Rosario, Argentina

Escaping the Chicago cold, I took the long flights down to Argentina connecting through Washington DC. After flying overnight and watching more crappy movies on United, I arrived in Buenos Aires around noon. The first 3 people I see are beautiful women, so I am already liking this place and I haven't even left the airport. I exchange some money and meet my driver, Cloudio, who speaks no English. I welcome this opportunity to practice the Spanish I learned in high school, so we set out on the 3 hour drive to Rosario with some choppy conversation.

Argentina Pictures

Rosario is the second biggest city in Argentina, and the refinery we are working in is about 45 minutes north of the city. The hotel is nice with a few people who speak some English. I met my chief, Pietro, on Sunday night and we went out for some food and wine. Argentina has a large Italian influence, which is apparent in the dining culture of sitting around all night and drinking wine. Works for me. After 3 days of working 10+ hours, Russ arrived so our group was 3 now.

The refinery is really old but the people are very friendly. The only thing that really surprised me was the stray dogs that wander the process areas. We went out with Luciano, an operations engineer (below), on Saturday to O'Connell's Irish Pub. Russ and I tried numerous local beers (like Quilmes), which were all delicious. We also had a car bomb just to feel at home. Then we wandered around to an outdoor cafe on the water, had another drink, and walked by the "disco" which is what they call a club. Everything is late here, just like in Spain and other countries that I don't even know about. Dinner doesn't start until after 9, and people don't even get to the club until after 1. The club we walked by had a line around the corner at 2:30am. Unbelievable.

Probably the funniest thing I heard the entire time I was in Rosario was a conversation with Luciano about The Simpsons. First of all, The Simpsons comes on everyday with dubbed voices. Bart sounds like a stereotypical dirty sanchez, which is already funny, but Luciano's anaylsis of the relationship between Homer and Ned Flanders was the best. "What I don't understand is, why does Homer hate Flanders so much? He is such a good man. It makes no sense." HA!

Sunday, Russ and I went to the beach. Yeah, eat that! Then we walked around an outdoor market during the evening and went for a run by the water. The hotel we were in is right down the street from a Peatonal, which is a pedestrian street with no cars on it. The street is lined with shopping and cafes, soooo it is a really good place to people watch. Basically, this place is amazing. I liked it a lot and wish I could have stayed longer. The women are beautiful, I got to practice Spanish, people are really friendly and diverse, and most importantly good wine is relatively cheap. Also the meat is really good, but the Malbec makes it that much better. I only got to stay 10 days since Petrobras was "overbudget," but it was worth the short trip. Back to Chicago.