Pre-Delta NP

Day 558,
59921 km since the beginning of the journey,
Gualeguaychú.

About the weather again. The last days have been drier. I was beginning to think for a moment that what was the point of constantly writing about the endless rain but reaching here, by the river of Gualeguaychú , it turned out that all the rainfalls of the past weeks had caused here a real flooding. At first could not realize the previous situation as the river was flowing nicely and neatly between the banks. Only the shores were somehow too dirty and muddy. And then I was shown the line of the water level on the wall of the house and that was sufficiently high. Almost 3 meters.


The red line in the picture shows the level of the water during the flood.


This has not been the first time that the river rises over its banks, and that`s why some of the houses are built on chicken feet. For a moment the idea came to mind to look for a much higher place to sleep, but as the overflow was said to be over for that time - then didn`t decide to drive on. In general this picture made me consider – where to stay overnight and where not. And the bus has already survived one flood in Pärnu county, so no need to take risks.


Bridges over the Parana River near Rosario.








Fisherman


Diamante, and another place to stay by the river.




Just caught the eye. This plane is definitely here to some particular reason, or to celebrate something important or to mark the occasion. Or something like that. But there was no sign or any other information.


The plan was to go to another place instead - to Pre-Delta National Park which is 4 kilometres away. The entrance there is free.


The trees are bare like in early spring (or winter), because it is August in the Southern Hemisphere, which should logically correspond with February. And the roads and paths here are nice and clean.














Another morning view of the Parana Riverr from the suburbs.


Santa Fe. Plaza 25 de Mayo.




Santa Fe. Convento of Santo Domingo.




Inside.




Sanfa Fe suspension bridge.

In general, you can freely take pictures of bridges and other interesting buildings. In Africa it was a bit different. In many countries photographing of bridges is prohibited. No matter that postcards of the same bridge are on sale on the same bridge.

More about traffic. The sun has appeared and police checkpoints on the road as well. Yesterday my driver's license was checked. And I looked for it perhaps more than 10 minutes until I remembered the “sure and safe place” - my pocket. So – it was quite funny. Today I was asked to present my fire extinguisher and warning triangle. Everything was in order. Usually during this kind of checks questions about my journey are asked.

And then the world map on the side door of the bus is of great help. I can show Europe and Estonia, and point out the journey through Africa. From here the long theme - are all the maps and stickers etc. on the side of the bus necessary - could be further developed, and both versions have their own merits and demerits. In short we can say outside Europe it is not possible to remain unnoticed and then it is more preferable to stress the journey. And with no stickers whatever this kind of a small and older bus could belong to this kind of suspicious vehicles that had to be stopped and searched through thoroughly. Quite boring. As to me – since March 2010, while travelling, I've had the stickers on my bus and just now I prefer this option.

But, that`s all for today