From L.A. to B.A.

Happy Holidays Argentina!

2009-12-08T09:03:00.001-03:00

Despite the alleged separation of Church (i.e. Catholic Church) and State in Argentina, today is a public national holiday. Everything is closed and everyone gets to stay home because it’s the Feast of Immaculate Conception, or as Argentineans like to call it “Virgin Day.” Since the majority of the people in Argentina are Catholic, today is a very important day to many of them. Many families in Argentina choose today to decorate and light up their trees. As far as I can tell, today marks the beginning of the holiday season to many people in Argentina. So I wanted to write a little post wishing everyone Happy Holidays!

Why I Won’t be Ordering Takeout from Dashi Sushi Anymore

2009-12-05T09:00:00.000-03:00

Dashi Sushi is Fran’s favorite sushi place because of the outstanding quality of their food. I love Dashi Sushi too (maybe not as much as Fran, but I love it about as much as one can reasonably “love” a sushi place) because of the outstanding cleanliness of their kitchen and generous range of vegetarian options. I recently discovered that unlike other sushi places, they are aware that bacteria and flavor can transfer from one food to another, so they don’t use the same knives to cut different kinds of sushi. This to me is awesome, because it makes Dashi sushi the only place I know in BA where the vegetarian sushi doesn’t taste like fish! (In case you’re wondering, yes, I am aware of the contradiction between liking sushi and not wanting it to taste like fish! But the belly wants what it wants.)

However, a few nights ago, thanks to an inept and rude receptionist, our favorite sushi place let us down. Here’s what happened in a nutshell: we ordered Fran’s favorite sushi option and my favorite vegetarian dish (with no onions). When our order arrived, we paid for it, brought our stuff up to our apartment and when we opened the bag, we realized my dinner was missing. Fran called up the sushi place and talked to the same receptionist that had taken our order. After telling her they had messed up our order, she told him he had placed the order wrong. Fran pointed out that I was with him when he placed the order and that I heard him ask for my vegetarian dish. She said no, and told Fran that if he wanted my dish, he would have to pay for it –except we had already paid for it when they delivered Fran’s dinner! After a long unproductive talk with this woman, Fran got frustrated and hung up. But it was late and I was hungry, so I picked up the phone and called her again.

When I talked to her, I pointed out that we had already paid for my food when they sent us the first order and after another very long and unproductive talk in which she continued to blame Fran and literally made fun of him, she finally agreed to send me my food. I then asked if my vegetarian dish could have no onions, to which she agreed. I also pointed out to her that making fun of customers is incredibly rude and that, in the future, if she wants to laugh at customers to at least be intelligent enough to wait until she hangs up the phone. She said “ok,” and the conversation ended.

When my food came… it had onions! So when I called her up again, she blamed “the kitchen” and told me to look at my receipt where it said “no onions,” except my receipt didn’t say “no onions.” She still kept insisting that the people in the kitchen had messed up my order. I pointed out to her that it was a huge coincidence that if she was doing everything right as she said, my orders kept arriving all wrong. She replied by telling me something completely illogical and out of place in the lines of “you totally screwed things up with me.” I replied something like “first, that’s not how you talk to a customer (especially considering I had not been rude to her at all the whole time) and second, what does that even mean?”

Anyway, to make an unnecessarily long story short, when I asked to talk to her manager of course he/she wasn’t there, and when I threatened to make a formal complaint she was actually defiant and got ruder! So the next day I made a formal complaint, according to local law Dashi sushi has now 72 hours to submit my complaint to the authorities and take some sort of action. Needless to say, if nothing happens in 72 hours I will resort to my local Consumer’s Rights Office, but in the meantime I felt like sharing.

I love Argentina, but if I had to rate customer service here in a scale of 1 through 10 I’d give it a 2. As a result of my overall frustration with the way I’m sometimes treated by customer service reps, salespeople, and government employees in this country, I’ve decided to take a series of measures that I will be sharing with everyone soon… (hopefully after finals).

Small Tribute to Félix Luna

2009-11-06T18:57:00.004-03:00

Argentine lawyer, writer, and historian Félix Luna died yesterday at the age of 84. He was born in Buenos Aires on September 30, 1925 and came from a long line of political leaders. His family was originally from the province of La Rioja in the North of Argentina. He was a member of one of the oldest and most historic political parties in Argentina, the UCR, and his grandfather had been one of founders of the UCR in La Rioja. His uncle, Pelagio Luna, was vice-president during the Yrigoyen administration.

Félix Luna was an Institutional History professor at Universidad de Buenos Aires from 1963 to 1976, a Contemporary History professor at Universidad de Belgrano from 1967 to 1986, and an Argentine History professor at Universidad del Salvador in 1977.

He won several awards throughout his lifetime and was named outstanding citizen by the government of Buenos Aires in 1996. He was also the founder and editor of the magazine Todo es Historia and published more than 30 history books.

As someone who was raised abroad, I didn’t know much about Argentine history when I moved here… until I discovered Félix Luna. His books were not only educational, but captivating, and easy to read. In a time when Argentina is facing a cultural challenge, when local role models leave much to be desired, and culture and education have a hard time competing against soccer and mass media, Argentina lost one of its last cultural heroes. As with any great figure, his body has died, but the flame of his cultural legacy will live on forever in the hearts of his readers.

A Little Follow Up on Blog Action Day

2009-10-30T11:45:00.001-03:00

Argentina: A Country worth Preserving. Climate Change: A Serious Threat.

2009-10-15T17:11:00.011-03:00

Global warming is a fact. Climate change has already started to happen and it is affecting some of the world’s poorest people. Unfortunately, some of the world’s poorest people live in Argentina. So today, on Blog Action Day, a day in which thousands of bloggers all over the world are trying to raise awareness about global warming, its consequences, and the solution that will be drawn out in Copenhagen 2009, I would like to blog a little about how global warming is affecting Argentina.

Impact:

Climate change is affecting weather patterns, sea levels, seasons, and both glacial and polar ice. This, combined with poor environmental legislation and inhumane living conditions in some parts of the country, has caused flooding and severe damage to crops and to the health of the general population. It has already taken a huge toll on the Argentine economy and will continue to do so unless a proper legal framework focusing on environmental protection and economic development is enforced.

Endangered places include Península de Valdés, one of the most magical places I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. The peninsula has already been declared an endangered area. It is currently listed as one of 100 places to visit before they disappear and is being referred to as a “place to remember.” It hasn’t disappeared yet and there’s still a lot we can do to save it!

Government Response:

Surprisingly good! According to a recent study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Argentina and Mexico are the only two G-20 countries that are currently improving carbon productivity fast enough to meet climate targets. The UN is now referring to these two countries as leaders in a climate friendly economy.

The Solution:

Copenhagen 2009. To read more about the legal framework being proposed for world leaders meeting in Copenhagen this year, please visit my post on Law and Language: The International Climate Change Legal and Institutional Framework Made Simple.

Since this blog is about the beauty of Argentina and has never been characterized for being a politically aimed blog, I would like to dedicate today’s post to showing you the beauty worth preserving. This is what I want to protect, if you like what you see, please visit the WWF, 350.org, the UN Climate Change Conference Blog, or any other organization of your choice.

Maria Felix in Buenos Aires

2009-10-03T22:11:00.003-03:00

I think it’s safe to say most people who have ever tried Mexican food probably loved it. When I first moved to Argentina, one of the first things I missed was Mexican food. Not that the food here isn’t great, but sometimes you just need a burrito. There are very few Mexican restaurants in Buenos Aires (non of which serve good Tex-Mex) and I’m not really sure just how Mexican some of their dishes are, but there is one place that I feel excels at gourmet Mexican dishes (especially Botanas and desserts). The place is called Maria Felix (named after one of the most famous Mexican movie stars from the golden age of Mexican cinema) and you can find them in downtown BA, Palermo, and Olivos. So, if you’re travelling through Buenos Aires and get a craving for chimichangas, this is definitely the right place to go.

BTW, the restaurant is not paying me to promote them, I don’t make any money if you click on their link, I just seriously love their food! Hope you do too.

Earth Hour

2009-09-25T19:11:00.006-03:00

On Earth Hour 2008 Fran and I turned off all the lights in our apartment, unplugged all our electrical appliances, and went for a walk through our neighborhood in Palermo, Buenos Aires. We were very shocked and saddened to see all lights were ON in our area. Buenos Aires was too busy watching a soccer game that night. When the rest of the world voted Earth, Palermo voted Sports! Not there's anything wrong with sports (on the contrary, I think sports are very important for maintaining a healthy society), I just can't help feeling Earth Hour was slightly more important. Maybe this year porteños will realize we're part of the problem and instead try to be part of the solution.

