A two hour bus ride took me to a cowboy town of San Antonio de Areco. It is a historic town with a river that runs through it. When I arrived, I headed over to the information booth and noticed for the first time in Argentina, bug screen for the windows. Oh shit. I didn't bring mosquito repellant. Why should I? I haven't had a bite in at least two weeks in Buenos Aires. Silly novice traveller me.
As I walk into town along the tiled sidewalks and underneath all the singualar short trees planted in front of every one-storey house, I try to hope that the mozzies will go after all the other travellers that are walking alongside me. But wait, my great idea was to wear shorts because it was a warm day. About ten minutes later, I arrived at the Tourist Centre. It used to be a general store from the early days of the town and they had converted it. I was there to find out if I could get lodging. I emailed a bunch of hotels a few days before I left asking about rooms but recieved no replies. The Tourist centre managed to find me lodging. For free. In a church. I walked for about twenty minutes from the town centre to the church. It was as grand as any Catholic church I've ever been in, which is not many, as I am not Catholic. The room had two twin beds, a TV, a plug in mosquito killer and a private bathroom. The priest (I'm assuming-he had the black and white collar thing going on) said that the kitchen was ok to use. Of course, who had any energy to cook. I headed back into town to grab grub. I went to this nice restaraunt where I overheard some customers discussing where I'm from. Hmm... Chinese? Japanese? Mexico? Mexico?!! Well when they heard me speak English, they probably went into a tizzy. Kinda funny, I think.
After dinner, there was a live performance in front of the Tourist office. Some local latin band that played some songs that are common to the styles here and then some tango and then some hymns (it was Easter weekend). I left after the 2nd hymn and headed back to the church to watch TV. Which was fine because everything was closed.
Overall, a nice trip. It's nice to get away from the city and into towns that are more laid back and down to earth.
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