Rosario, me encanta - a good place to be an illegal immigrant | Me, my motorbike and a spot of South America

I love Rosario, really. I could definitely live here. This is my second time here, having spent a month before I bought my bike. Rosario is a small city next to the huge Rio Parana, which influences all city life. People are always sitting in the many parks next to the river, drinking mate, running, walking, using the outdoor gyms and rollerblading, which is strangely popular here. There are a number of islands on the other side of the river so its really common to take a boat or kayak (pronounced “kashak” in Argentina) out there as well. So much so that at one section of the city there are kayak car parks where the people of the city store thousands upon thousands of kayaks all in rows. In summary, its a beautiful city, with beautiful people. One thing that does take time getting used to is the river is a major transportation hub too, so often there are massive ships built for the oceans that pass right by while you are sitting next to the river. Imagine being on holiday sitting on a beach and huge tankers pass you by just a few metres away. Its definitely not normal.

Crazy sized ships take time to get used to.

Calle Orono, a rollorbladers heaven

View from the flag memorial

The national flag memorial, where Manuel Belgrano creator of the Argentina flag, raised it for the first time

So Fletch and I arrived on the 19th and we pretty much slept for 2 days after the journey to get there. We stayed at Julia’s place where I stayed last time, which is pretty much in the best location next to the parks and river. Fletch stayed for two nights, but had to get onto to Buenos Aires to get his bike repaired, hopefully we'll meet up again later on. As usual with me I was only going to stay a week, but looking at the calendar I’ve somehow been here just over 3 weeks! In fact looking at the dates, I’ve been here so long that I’ve overstayed my Argentine visa, so am now an illegal immigrant. Its ok though I’ll just have to pay a 300 peso (~US$50) fine at the border. In all this time I’ve settled into a nice life and forgotten what it’s like to live on a motorbike. I’ve hardly used it other than a few trips around town or getting some service and repairs done. I’ve upgraded all the spokes on the wheels for stronger ones that are not going to break all the damn time…fingers crossed.

While I’ve been here I have caught up on a mammoth amount of sleep…in a real bed for once, hung out with Juli’s many friends, stayed in a 4* hotel in Buenos Aires and even obtained some free tickets to Argentina vs Australia rugby in Rosario Centrals ancient stadium. A good life. I’ve finally taken a trip to the islands in Juli’s kayak too. I’ve wanted to do it for months so was happy to finally dodge the ships to get out there. We took my tent and just found a remote spot and set up camp for a night. Some people have even moved out here permanently or created bars and summer homes. Land is cheap here and no crazy planning permissions. I’d love to come back and buy a spot by the river and build a little summer house...Daydreams are easy in Rosario.

Anyway much as I like it here, and sad to leave, I have to keep going. There’s new places to see, for example Uruguay, where I’ve not been before. Gracias Rosario y Juli, y Cintia, Jaqui, Nati, los dos Martins y Magi…voy a volver.