Day Five

Today was a much better day then yesterday. I took a lot of pictures and did a lot of walking. I will post them tomorrow. I am still in a city though. I cannot wait to leave the city. My day started out with a receptionist that spoke english. The best english I have heard since leaving Courtney anyway. I took a taxi to a hostel I found. They took me in. Yeah! I also met a couple of new friends!

Rosario is a pretty beautiful place. I would be leaving tomorrow, but I figured I needed a few days of stability. It would refresh me. Tomorrow I am going to try and go over to the river islands. The river hear is so huge. It is pretty interesting.

Memorials

One of the people I met is named Lucas. Lucas works nights at the hostel I am staying at. He is nice. He speaks about as much english as I do spanish though. We hung out for a couple hours. He took me to these memorials. They seem really significat, but I couldn´t ask him about them because he wouldn´t be able to answer me. The extent of our conversations were asking what something meant in english or spanish. It was a beautiful walk though. Rosario is a pretty place with some beautiful buildings.

Cat Calls

One less then pleasing thing was the ´cat calls´I got today. Courtney told me about them. Men shout things at the women, not profain or anything, just yell to them. I guess it is kind of a compliment. I had this man hooting and howlering at me while I was walking down the street. I found him irritating. I haven´t washed my hair in days, I realized today I hadn´t brushed my teeth in a while, I don´t knwo what they think they are howling at. Oh well.

The English Speaker

There is this guy I met today while using the internet. His name is Quan. He is a nice guy. Turns out he speaks english very well. I asked him to dinner because I am ready to unwind and speak some english.

Every day I wake up and it feels like the morning before a big exam. I am learning more and more everyday. My brain feels kind of swollen. Learning another language is very draining, expectially when you do not have a break from it.

I also got a temporary cell phone today. I am glad about that. It makes me feel more secure. Now I can get a hold of Courtney too if necessary and call hostels to make reservations.

I had a great evening. I really needed it. I have been feeling homesick.
I met this guy, Quan in spanish, John in english. He spoke english so I asked him to dinner. We went out tho this place near his work, where I use the internet for 1 peco an hour. He ordered me this friend beef steak and mashed potatoes. it was amazing. Argentines really know their meats. We drank soda and talked about family and government. I am really enjoying the views of people from so different of a culture. We are going to dinner tomorrow as well. This time I will buy though. It was nice because he was able to tell ame a little bit about Argentine´s history, government, and 2001 recession. Argentina really is a fasinating place.
Tonight at the hostel I met a guy from Mendoza. he speaks English. He told me I was really missing out by not going to Mendoza. I am sure we will talk about it more tomorrow when I show him pictures of Alaska. I alsmost didn´t bring my memory stick. I am glad I did. So many people wan tot see pictures from Alaska. I told Jon I would show him the pictures too.
jon wants to take a trip to Alaska. Traveling is near impossible for people in Argentina though. It is too expensive. John was telling me saving up moey to go somehwere in Argentina usually takes about a year. With the 3 to 1 exchange rate from peso to dollar traveling is so expensive for Argentines. Just another ramification of the 2001 recession, fasinating, but truly unfortunate.
I think I am really enjoying the hostel. Right now they are jamming to music, smoking, and drinking wine. This is actually the first night I haven´t drank wine in Argentina. I think my mood was the reason.
Back to the hostel, you meet some really interesting people here. Everyone is pretty warming, welcoming, and are all up to the same stuff, vacationing and relazing. I really like it.
Tomorrow I am going to take a taxi to the bus station to buy my ticket to Iguazu. I am goign to ask that Argentine who I cannot remember his name who can´t speak english to go. We communicate really well, as nuts as that sounds. He kind of weirds me out though. He is really touchy feelly, like most argentines, but I am not used to that and am not acustom to it so what do you do? Oh well.

Tomorrow is my last day in Rosario. I am kind of sad, but excited to move on with my trip.