Rosario, AR and last day at the Janzen's

Leana and I dropped the girls off at her friends place and took off for the 3rd largest city in Argentina, Rosario. Doug and Leana lived in Rosario when they first moved to Argentina almost 9 years ago. It is a beautiful city where I again, managed to do some shopping. There are so many gorgeous buildings that I had to take a few pictures.

After doing a bit of shopping, we found a hair salon and got our hair washed and straightened for about $10 each. Nice! After walking the 12 blocks of shopping streets that are blocked off to vehicles (the 2 top pictures above), we ended up at the National Flag Memorial (below - don't we look great with our freshly straightened hair-dos?).

This is the eternal flame and the Flag Memorial.

Here are some pics from the top of the Flag Memorial.

Funny story. When we got up to the top we walked out to one of the little balconies and I can't remember what we were chatting about but you could see the 2 guys in front of us stop what they were talking about and look at each other. They slowly turned around and when they say us they let out a loud, "Aaaaahhhh!" We just looked at them with this blank look on our faces and finally they said, "You speak English! Where are you from? What are you doing here?" They were suddenly very interested in us. We talked to them for a bit and when Leana finally told them she had been living in Argentina for 8 years, another gentleman pipes in and says, "Aaah, she tricked you. She wanted you to think she didn't speak Spanish!" We all had a good laugh and then walked away ... until we came to the next balcony and there they were again. Let me tell you, Argentine men are not shy. He looks at me with my camera and says, "Take a picture of us" and he takes my camera and hands it to his friend. We're standing there laughing and just as his friend is about to take the picture, he says, "Heads together!" and pulls us in for the picture below. It was quite funny. They did ask us to go dancing that night but we had to tell them we were heading back home. Phewf!

I thought the beautiful purple trees looked gorgeous next to the Merry-Go-Round.

The Memorial from the front.

It took me many attempts to get this picture of the flag flying just right.

And another shot from the front (different angle) because I couldn't decide which picture I liked better.

Aaaaah, the purple trees.

We went inside this church and we almost part of an infant baptism until we realized what was going on and that it was just for family. Oops!

As we walked back to our car, I looked up and saw this sign! Of course we had to go inside and find the store. I walked in and said, "Me nombre es Fiona" (yes, I said it in Spanish) and they were so cute. They handed me a bag and a sticker right away. I ended up buying some earrings from them. :)

We had enough time to stop for a "little" snack. I thought this looked lighter then the chocolate cake so we got this and man, was it sweet. Layers upon layers of dulce de leche (which is very similar to caramel) and then meringue on top. I LOVE sweet things so if you hear me say something is too sweet, it's off the charts. I ate as much as I could but got at least half of it wrapped up to go.

I also tried to get myself a bottled water at this place. Leana had been speaking for me almost the entire trip since she's fluent in Spanish, which is great, but I wanted to see if I could fend for myself. You'd think asking for bottled water (agua) wouldn't be so hard, right? Wrong! I went inside the restaurant (we were sitting on the patio) and put in my order (saying agua and using a bit of sign language) and they nodded to me. I asked (in English) if I should wait there or go back to my seat outside (pointing) and they pointed to my seat outside. I went back and waited ... and waited ... and waited. Finally, the waitress came outside and Leana asked her in Spanish and guess what? I got my bottled water. That really surprised me! I've done a lot of travelling and have been able to get by with English and sign language, so to not be able to get my own water was a shocker. Thanks goodness Leana is fluent.

After our wonderful day together, we picked up the girls and headed home. This is their wonderful home.

It's brand new and quite big. I forgot to get a picture of their huge backyard.

We did nothing the next day except sit in the sun and chat. It was great ... until it was time for me to pack. :( Doug came home that night and we all went out for supper.

Argentina is known for their bbq, so it was fitting that I had one of the best steaks ever that night. Look how thick it is!

We took a few last pics together ...

and I took a couple of their family when we got home ... sometimes dogs just don't cooperate. :)

There we go! Much better. What a beautiful family.

Leana drove me back to Rosario at 2:45 in the morning because my bus left at 4:30 (it's an hour drive) and off I went back to Bue.nos Air.es to catch a plane for the next 3 days of my adventure.

Bye Lea! At this point I was hoping I'd see the whole family again in Bue.nos Air.es before I flew out, but we weren't sure.

Stayed tuned for my solo adventure at Igu.azu Falls.