Loren Kure

Outside the high rise bustle of Buenos Aires, the Pampas run for hundreds of miles in every direction. The endless flat plains have been essential to developing an integral portion of Argentine culture, for nearly every restaurant in the country serves some sort of beef oriented entre. Steak and wine are the key ingredients to a porteno’s diet. There are more cows in Argentina than there are people, over fifty million for Argentines are the second highest consumers of beef worldwide. Dotted throughout the pampas are numerous Estancias, working ranches that having been providing the nation with its beef for over three centuries. My traveling companions and myself left Buenos Aires aiming to stay on an Estancia via a trip to Iguacu on the Brazilian border. We arrived in Corrientes early one morning after an overnight ... read more

I took the early morning Amtrak (http://www.amtrak.com/) from my home in Orange County, connected at Union Station in Los Angeles and continued on to Ventura. The coastal city lies right where the 101 freeway hits the ocean and then turns north towards Santa Barbara. Upon arrival I grabbed a prearrange cab ride to the Island Packers headquarters located in Ventura Harbor. Island Packers (http://islandpackers.com/) is the sole way out to all five of the Channel Islands (minus your own boat). Check-in was quick and easy and thirty minutes later I was aboard the Island Adventure, a two story catamaran that operates off of bio-diesel. The captain came over the loud speaker with a series of safety instructions, facts and jokes as we made for open ocean. On a normal day, one can spot Santa Cruz and ... read more