Roaming South America

Two neighboring towns that are completely different

July 20, 2026

Residencia, AR

Residencia, Argentina, is a small city near the corner of Argentina and Paraguay. The population is probably around 300,000. The city was founded in 1878 which means there's no really interesting old architecture. But, what the city does have is a lot of parks and greenspace. It has a long pedestrian-only avenue. Also, throughout the city, especially the city center, you'll find sculptures along the sidewalks. According to the wiki page there are around 500 sculptures throughout the city. I don't doubt that, at all. There are also a lot of murals done in releaf throughout the city, and I have pics in the photo album of many of them. Since 1988, the city has held the Biennial International Sculptures Contest, which is a big enough deal that it is sponsored by UNESCO. When the contest finishes, the sculptures remain in the city along the sidewalks, which explains why there are so many of them.

3 Towns between Salta and Corrientes, AR

July 17, 2026

Joaquín Víctor González

Joaquín V. González, Argentina, is located in north-central AR. It's a small town of about 21,000 people. This is an agricultural town. The local economy is based strongly on soy production, forestry exploitation, and cattle ranching. The town has a couple of banks and a half-dozen or so ATMs, but when I was here over a weekend, at least four of them were out of cash. There's also a casino, a modern supermarket, and a bus terminal. There are a few hotels and other accommadations. There are a couple of plazas and a couple of other parks. The town is flat as a pancake and can be easily walked, as in pretty much all of it, in a couple of hours.

Salta - a Pleasant City in Northern Argentina

July 14, 2026

Salta, Argentina - a city in north-central AR. The original name was San Felipe y Santiago de Lerma in the Salta Valley. The city sits at 1187 meters (3,894 feet) and has a population of about 640,000. Salta was founded in 1582. Salta has a fair amount of its early colonial architecture still standing and in use, many dating back to the early 1700s. Salta has quite a few pedestrian-only streets throughout the city center making it a nice walking city. Most streets in Salta are tree-lined, even in downtown. This is a feature of cities and towns throughout Argentina. The city's high temps range from 20° - 28° C (68° - 82°), averaging 24° C (75° F) year round. The lows range from 3° - 16° C (37° - 60° F), averaging 11° C (51° F). While I was here, the nights dropped to as low as 2° C (36° F) and days were just about as cold.

UNESCO Heritage Sites - Part 3

June 16, 2026

My previous 2 blogs talked about some of the towns (pueblos) east of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. After going out to Roboré and Santiago de Chiquitos, I returned to the town of San José de Chiquitos. San José is the turn-off point to do the northern circuit of the Jesuit Missions. The first stop is San Rafael. From there, you visit San Ignacio, Concepción, San Javier, and San Julián. Those are the towns with the UNESCO Jesuit Missions churches that survived the centuries and were restored in the 1980s and 1990s. The first blog of this series also spoke about the Jesuits and their missions, and the second blog also spoke about the Mennonites who live in this part of Bolivia.

UNESCO Heritage Sites - Part 2 - And the Mennonites

June 13, 2026

My previous blog was about some of the towns (pueblos) east of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. After going out to Roboré and Santiago de Chiquitos, I returned to the town of San José de Chiquitos. San José is the turn-off point to do the northern circuit of the Jesuit Missions. The first stop is San Rafael.