Resistencia, Argentina

The next stop would be Resistencia, really a stopover between Iguazu and Cordoba. Resistencia is in the province of Chaco, which shares the driest desert on the planet (or something like that) with Paraguay & Bolivia. Resistencia is famous for a joint venture between the government and private interests which paid to have sculptures distributed throughout the city. So everywhere you go, in the places you would least expect them, you see interesting sculptures. "Sculpture City," as it says on most of the bus stops. While this does make for some interesting strolls, the large city really does have a provincial feel, and not much else to offer. I got the sense that it was the kind of city where a fun night out on the town is going to share a 2-liter bottle of soda at a restaurant with friends. That being said, there were some trendy boutiques and bars/clubs. The city sleeps for the siesta, and is like a ghost town with no one anywhere. Then, around 4 or 5pm, all of the middle school and high school students come out to occupy the pedestrian streets, eating pizza and carrying on until 6 or 7pm when the adults come out to go window shopping. Lots and lots of window shopping. I got this impression of waves of groups of people coming in and out of the center on a schedule like tides, but I was only there for a day, so what do I know.

Walking around, it was cool to see the juxtaposition of all of the art with the urban surroundings of the city:

This week marked an anniversary of the Dirty War, a horrible episode in the history of Argentina which took place in the 70's and 80's. A military government kidnapped and tortured/killed anyone who gave the slightest indication of not supporting it. It has been interesting to see how Argentina copes with this shockingly brutal history, something that is a living memory for many. There was a demonstration by students  and organizations from the current government, urging "Memory, truth, and justice;" a common refrain. They played music, sang, painted, and barbecued throughout the entire day and night:  

I would learn more about the Dirty War in Cordoba.

This following museum, which chronicles (poorly) the history of indigenous Chaco culture, seemed shocked that an American was visiting. They seemed shocked that anyone at all was visiting, and gave me a personal tour through the various exhibits:

More pictures of Resistencia:

Punta del Este, Uruguay

Punta del Este has the reputation for being a Cancun-type location, but with the summer season over it is actually a laid-back, very nice city, although comparatively expensive. The main part of the city is on a narrow peninsula surrounded by ocean, so pretty much anywhere you go you are at the beach, which is very nice. I used Punta del Este twice as a stopping point between other destinations. One of my rooms almost had an ocean view. Well, it did have an ocean view. It was a real hotel room which I considered to be somewhat of a luxury, and for $50 I thought it was a good deal. The hotel's elevator, like many other elevators I have used during this trip, had an old fashioned metal gate which you have to open and close yourself before the elevator will move. Feels a little rickety, but its kind of fun to do it for yourself instead of having one of those elevator operators there.

The night before returning to Buenos Aires, I happened to run into Rocio, Naty, & Gaby, and we would travel back to Argentina together.

Hotel view:

The infamous "Fingers":

More photos from Punta del Este:

I've never seen so many people sunbathing facing away from the ocean: