I spent the first half of the day relaxing at the hostel's pool (there really is nothing else to do in San Ignacio), and the second half in the bus to Salta.
Being on the road, I thought it would be a good opportunity to blog about something related to roads: street names in Argentina.
In Argentina, every city pretty much has the same set of street names, just arranged differently. The same goes for Chile, by the way, only that their set of names is partly different from the Argentine set.
Many of the street names relate to the country's history. For example, there's always either a street or a plaza called Independencia. The second most popular street name seems to be that of general San Martín, also called the liberator. Other people from the military (and presidents, which was sometimes the same) make up quite a number of street names. Just a few examples: Belgrano, Urquiza, Sarmiento, Rivadavia, Bulnes, Hipólito Yrigoyen, Guëmes, etc.
Cristóbal Colón, the discoverer of America, can also be found in every town.
Another source related to history are dates, such as 9 de julio, 25 de mayo, or 20 de febrero.
Cities and countries, mostly South American ones, also make up street names: Buenos Aires, Salta, Santa Fe, Corrientes, Paraná, Montevideo, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Venezuela, etc.
At first, this somewhat fixed set of street names struck me as a little unimaginative. But then I got to thinking: is it really all that different in Germany? We also have streets referencing political figures, important dates and local geography.
Still, there are some differences: Germany has a lot of streets named for artists, scientists, animals, and plants - these seem to be underrepresented in Argentina. The reason for this may be that streets in Argentina are typically very long: due to the rectangular city layout, there are streets that span the entire length of a city. This means that there are fewer street names required compared to the highly irregular German city layouts. Another reason might be that
Argentina's comparatively short history hasn't produced that many important heroes (in whatever area) yet.
It also seems to me that street naming in Germany is a little more localized. Towns honor their local politicians, artists and scientists, rather than only referencing people of countrywide importance.
Being on the road, I thought it would be a good opportunity to blog about something related to roads: street names in Argentina.
In Argentina, every city pretty much has the same set of street names, just arranged differently. The same goes for Chile, by the way, only that their set of names is partly different from the Argentine set.
Many of the street names relate to the country's history. For example, there's always either a street or a plaza called Independencia. The second most popular street name seems to be that of general San Martín, also called the liberator. Other people from the military (and presidents, which was sometimes the same) make up quite a number of street names. Just a few examples: Belgrano, Urquiza, Sarmiento, Rivadavia, Bulnes, Hipólito Yrigoyen, Guëmes, etc.
Cristóbal Colón, the discoverer of America, can also be found in every town.
Another source related to history are dates, such as 9 de julio, 25 de mayo, or 20 de febrero.
Cities and countries, mostly South American ones, also make up street names: Buenos Aires, Salta, Santa Fe, Corrientes, Paraná, Montevideo, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Venezuela, etc.
At first, this somewhat fixed set of street names struck me as a little unimaginative. But then I got to thinking: is it really all that different in Germany? We also have streets referencing political figures, important dates and local geography.
Still, there are some differences: Germany has a lot of streets named for artists, scientists, animals, and plants - these seem to be underrepresented in Argentina. The reason for this may be that streets in Argentina are typically very long: due to the rectangular city layout, there are streets that span the entire length of a city. This means that there are fewer street names required compared to the highly irregular German city layouts. Another reason might be that
Argentina's comparatively short history hasn't produced that many important heroes (in whatever area) yet.
It also seems to me that street naming in Germany is a little more localized. Towns honor their local politicians, artists and scientists, rather than only referencing people of countrywide importance.
