Rosario, Tuesday

0757 Got in at 0700, got taxi to Plaza Sarmiento, walked to hostel where I used the bog and dumped bag off til can check in at 12. A bit knackered. Eyes wanted to close in taxi. Damp and grey (but not cold) here, which I guess makes a change. Didn't sleep brilliantly but I guess not too badly.

0848 At Pico Fino in the pedestrianised bit, having coffee and croissants. Shall see if I can get an orange juice to finish up and then will wander over and take a look at the Parana...

1200 At Newport Cafe getting a pizza and beer, will go check in after this. Walked for more than 2 hours already. Did go up to Parana but there is apparently only a tiny bit of the bank not occupied by warehouses or fenced off apparently out of sheer spite, and that bit was heavily occupied by local fishermen and a 'no fishing' notice so I didn't like to loiter. Walked right round following the river maybe 10-20m away from it along the 'ring road'. Streets oddly muddy out that way; they are paved, but loads of mud appears to have magically gravitated up through the pavement. Lots of standing water too, it must have pissed down last night or something. (There was a lightning storm visible from the bus about midnight or so, but that was miles from here of course.)

Suspect the pizza will be too large (this place is a bit pricey anyway; 50 for pizza and the usual 24 for beer) but I shall do my best with and it leave the rest. I am pretty hungry right now anyway and I won't need to eat this evening (probably).

Very grey here though temperature is really quite pleasant by my standards.

1242 Ate 3/4 of the pizza as seems to be my standard. Street vendor/beggar kid came and asked if he could have the rest and of course I said yes, so at least it's not wasted.

1312 Just got bill. 74, made it 85. Shall finish beer and go check in.

Oh, this place is corner of Maipu and Cordoba.

1908 Back at hostel. Pedometer showing over three hours' walking, this must be some sort of record for the holiday.

Due to the inevitable mix up, my private room was not available. They offered me the option of one night in a dormitory before getting it, in return for which they would give me 'some beers' (not clear if price would be reduced too) or of a private ensuite in their second property at no extra charge. I dithered but figuring it would be hard to claim those beers, and not wanting to tie myself in to hanging around the hostel, in the end went for the second property. As I write this there is evidently some group of people on some lower terrace but they are all speaking Spanish so I have no intention of trying to scrape acquaintance with anyone. (Is it just my imagination or were hostels in Chile basically full of English-speaking tourists? It's not like I'm booking through a different web site or anything this time. It's tempting to speculate different countries attract different nationalities of tourists. It's also possible there's a time element here; it is (admittedly very) late southern hemisphere summer so perhaps at this time all over South America 'local' tourists dominate.)

A guy just came to check on the a/c unit which he said had not been working. It wasn't because I fiddled with the control and I know it didn't work, but it worked for him. He said you have to pay for it if you want it but I didn't have to pay as I hadn't asked. I have no idea, I shall just leave the thing alone.

Anyways, room is fine (massively high ceiling) tho wifi a bit ropy here in the room. Am charging netbook up now and may wander into a public area to see if I can get a better signal and upload some more photos while I am kind of killing time before I can go out this evening. (I figure I don't want to be leaving here til 9 and probably 9:30 would be better.)

Staff super-helpful at both properties. Apparently there is some sort of music here at 2230 tomorrow downstairs, dunno if I shall attend.

Had shower after checking in and went back out about 3. As recommended by hostel reception woman (the map she gaved me looked like a spot the ball competition by time she'd finished) went over to the flag monument and paid ARS3 to go up the tower. Views quite cool. Lift operated by enormously fat guy who evidently sits in there all day driving the lift (press button once at bottom to signal, twice at top!) and checking tickets.

Then got much needed bottle of soft drink and wandered over to Che Guevara's first home, which is spectacularly unimpressive (you can't go in, it's a private flat, there's just a sign outside) but at least I can tick it off my metaphorical list. Then wandered along the river bank, which is more open as you get round to the west a little. There was a little colony of cats with a sign saying the neigbours looked after them. Also found bar/restaurant 'Jardin' recommended by hostel desk woman where I shall go for a drink later. (There are a few bars on the river bank.)

