cordoba in a place called Alta Gracia so I went with two americans (Paul and Xany) from the hostel to visit it the next day. The house had exhibits in it and it was interesting to learn about his life and it was good to have watched the film the night before. I want to read more about him though as he is an interesting character!

The next day (wednesday) Xany, Paul and I got a bus to a town outside of cordoba called La Cumbre. It is a beautiful place in the mountains and has a much slower pace of life which suited us fine!

We stayed in a family run B & B called El Condor which was lovely. It felt very homely and it made a change to the bigger chain hostels that i had stayed in. We walked up the hill to see the christ statue they had which (altho ive not been) looks identical to the one in Rio De Janiero apart from about 1/5 of the size! The site did have lovely views over the town and mountains though.

That evening we went to a restaurant called Kaz Bar (recommended in lonely planet obviously!) and had a great Thai Curry. One of the best meals Ive had in Argentina (despite it not being typical food). They even gave us free olives which I love! We then went back to the hostel and enjoyed some more wine while discussing the american election process (well Paul and Xany tried to explain it to me) but it still makes no sense or logic to me!

On Thursday Paul and I went horseback riding in the mountains which was beautiful! Ive not been on a horse for about 6 years and it took some getting used to especially when you are constantly being bumped up and down but the scenery was amazing. We were trekking for about 3 hours with a guide. On the way back we literally went down the mountain side which was abit scary as my horse was not confident at all and went really slowly. I was half expecting it to slip on a boulder but luckily it didnt! When we got back to the bottom we were invited to have an asado (bbq) with the family who run the horse trekking business. We chatted with a guy who was argentine but his family was originally from england. He is 72 and his wide (40 years his junior) has just given birth to his 10th child! Yes a very interesting character!

Later that afternoon we indulged and got an hour long massage in a salon (cant refuse at only 10 pounds!) I dont know how much i buy into all the talk about shakras and things but it was definately relaxing.

We were intending to leave yesterday but decided to stay another night and so Paul and I are getting a bus to Mendoza this evening as we are both wanting to go there for the wine tasting!

After that I will head north to Salta on my way to Bolivia as its less than two weeks before Beth and Sarah fly out to meet me! :-)