Further on and daydreaming, nearby the Zoological Gardens, I glanced right and came face-to-face with the Czech Embassy to the Argentine, and throughout the trip I was forever finding a ubiquitous beer called Pilsen, brewed in Paraguay, and named after the Czech town of Plzen, which was where the Czechs began to brew beer with a revolutionary method to the norm - bottom fermented - resulting in an endless stream of Pilsner lager ever since, and many Czech men have tried and failed to drink this endless stream dry in their lifetimes. Plzen's novel process was seen through beer-goggles as a sensation and has since been adopted by breweries throughout the world.
Onto Uruguay where there was plenty more Pilsen beer and I also found La Bohemia restaurant but didn't eat there because I wasn't hungry. Onwards to Montevideo and in a shady park, hung up on a tree, a painting that can only be Franz Kafka as a youngster ... bizarre ... and by Porto Alegro in Brazil it was definitely time for a Pilsner Urquell which I found at the central market during a downpour whilst dodging pickpockets and at night I drank one while watching American football on TV then slept like a log.
In Brazil more Czech connections were made with the name Júlia Kubitschek, a lady of Czech and Romany (gypsy) origin who gave birth to little Juscelino who went on from 1956-61 to become a revered President of what was then known as 'The Republic of the United States of Brazil', much admired for his public works, social outlook and care for the people. Thousands of Brazilian roads are named after him.
Bata shoe shops also appeared on South American high streets, reminding me of the legendary Czech founder Tomaš Bata and his son Tomaš, who after World War II saw all Bata company's Eastern European assets confiscated and nationalized by newly installed communist governments in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland and Yugoslavia. Unabashed he moved operations to Canada and began setting up shoe factories across North and South America where one of Tomaš II's sons, Honza, became known as 'The King of Shoes' for expanding Bata sixfold, and he liked the continent so much that he settled in Brazil.
Finally, during a sunny stroll along the tree-lined backstreets of Santa Fe, I stumbled upon a brewery and on the wall was a map of Bohemia and you can guess what type of beer they were serving. Nazdravi Americanos!