Posted in Argentina, tagged argentina, buenos aires, south america, travel, world cup on August 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Argentina vs. Canada friendly match – the last home game in Buenos Aires before the Argentinean team headed to South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Argentina beat Canada 5-0, even without Lionel Messi, their star player (and my new favorite soccer player. Not that I had an old favorite soccer player…)
Woot woot!
Posted in Argentina, tagged argentina, buenos aires, dirty war, los madres, south america, travel on August 2, 2010| 1 Comment »
Asociacion Madres de Plaza del Mayo (The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo) is an organization of mothers who united in the 1970’s to look for their children who disappeared during the Dirty War.
During the Dirty War (1976-1983), the Argentinean government was responsible for the disappearance of more than 10,000 people – mostly political activists, students, and guerillas of the People’s Revolutionary Army. (The Mothers claim this number is more than 30,000 – the actual number is hard to determine given the circumstances.) The majority of these people are still unaccounted for.
Today, Los Madres, donned in white scarves, unite every Thursday in the Plaza De Mayo of Buenos Aires for a peaceful protest – demanding information on the whereabouts of those missing.
For more information about the Mothers, check out their official website… or check out the documentary – Las Madres Del Plaza
Posted in Argentina, tagged argentina, art, buenos aires, san telmo, south america, travel on July 31, 2010| 4 Comments »
We took a walking tour through San Telmo, one of the barrios in Buenos Aires which is well known for its street art. The roads are lined with graffiti and there are art galleries on every block – it’s a really cool place to wander around with a guide to get some great info on the local artists.
I’m really horrible with remembering names of artists and I should have taken better notes… but I’ll work in filling them in as I find them.
Our guide
My favorite gallery showing was artist Javier Lodeiro’s Wild Child exhibit:
Check out the ArtWalk blog at juanele.me (The archives from May show a lot of the galleries we visited if you are interested…)
Posted in Argentina, tagged argentina, buenos aires, fernet, south america, tango, travel on July 29, 2010| 5 Comments »
Buenos Aires, the largest and most metropolitan city in Argentina, is where The Khalerias ended their five month stint in South America.
Not unlike any other large city, BA is divided into 48 ‘barrios’ each with a style all their own:
Waterfront of the Puerto Madero district.
The Puente De La Mujer (Woman’s Bridge) in the Downtown area
Palermo – the most populated district, and where most tourists stay
Recoleta – home to a giant Mausoleum where Evita is buried.
San Telmo – the arts district
Buenos Aires offers a lot more than most cities in South America – cuisine variety, parks, countless markets, tango, and serious nightlife.
The most popular drink is Fernet, a bitter spirit drank with cola. You’ll have to ask Lina or Ryan for a positive recommendation – I think it tastes like Vodka mixed with dirt.
Besides eating/drinking/tango-ing, we spent some time taking in the local art scene and catching Argentina’s last futbol match before the World Cup…
Posted in Argentina, tagged argentina, mendoza, skydiving, south america, travel on July 25, 2010| 3 Comments »
On a whim, and perhaps after one too many glasses of wine at happy hour, Lina, Ryan and I decided to jump out of a plane in the middle of Argentina; we made a reservation, and went the next morning.
Our Skydive company wasn’t too into technology (?) – so we don’t have any of those rad pictures that everyone else gets when they skydive… Here’s what I’ve got:
The plane.
Closeups: the sign under the pilots window, and of Ryan’s jumpsuit.
We all went in a little skeptical, and a lot nervous – but came out debating whether or not we wanted to make an appointment to jump again the next day.
Skydiving is pretty incredible.
**A sidenote: Our Instructor made us watch an ‘informational DVD’ before we went up, which mostly highlighted a really strange young guy screaming U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What Im Looking For – the ENTIRE time he was coming down from his jump. This prompted a lengthy discussion on the perfect skydiving song. So far, the best we have come up with is Lets Ride by The Bone Thugs & Harmony. Please Advise.
*** New frontrunner: Broken Wings, by Mr. Mister (which might be the best band name. ever.)
Posted in Argentina, tagged argentina, bike tours, mendoza, south america, travel, wine on July 19, 2010| 3 Comments »
The city of Mendoza is most well known by backpackers as ‘that city in Argentina where you go on bicycle wine tours’. For me, it brings back memories of endless bottles of Malbec, giant steaks, and vicious games of Backgammon.
Most travelers come to take a bike tour through the wine country of Maipu, right outside Mendoza city limits. From there, you can rent bikes on the cheap and ride around to the different wineries… which is a pretty novel idea if you aren’t from California and do that all the time anyway. We decided to spice it up a little by renting a tandem.
(The Khalerias recommend Mr. Hugo for all your bicycle needs. They run their rental business out of their home, and are inexpensive, friendly, and will serve you lots and lots -and lots- of free wine before and after you take your bike out for a spin. Perfect for riding on a busy main road at rush hour!)
I was having too much fun with Lina and Ryan to take many pictures while we were here… but you get the idea
A bike tour was pretty much all we accomplished while we were in Mendoza, besides stuffing our guts with giant steaks every night. Extra thanks to the awesome Hostel Lao, which was so comfortable we felt right at home.
Scratch that. We managed to jump out of a plane (!) the last day we were in Mendoza – before heading to Buenos Aires. More on that next post…
(We’re about to board a charter boat for four days along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Be back on the 23rd!)
Posted in Argentina, tagged argentina, bariloche, Hiking, south america, travel, Trekking on May 28, 2010| 1 Comment »
San Carlos de Bariloche was one of my favorite cities in Argentina – it looks, smells, feels just like Lake Tahoe… so it was pretty much a shoe-in. Summer hiking, beautiful weather, gorgeous lakes, and a hideout for ski bums come snow season.
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View of the city and lake
Cerro Campanario – once named one of the top ten views in the world by National Geographic. Lived up to the hype.
We spent some time here spoiling/rewarding ourselves for making it out of southern Patagonia and back to civilization alive, and stayed here a few extra days… eating some seriously good falafel and chilling out at one of my favorite hostels in South America: Pudu. Then we hopped on a bus back to Chile to a small town named Pucon for some volcano climbing.
