Parana [Archive] - Argentina Private

Lexton

04-09-06, 22:41

I came to Parana from Santa Fe, since they are only about 10 miles apart on opposite sides of the Parana River. I spent 6 days here. I was planning on up to 2 weeks, but left after one week. The city is interesting in some ways, but I didn't find it comfortable for anything. I don't believe it is very interesting for mongering.

Parana is a city of about 250,000, a population the same as Posadas. But that is deceptive, because I think the commercial size of Parana is larger and more prosperous than Posadas, probably due to tourism and Santa Fe commuters. There has been a significant change in Parana since the completion of the tunnel under the Parana River to Santa Fe in 1969. The cities are now only about 30 minutes apart by road. Prior, the city was quite isolated. That probably accounts for the big internal differences one sees in the city. There are 3 major parts to the city, and to me that contributes to the difficulty, since they don't fit together well.

Because of the riverfront, this is a traditional resort city. There were beaches along the river. There may be people who still go in the river in summer, but the water is ugly. There is still a definite tourist resort kind of atmosphere in the main town center and riverfront areas. There is a major new balneario (riverfront area) along the river in the north of the city. It is like the costaneras (riverside parks) of other cities in that it is along the river, but it is constructed mostly of stone tile and concrete, more like a pier highway / sidewalk, high above the water. I don't think this is as attractive as the parks, but it is very nice.

The northwest area of the city is all new high end construction, completed since the tunnel. It fills the area from the new park on the river in the far northwest to the old town center. It is perhaps 100+ square blocks. There is a high hill (almost a cliff) along the river in the northwest corner. There are many luxury high rises built on this cliff, and 2 luxury hotels: Maran Suites and Towers in the far northwest (sgl $ar150, dbl $ar200) and Mayorazgo Hotel Casino closer to the city center (sgl $ar85, dbl $ar120) These hotels provide a panoramic view of the Parana River. There is not much on the other side of the river, so the view at night does not contain a city panorama. For me, it would not be comfortable to stay in these hotels because they are about 10-15 blocks from the city center. There is NOTHING to speak of in the area of these hotels except high end housing, which is always boring from the outside. So even a trip to a pharmacy or kiosk is likely to be 10 blocks. I walked back 2 times from the Mayorazgo and that was enough for me. The second time, I was going to take a taxi on Sunday night, but there was a line for taxis, so I walked.

The main city center has much beauty. The main square 25 de Mayo is one of the most impressive I have seen. It is large, and there are beautiful older buildings on all 4 sides. There is a MacDonalds on one of the outside street corners of the square, and even it is a large 2 floor restaurant in a beautiful 2 story building, European style. There is a Peatonal (pedstrian shopping street) six blocks long on Calle San Martin. It is deceptive because they are LONG blocks, so the peatonal is I think larger than the 7 block one in Santa Fe. The peatonal has more upscale and larger stores than Santa Fe, and I think is more interesting. It is all new, probably in the last 10 years.

There are no good hotel options in the city center. The best location hands down is the Gran Hotel Parana, right on the main square. It seems to have balcony rooms overlooking the square. I didn't look at the rooms, but the office lady in Apartments Urquiza told me it is expensive for what you get, and I have reason to believe her. The superior rooms are $ar150 sgl and $ar190 dbl. Presumably the superior rooms would overlook the square.

I stayed in Hotel Parana Plaza Jardin, same owner as Gran Parana, on 9 de Julio one LONG block away from the main square. I had a superior dbl for $128, on the second floor with a view of the plain wall of another building, but it did have a nice new bed and a frig. It had been recently redone. It is a 2 story hotel. It has a nice interior garden in the reception area. They serve only a minimum continental breakfast, so I had a bad omelette in a big cafe on the main square every day. It was the best option I could find. My experience has been that as the towns get smaller, the options for eating become much more limited, especially for breakfast and between 3:00 and 8:30 PM. Clorinda had only one cafe open all day.

Another option might be Apartments Tribunales, on the northwest corner of the center area, only a little out of the way. I didn't look at the rooms, but the building looks nice and relatively new. After that it just falls off like a cliff. NO friges. Well located are the Hotel Circulo and the Gran Hotel Alvear. I saw the rooms in Circulo. Clean and serviceable, a little worn. There is a hotel Posta del Sol, but it is located way out of the central area toward the tunnel entrance.

