Rosario

Thursday Kelsey, Jessica, and I went to Synovve's new apartment for some wine and to hang out with a few other friends before going to watch matias's band play again!
We was on the list cuz that's how we roll ;) haha and so we got in fo' freeee. Once again, because this also happened to them last time, the sound guy didn't show up. It was a bummer because we couldn't hear Matias sing that clearly but still awesome, fun to listen to 'em. Nico drove us home around 2ish and I went straight to bed because I knew this weekend was going to be crazy.
Jessica unfortunately couldn't come this weekend. She hadn't been sleeping well and wisely realized another sleepless weekend with booze and partying probably wasn't the best idea. Me on the other handdd haha no, I'd been sleeping just fine so I was good to go. I rolled over to Agustin's around 6PM with a birthday cake Jessica had made for him. Muy rico :) We chopped it up to eat on the drive there while sippin' on some mate. Agustin drove, Brad rode shot gun, Nico to my left and then me! It was a splendid 4ish hour ride there. Agustin was saying that Rosario is like the Chicago of Argetina because of their car manufacturing/industry stuffs. There's a big casino when you first get off the main freeway that gets you to the city too. Agustin (our ever faithful tourguide) told us that there's something they do now to keep the poorer people of the city from coming in and loosing all their money because I guess that had become a major problem. The villas were literally right across the street too and it always bums me out to see them, I can't wrap my head around people having to live like that. Which reminds me of something I had thought of the other day...Other than the very first Argentine boys I've met here, Matias and Nico and now Agustin and his whole crew are very wealthy for Argentine standards. It's not super common to have beach houses and take weekend trips whenever you want and what not. Agustin seems very aware of this though, he's fortunate to have parents so well off because of their successful careers and he doesn't flaunt their wealth. He only seems eager to share it. Just as he was eager to share with us his home city where he grew up and his home. We got to his house around 11PM that night and there were cases of alcohol and the first keg I've seen in a while haha. And of course LOTS of meat. I met a lot more of his friends and his SEVEN sisters and his other brother. Everyone was super nice, but I expected nothing less. It was a really good time :)
Saturday we got up around one, ate some sandwiches and headed out to meet up with some friends who have a boat! Something like 15 of us got on this little boat and rode out to an island to chill for a few hours. So lovely :) We made a fire for a bit, walked around most of the island. There were horses on it! And a house...one of the girls was telling us that there's a fisherman who lives with his wife and kid on the island. They live off what he catches in the river. There aren't really any laws I guess on these little islands that were throughout the river (there were two guys smoking weed when we hopped off the boat), so people could do that if they wanted. Not that this is something I think people would do as a choice, this family on the island was extremely poor and has no other choice.
We hopped back on the boat and though it was night time, as promised, Agustin took us to the monument. It was AWESOME. It's from the monumentalismo movement and that movement was all about BIG buildings. 25th of May is the dia de la patria. A day of revolution against Spain in Argentine history. This monument was built in remeberance of the day and the soldiers who died during the fighting over Argentine independence... Unfortunately my camera is shot up Agustin took a ton of photos so I think he's going to email them to me or something so I can share! We went back to his house to enjoy some pizza his youngest sister had made. And then we took off back for Bs As. A little earlier than we had planned because Hernando needed to get back and Nacho, who he had ridden with left. So Segundo (A different Agustin's nickname), Hernando, Agustin, Nico and I headed back. On our way out though we stopped at a beautiful park. Rosario was beautiful. A bit cleaner and WAYYY safer than the capital. There isn't a park in Bs As that I would stop and walk around in at night, even with 4 guys, but it wasn't a problem in Rosario. Much more peaceful feel to the place. I dug it :) After dropping Nando and Segundo off, they took me to my apartment and at 2 in the morning I invited them up for a glass of wine. That was a nice way to end the trip! Especially since one of the bottles we drank was from his birthday wine and they had gotten him so goooood stuff!
Today, Sunday I lounged around. Sleeping, eating and reading. Good recovery :)