Couchsurfing: Encuentro Rosario

Hi folks,

Morning sun reflecting off street art: Rosario

Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to do cross off two items that I've been interested in doing for a long time. The first was visiting Rosario. The third largest city and one of the largest export and import hubs in the country, Rosario sits strategically along the Parana river and is home to a million and a quarter residents. It also is home to Argentine football star Lionel Messi and has a large monument to the flag of Argentina. As Rosario is located only 300 kilometers from Buenos Aires, it has long been a destination on my list of places to visit in Argentina.

The second item was to participate in a couchsurfing event. Martin, one of my good friends and a student of mine, has been participating in a number of these events in La Plata, another large city close to Buenos Aires, for several months now, so when he invited me to attend this event in Rosario, I immediately agreed to attend.

Autumn leaves

For those of you who don't know of couchsurfing, it is a social networking organization, much like facebook, except that it works to link people from around the world who are looking for a couch to sleep on for one or two nights. You set up a profile with information about yourself, and the more activities you do, the more people you connect with, the more you will be vouched for as a couchsurfer. As I don't use couchsurfing very much (my account still says I live in St. Louis, Missouri), I don't have any reviews or vouchers, but that didn't keep me from participating in the event in Rosario, which took place from the 20th - 22nd of June.

Monument to the flag

I have to say that the event was very well structured, and the multicultural experience, the friendships fostered, not to mention the two and a half days of forced Spanish practice, all worked together to form a valuable experience that I would recommend to anyone trying to have fun and travel on a budget.

Below I have given a list of the events which we participated in during the weekend. Since we couchsurfed there was no hotel expenses, and the majority of the activities were relatively budget-friendly.

Friday:

Photo in front of the monument!

1PM - Meditation - Unfortunately we missed the meditation because we arrived too late.

3PM - Attend Celebration of the flag day - That friday was the national celebration day for the flag of Argentina so thousands of people flocked to Rosario to see the president of the country, Cristina Fernandez, speak, and to listen to live music on the riverfront.

6PM - Merienda - We ate merienda (afternoon snack for all you yanks) in a small local pub with all the couchsurfers. There were probably over 100 of us in total, all from different provinces or countries.

11PM - Fiesta - I didn't go to the fiesta because by this time I was exhausted. Though I'm sure it was quite a rowdy time. : )



Saturday:

The grains and cereals stock exchange

On Saturday I ate McDonalds for the first time since arriving in Argentina. I learned that McDonalds has a secret menu here, as the Big Mac is conspicuously absent. This is the case because of a measure of currency values developed at The Economist and known as The Big Mac Index. This index is used to measure whether currencies are at the correct exchange rate, by measuring the value of a big mac in different countries throughout the world. The government has thus forced McDonalds to keep the price of the big mac artificially low to mask some of the problems with inflation it has experienced in recent years. Now, if you walk into any McDonalds in Argentina you won't find the big mac, but that doesn't mean it's not there. No, it's just hiding, and all you need to do is ask, and it's cheap compared with everything else.



After the big macs, we went to another local pub to watch Argentina play Iran in the world cup. When the game finished we were given tours by local Rosario couchsurfers who showed us some of the most important parts of the city.

Later that night we cooked Pollo al disco, chicken and rice in a very wide cooking pan over a fire, and then we went to a boliche for a night of fun-filled dancing.

Here we are! With pollo al disco!

Sunday:

On sunday we woke up late and made our way to a local club along the river where we could all cook asado in one big couchsurfing group. it was bring your own food, and I settled for two chorizos, perhaps my favorite sausage of all time. Why chorizo doesn't exist in the U.S. is an enigma to me, an unsolved riddle worthy of any businessman with a look to importing a successful replacement for the bratwurst.

Three couchsurfers and Fontanarrosa

The weekend culminated with the asado. After numerous photos and farewells, we, the original five of us who came from Buenos Aires, began our return journey to the capital.

All in all it was a great weekend spent, a valuable experience shared, and a wonderful cultural opportunity for any budget-conscious traveler.






Cheers until next time,

Kyle

Couchsurfing group photo