Trip to Rosario, #1

We took visiting friend John on the 4 hour bus trip to Rosario, the second largest city in Argentina. It was a double decker bus and we had seats up top in the very front... even had a movie shown on a small TV. Dave and I had spent a great week here two years ago, attending a jazz festival and world culture festival. We have often pictured living here after we got tired of the fast pace of Buenos Aries. The first night, we went to the main downtown area, with lots of monuments and plazas, checked out the large warehouse spaces along the river front now used by artists, musicians and circus groups. But downtown was awfully quiet by 9 pm... we had a hard time finding a restaurant that was open. We did spy some great artist lofts in old buildings right down town, but where did people meet, party and play? The next day, we revisited the art museum that knocked our socks off before, and again was treated to grand Argentine art (see next blog, Rosario #2). The above painting is huge, and permanently hung by the front door.
We were at a loss of what to do next, and asked a cabby to drive us around, along the river where we had never been... and there it was! tons of people, and restaurants, and bicycles, and bikini´s, nightclubs, boat, kayak, and canoe rentals... we asked the taxi driver to take us to a favorite restaurant and we spent the next 2 hours eating great food and watching everything from giant tankers to kayaks go by.

(i will let dave describe this food shot)
i know, i know, we spend an incredible amount of energy shooting photos of food. record what you love, i guess. this, however, needed recording. a broiled slab of sea bass with ginger grapefruit glaze on a traditional nest of shoestring white potato resting on a caper, pimento, black olive spinach pile with a small portion of nut stuffed flatfish. and yes, it was every bit as delightful as it appears. this is one of the swank riverfront eateries just out of town proper on a very long sandy beach full of weekend fun seekers. there are plenty of straight up burger, steak, pizza joints and a nice handful of double deluxe eateries. such as this.

the cart is for shuttling kayaks and canoes from the rental spot across the boulevard to the water. don´t have a photo of the sign that says - no swimming - no fishing - no camping - no fires - no dogs. saw twenty fishermen, 100 dogs, five campfires, and six tents. i love a place with this kind of respect for stupid regulations. we are about a mile and a half from city central, in the distant background. also no photos, sorry, of the modern mansions om the steep hillside across the road. all politicos, the cabby says. no wonder there are so many ignored restrictions. i can well imagine us travelling here a few times a year, it´s too pretty to stay away. (keep scrolling down for next entry)