Rio Cuarto

Hi! As promised this post is about Rio Cuarto the city that I am living in! I finally went out and took a ton of pictures of everything, and I felt like a total tourist, but oh well. So Rio Cuarto means fourth river in spanish and there is a river going through the middle of the city. It is wide and  super shallow. At the banks of the river is where the slums are and there are a ton of run down shacks that people live in. There are also a lot of horses because a lot of the poor people ride through town in horse drawn carts picking up garbage bags and then they go through it and save stuff. I haven't taken a picture of the horse drawn carts yet but I will. 


I live a ten minute walk from the center of town which is really nice because I can walk almost everywhere. And if I can't walk I take the bus. There are two parts of Rio Cuarto, the center and then when you cross the river its called Banda Norte. But all the shopping is in the center part, thats also where the plaza is. 


Rio Cuarto is pretty dirty, there is a ton of garbage in the streets. This is partly because everybody leaves there garbage on the curb just in bags and then the street dogs come and break the bags looking for food. Thats another thing, there are a ton of street dogs. At first this was something I found really different because there aren't street dogs in my town, but now i'm use to it. There is also no recycling in Rio Cuarto, actually there is one at the Walmart but thats one for all of Rio Cuarto which is around 150,000 people, and no one uses it.  


In Argentina the food stores are super different too. There are stores for just fruits and vegetables, others with just meat, bakeries, and the ones that have the processed food. But there aren't stores like safeway that have everything in one store. There are also tons of Kioscos that sell gum, candy, crackers, cookies, etc. Another common store is Grido which is icecream! Also there are a lot of cafes like Dos Banderas, Luis Maria, and Delicity (which is where a lot of teens go). There aren't fast food restaurants except one McDonalds, which is located in a little mall where there is also a movie theater. 


In Banda Norte there is a huge park called Parque Sarmiento, its really pretty and a very popular spot to go and have mate with friends! I went last sunday with the other exchange students to talk with everybody.


Oh every friday at around 6-8pm a ton of teens go down town and walk around this one block and catch up with friends or make plans for the weekend. We go there usually every Friday. 

I'm not sure what else I can write about Rio Cuarto....There is a lot of cute old cars, which is different from my town. I like them a lot but my host sister doesn't.


So I'm going home in about 5 weeks from now, I really can't believe the time has gone by soooo fast! The people are really nice here and I feel like they are warmer in general compared to the US. I will miss all my new friends here a ton but also I miss my friends at home. But i have to go home, but i will visit Rio Cuarto again, hopefully soon! 








                                       My school!

                                                 The Plaza

There are a lot of motor cycles and mopeds here too, theres a few in this picture.

This is the church my family goes to sometimes, it is so beautiful!

This is a group of boys on bicycles, they are everywhere in little groups biking in the streets.

Here is a Verdulería where they sell fruits and vegetables, i've gotten fruit here a few times!

 Here is a picture I found on wikipedia, its of the plaza but its from 2005 so they haven't put the fountain in the middle that is there now. Its also taken in the spring so things are more green then they are at the moment!