There is a main North-South street that splits the city, Av Ramirez. It once defined the east boundary of the city. There is now almost half of Parana east of Ramirez, creating the 3rd section of the city. It looks generally poorer than the old town west of Ramirez. Still, on the trips thru the east side, I saw mostly paved streets, unlike the suburbs of some other cities.

The omnibus terminal is located at Ramirez and 25 de Mayo, about 10 blocks from the center. It is possible to walk from the center to the terminal at night. Use normal city caution. Taxi is about 4 pesos. It is possible to walk thruout most of the city east of Ramirez at night. I was a little tense walking rapidly thru a barrio on the west (Av Ramirez) end of Av Laurencena, the main street along the river, but had no problems.

There are restaurant options, many of which feature local fish from the river. I am not big on fish, so didn't look for it. I ate dinner in a mediocre "tenedor libre" right on the main square that did have a decent salad section, my priority.

On to the prospects of finding women. There are apartment ads in "UNO", the local daily. After crossing out the junk ads for lesbians, TV's, 10 different ads for "New Venus"(mostly TV's) etc there were about 10 ads left. I actually went to one of the apartments, "Angel VIP" at 286 Monte Caseros near Gualeguachu. A taxista took me as a recommendation, and they have an ad. The apartment is very nice in the reception area. There were 3 women at about 1:00 AM. Probably all would "doable" for most people, 7-8. I didn't ask prices, I would expect about $ar80/ hour, maybe $ar100 as they promote as "classy". They tell me there are 3 shifts, no spinners.

There are SW, maybe 20 total that I could find. Some work on Calle Alem between 9 de Julio and Ramirez starting about 9:00PM up to 1:00AM in a section of about 8 blocks. At a small park at the triangle intersection of Alem, Av Echague, and Ramirez there were maybe 5 or six total, with at least one TV. There were also a couple others and a TV on Echague, a short diagonal street of about 5 blocks. There were also a couple on Ramirez across from the omnibus terminal. Overall, these were among the worst SW I have seen in Argentina. I saw what might have been some coke activity in the area of the park and terminal, a definite turn off. Coke heads are likely to be dangerous. Prices are about $ar50 + hotel.

I stumbled accross a house on Almafuerte on the right walking about 1/2 block from its beginning at Ramirez. There was a fat woman in a skimpy outfit standing in the door, and I talked to her. She is from Santa Fe, and works in this house in Parana. I could see 2 women sitting in a living room at the end of a hall that looked worse. She said there were no better women. I didn't look for a number.

There are 6 bars in the area. They call these "clubs", but some are more like what are called "quilombos" in Paraguay. Small one room bars almost open in front. In Asunción, there are probably at least 100 of these, almost all too dangerous for a lone tourist. All the bars here are located way out from the city center, on the east side of the city. The only really useful way to use these bars is have a taxi wait while you pick a woman and take her out. You do not want to be out there alone. Apparently there is a prohibition against bars in the town center. This is becoming a depressingly familiar situation. Posadas, Corrientes, and now Parana and Concordia have no bars in town. Resistencia had one, and Santa Fe had two so at least it is possible in those provinces. It may be prohibited all over Entre Rios, since it is in Parana and Concordia, the 2 largest cities. Most of the bars are on Av Almafuerte, a main drag out of town. I went around on Monday, a very bad night, as 3 were closed.

Proceding out from Ramirez on Almafuerte, there is "Barrabas" at Almafuerte and Blas Perrera ($ar8 on the taxi meter from el centro) ugly inside with 2 women 5-6.

Perhaps 8 blocks left (north) on Blas Perrera at Av Don Bosco there is "La Reina de La Noche", closed.

On Almafuerte about 4 blocks further than "Barrabas" is "El Zorzal", very small with 3 women 5-6.

On Calle 777 just off Almafuerte ($13 on the meter) is "QueQuen"(phonetic spelling, there is no sign) closed.

Perhaps 6 blocks north of Almafuerte on Calle Jorges Berges (is Calle 777 on other side of Almafuerte) is "Roberts", closed.

On Almafuerte way in the country ($ar20 on the meter) is "Barracudas" ugly inside with 2 women 5-6.

The whole taxi tour cost me $ar55. The bars that were closed did not look promising from the outside. I would expect prices to be no higher than $ar40-50 for a woman, with drink prices around $ar5. This is a very low end scene. There were NO customers in any of the bars at 12:30-1:30AM.

I certainly hope my luck improves in one of these cities.