Blogs from Argentina, South America - page 3

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South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires January 11th 2024

Argentina is a larger country than one might suspect - larger than Mexico and Texas put together. Independence was established in 1809 when Napoleon weakened the colonial hold by causing a civil war in Spain. Argentina was the first South American country to seek independence and was ruled by a central government in Buenos Aires. By 1825, several regions broke away becoming Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay. Argenta means silver and this was the initial resource. Today, grain, cattle, wine and a limited amount of oil make up the majority of their exports. Their government has always been in constant turmoil, swinging wildly from far right dictators, to labour oriented regimes labeled radicals, to strict military rule. Although, the basis for a strong economy has always been there, no government has ever been able to control inflation. ... read more

South America » Argentina » Río Negro » El Bolsón January 10th 2024

There are some rare occasions in life where you can only look on in wonderment, doff your cap, bow, kowtow, salute and pay homage. A Christmas-eve amble along the shoreline of Ushuaia, popularly known as 'the end the world'. Arrive at the iconic but cliched money-shot spot, and chance upon half-a-dozen champagne-swigging revellers and a smallish, taught, rugged, ruddy man standing next to the 'you have arrived sign' and his loaded, long-distance bicycle. Intrigued, linger quietly aside, and try to unobtrusively capture the occasion with a photo or two. It is cool, in the late afternoon, and the tourist spot is unusually empty. One of the party approaches, and hesitantly at first in broken Spanish, then reasonable, thick-accented English, asks if I know who the cyclist is. "Not a clue." "He is very famous in ... read more
Noshi arrives in Ushuaia the day before Christmas
Noshi ride
11pm Ushuaia summer solstice

South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires January 6th 2024

It has been a long while between trips and, hence, blogs. Covid put everything on hold but now Monica and I are off again. The goal of this trip is a cruise around the southern tip of South America. We will start in Buenos Aires Argentina and finish in Santiago Chile. But it is going to take us two days of travel just to get there. On the 30th of December, we jumped aboard the 9:00 AM ferry from Gabriola to Nanaimo. Patty and Don are our travel companions and the four of us starting walking towards the Hullo ferry that would take us across to Vancouver. Our bags are pretty heavily packed what with both summer and winter clothes so we were fortunate that the shuttle bus stopped to pick us up. The 11:00 ferry ... read more

South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires » Buenos Aires January 2nd 2024

We checked out of our Airbnb and checked into the Grand Recoleta Hotel. We met our group at 12:30 for a walk around the neighborhood. The grocery store and the money exchange were of interest to most of our group. After our tour Mark and I went to an Italian restaurant at the Recoleta Mall. It is New Years Eve and all of the shops and restaurants will close early and will be closed tomorrow. We stopped at the store to buy bread and cold cuts so we can make lunch on our travel day on Tuesday. At four we meet with the group for an orientation. Out guide explained in detail what we should expect for the following two weeks. Our fellow travelers (24) introduced themselves. They are a well traveled group of people and ... read more
La Boca
Guards parade to the Cathedral where they guard politician’s body
Local filmmaker

South America » Argentina » Tierra del Fuego » Ushuaia December 21st 2023

Sprayed on, snorted on, sneezed on by three different animals on three different continents. Riding on the back of an elephant ambling knee-deep up a small mountain stream in Laos, the graceful lady dipped her trunk into the water, took a good suck and turned her long snout upwards, backwards over her head, and let loose. Straight at me. While elephants use this practice to cool their backs, I strongly suspect she knew exactly what else she was also doing. Get up close and personal, face to face with a camel on its haunches in Petra, Jordan. Its nostrils are already flared. Without warning the animal sneezes over my face, or more correctly, mostly over my camera and hand, with a woollen beanie protecting the top of my head. Now a Southern right whale approaches ... read more
Ushuaia
Dockside
Big blue

South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires » Buenos Aires December 19th 2023

Mark and I took the metro to China Town today. We bought some Christmas lights and a Christmas ornament to make our apartment more festive. We had lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant and a robot delivered our food. we walked a lot today. Christopher and Laura have arrived in Buenos Aires. We started out by going out to lunch for pizza. The pizza here is very heavy on cheese, light on sauce and toppings. After lunch we take the hop off and on bus. Our plan is to just stay on the bus. Christopher and Laura are tired so we rode the entire loop then went for a beer before heading back to the apartment. Cooking class is on the agenda for today. Taking a cooking class is a great way to learn about the ... read more
Christopher and Laura at our apartment
Cooking Class
Japanese Gardens

South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires » Buenos Aires December 10th 2023

We are in Buenos Aires for the month of December. Why, because it is summer here and we like the city a lot. We rented a two bedroom two bath apartment in the Palermo Soho neighborhood. We took a taxi from the airport and met with our landlord. Mark and I could not sleep on the plane so we are dragging when we arrive. After unpacking we head out for lunch. We ordered pizza which in Buenos Aires means it has a lot of cheese. Italians settled here but the pizza is not like what you eat in Italy. After lunch we go shopping. We could not find a large store so we shop across the street at the supermercado. Supermercado is an exaggeration this is a small neighborhood market. We are disappointed to find almost ... read more
Bike ride around a lake
Found tango dancers on Florida Street
Trying to join the dance

South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz December 4th 2023

Into the twilight zone. Dusk and dawn, the bookends of dreamworld. Where desires and destinies might dance and duel. Where you can't go, unless you have gone. And it is still only 50° south of the equator. The same parallel, on the Arctic side, as London, Kiev, Vancouver, with Moscow, Berlin and Stockholm etc even further north. Yet this is already 1,776km further south than Cape Town (34°), and 444km beyond Invercargill (46°), New Zealand's southern tip. A reminder that the globe is somewhat top land-heavy. Would not physics prescribe the ball folllowed gravity and rolled over so the continental chunks of Asia, Europe and North America could play ballast to the sphere? Fickle cartographers, indeed. Comandante Luis Piedrabuena, a little village, population 6,000, named after an Argentinian nautical pioneer of the Patagonian re... read more
El Loco, the new president
Odd carousel
Lance's hand

South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » El Calafate November 24th 2023

Our rest day started off with hotel breakfast (so I did have to set an alarm). We did a little exploring after, and found a cute park with very informational signs near the hotel. We couldn't have asked for better weather! Sunny and warm, about 70, with no wind. Part of our wandering included a typical part of travel for us: stop at an ATM to pull out some local currency for cash on hand. An odd thing happened-- every ATM at the bank looked like it would work, then said it couldn't fulfill our request. We even tried very low withdrawal amounts. Nothing. Everyone takes credit card, so we just moved on for now. After a little more wandering, it was about lunchtime. We stopped at a nice place for empanadas. Oh my gosh they ... read more
Enchilada lunch at La Tolderia
Lunchtime buddy
Yeti Ice Bar

South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires » Buenos Aires November 19th 2023

City of Rich Cultural Heritage, Stunning Architecture, Abundant Artistry, Warm, Passionate People, and Turbulent History Once we began exploring, we were out for several hours every day. But to simply list our activities, without sharing what we learned about the city, and the country, would be too shallow an offering. Hence, this blog entry is a long one, as the intent is to provide some historical and political context, as well as information about the places visited. We often take the hop on hop off city bus tour to get introduced to large cities, as their vastness can be intimidating, and Buenos Aires, with its population of over fifteen million certainly fits that description. The bus tours give us perspective and help us identify the places we want most to return to later. There were so ... read more
El Quarandi Tango Show
Teatro Colon
Cafe Tortoni




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