I'm back in Argentina now, preparing to head off to the Andes region. So far, I've visited Colon, a really nice small town right on the Uruguay River, and Santa Fe, a slightly larger town with a number of good museums and home to a few local breweries as well. Colon felt very much like a town that didn't see a lot of tourists, mostly because I didn't see any for most of my time there.
I somehow chose to ignore that fact that two houses on every block had signs which translated into "For rent to tourists". It didn't much matter, as my illusion of cultural isolation shattered when a group of about ten American teenage girls came strolling down the street towards me, clearly on some sort of class trip. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted. I hadn't heard people speaking english to each other (except on television) for quite a few days. I burned a morning strolling the tranquil streets before boarding a bus for Santa Fe.

I'd been told by fellow travellers about the terrific buses in Argentina, and this was my first exposure. In Uruguay, the buses got better every trip I took. All were fairly comfortable, but they seemed to get a little newer each time around. The trip from Montevideo to Paysandu even had service on it. A guy brought us candies and soda while we watched Mr. Deeds on the TV. I thought it was pretty nice. In fact, even the first bus was twice as comfortable as the torture instrument provided by Greyhound in the States for my four hour ride to Washington DC. Shameful. None of that compared to the Argentine bus, though. I had trouble buying the ticket because I couldn't understand one of the options she was offering. Upstairs or down. I chose down, but will choose up from here on out. I think the only bathroom is downstairs. Regardless, this bus was nice. There were fold out leg supports for people of normal height (I left mine folded up), cup holders, and a recline that didn't smash into my knees and shins. This was the first bus with that feature. They also provided a snack service, though it was only alfajores. Alfajores, for those of you unfamiliar, are the confectionary pride and joy of Argentinians. Every snack kiosk and sweet shop has a wide array of them tempting you with their creamy filling and candied appearance. As far as I can tell, alfajore loosley translates into Moon Pie. Typically the filling is a chewy caramel flavored substance meant to be the local delicacy, dulce de leche. I think the preserving process turns it into marshmallow consistency. Every time I go to the bakery to buy some pastries for breakfast I see something tempting and end up buying two or three. Every time I'm somehow surprised that they are what they are. I'm a slow learner.

I've spent the day today looking around the museums and government buildings of Santa Fe.
I received a thrilling one-on-one tour around the Penitentiary Museum. The guy showed me all the different places people had hidden shivs and described how marijuana pipes were whitted to smoke the marijuana smuggled in by girlfriends. He went into detail about the layout of prisons and various escape efforts. All interesting, I'm sure, but I didn't have the heart to tell him I really only understood about twenty words he said the whole time. Things like, "other", "hospital", "marijuana", and "have". Ah well, I don't think he'd met many folks from the US, so I smiled, nodded, and said "Si?" at times I thought it was appropriate.

Naturally, I tried some of the local brews here as well. All very good. Just to test my alfajore theory, I went to a local confectionary which is known for its alfajores. These were different, as the cookie was crunchy rather than chewy, otherwise, about the same. Now if only I could find some RC Cola.