Day 12 - January 19 - Paraná

On Monday we visited the city of Paraná, across the river from Santa Fe. The two cities are connected by a tunnel beneath the river -- built in the 1960s. As Paraná is in the province of Entre Ríos, the two provincial governments had to work together to see the project to completion. (They built a tunnel instead of a bridge, because all bridge projects are under control of the federal government, and the government at the time refused to allow the provincial governments to go ahead. So the tunnel was a way of getting around federal regulations.) We were given a tour of the tunnel and its installations. I was surprised to learn that it was the only tunnel of its kind in South America.

After this we visited the city itself, stopping in Urquiza Park, where we had a beautiful view of the city and the river. The city was never officially founded -- it simply grew, when inhabitants of Santa Fe grew tired of living in fear of floods, and built houses on the cliffs across the river. It has some lovely colonial buildings and a fine 19th century cathedral.