There is a monument to the Falklands which I saw this morning on my semi-abortive wander up to the Parana; it was only on seeing it from the top of the tower I realised the flat circular water feature has a map of the islands in.

2134 At Flora (?) - next door to Jardin if not it. Getting litre of Quilmes Negra - they only do 3/4 of regular or Stella Artois in litre. Waiter asked where I was from and I told him, he then spoke to me a bit in English, no problem.

"Words to describe this girl" song playing, sigh.

Noticed earlier lots of presumably migratory spider web things in the air. Skin keeps crawling. ;-) Fortunately am assuming the associated spiders are not too big as I have not seen one attached to the gossamer. Also hope my non-tropical-strength insect repellent is enough to protect me from dengue fever. With the two I am continually imagining contact with my skin. Really it's OK but that is kind of true.

Noticed on my walk down riverside earlier a quite cool mural re the Falklands (though I didn't twig that was the subject immediately) which I photographed. Turned out it was on the side of the veterans association building. Some sort of youth disco was going on inside and there were some kids on bikes and I did feel just slightly nervous of being discovered as a Brit as I walked past. Only a little bit though.

Quilmes Negra is not bad, though the aftertaste is a little sweet for my tastes.

Remix of 'Englishman in New York' on. Was going to observe anyway, that's just a coincidence, that I always say I'm from London if people ask (and if I have to write in a hostel register, I write my parents' address). The astronomy tour chap in San Pedro de Atacama made some observation about this, in the context of US tourists, that there are just a few US cities which the inhabitants say they are from instead of giving the state. I guess I'm doing the same here. If I lived in Peterborough I'd probably say I was from England or the UK (probably England, as it trips off my tongue easier in Spanish). (Besides, I could be from London, Ontario if I say London. Joke. Though I wonder if that is also 'Londres' in Spanish. Probably but dunno...)

Sole young woman jogged along riverbank a bit ago. While she may be a karate champion, that has to be at least suggestive of the safety of the place.

There is nothing to see on the river although the bridge in the distance is illuminated. Still, it's somewhere to be and I was not aware of anywhere more tempting, and it is oddly cool.

I just saw what I assume to be a cockroach wandering around. As long as that's *all* it was. Have lifted my fleece fully into my lap instead of letting it dangle down my leg onto the floor.

Quite a lot of people here. Oddly given the amount of light, stars are visible and I can clearly see Orion. I coudn't see Sirius until I remembered everything is upside down here...

2250 Got second litre. Music lately is all pseudo-jazz lounge covers of popular songs. "Poker Face" now and I am smirking at the memory of Adam Kay's take on the song.

The other day I was mentally totting up my bus trips. Based on hours travelling I estimated 5000km including the trip from here to BA. I suspect that's on the high side, but would be slightly interesting to find the actual distances and see how they compare with the estimate.

Music is repeating already. Come on, this can't even be a full CD worth. Maybe it is, still a poor effort.

0022 Back at hostel, which seems quiet (semi-alas). Was vaguely tempted to another at that bar - whose name is not shown on the receipt either - but they were clearly moving towards a close. Was oddly cool sitting by the river, so chalk me up as a sucker for both heights and water.

Need to sort out my seat for the return flight tomorrow, also look into the possibility of returning to BA by train. Vaguely tempted to stick on here another day, but probably won't. I clearly don't 'get' BA, it always seems dull to me (yet with the tantalising prospect of nightlife somewhere I am not). On the other hand while Rosario seems oddly cool, and I can see the wisdom in the guide book saying it's a good place to study Spanish, if I make a trip to the islands tomorrow I think I will have had my fill and seen most of the nominally cool stuff. It strikes me as the sort of place that's cool for a couple of nights and satisfying for a long stay but not suited for the mid-range. I might have a good time at a hostel in BA and if not at least I'll have one proper night's sleep there, if tomorrow is my last night here.