On a lighter note, my apartment building finally got a recycling bin. There's hope for BA yet!

Springtime: The Right Time for Whale Watching!

2009-09-21T12:16:00.003-03:00

Today is a particularly good day. It’s the first day of spring in Argentina! This means that it is a great time to visit pretty much any part of the country, but it’s a wonderful time to go whale watching in Patagonia. Of course the best places to go see the whales are Puerto Madryn and Puerto Pirámide, but going in September not only means having the chance to see the whales up close, but also seeing five of the other species that go there to mate every year: including penguins, sea lions, seals, orcas, and dolphins.

If you’re traveling in Argentina this spring, the Atlantic Coast in Patagonia is a must. However, if you’re going whale watching please bear in mind that not all tourism agencies are responsible and respectful of the whales and their young, many overcharge foreign tourists during the high season and break environmental protection regulations by getting too close to the animals, causing stress to them and posing other serious health and environmental risks. I’ve been to the area two times already and here’s what I found out from the locals: if you don’t want to get ripped off and be part of a system that is detrimental to the environment, don’t take the boats, rent a car instead (not for driving in the water of course, but for seeing the whales from the shore).

If you drive up the main road in Península de Valdes, anywhere between Puerto Madryn and Puerto Pirámide, you’ll find desert beaches and cliffs from which you get an incredible view of the golf and the whales. The most famous of these beaches is Playa El Doradillo. Although it gets a little crowded during high season, you still get a privileged view of the whales. If you don’t like crowded places, you have other options. There are plenty of other beaches where you can park your car and wait for the whales. The whales tend to spend hours playing with their young in Golfo Nuevo (the golf formed between the mainland and the peninsula) and you get a much closer and better view of them from the shore than you do from most of the boats without making them feel the least bit threatened or harassed. Not to mention, the further up you drive the more isolated and quite the beaches, which makes them a great place for a picnic and fun walks along the shore. At low tide, the most incredible sea caves adorned with marine algae dry out and you can walk right in and take a look around. If you’re going to do that though, be sure to get information on which caves are safe to visit and what time of day it’s alright to go.

Five Coolest Things I've Done in Argentina

2009-09-15T16:01:00.019-03:00

I love the outdoors, animals, and nature. That’s one of the main reasons why I love traveling in Argentina, everywhere you go outside BA there’s something awesome and outdoorsy for you to do. So today I decided to share my five faves:

5) Horseback Riding in the Andes

This year, one of the most amazing things I got to do was horseback ride in Quebrada del Condor, Mendoza. I have no words to describe just how great it was and since a picture’s worth a thousand words, I figured I’ll just show you:

4) Snorkeling in Puerto Piramide, Patagonia

Another thing I love is the Ocean. When I look back at the years I lived in California, I sometimes regret the great many hours I spent at the mall and wish I could trade them for more time at the beach. I would be lying if I said Argentina has great beaches. The truth is the water is very cold, turbulent, and ridden with seaweed and jelly fish. Argentine shores are very windy and, as it turns out, wind and sand are not a great combination. The further south you go, the colder the water, windier the shores, and harder the sand. But it’s not all bad, because the further south you go, the more exotic the ocean fauna. Argentina is home to sea lions, orcas, whales, penguins, and countless other unimaginable animals. It’s an animal-lover’s dream come true. So when I got to go snorkeling among sea lions in the chilly Atlantic waters, I was a very happy little tourist.

3) Whitewater Rafting

I had always wanted to try whitewater rafting, it just seemed like the kind of thing I would really enjoy doing, and guess what: it was! Click here to read the whole story on rafting in Mendoza.

2) Rappelling down a Mine

I’m afraid of heights and sometimes feel a little claustrophobic in very confined spaces, especially if I’m sharing those confined spaces (like small elevators) with other people. How on Earth then did I let Fran talk me into taking a full-day tour that consisted of visiting an inactive lead and silver mine and rappelling down a pitch black vertical mine? I don’t know, but I’m glad I did. After I managed to rationalize my fear of confinement and being so deep underground, it became by far one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done. I read once somewhere that bravery is not the absence of fear, but acting despite of it. I felt many different fears throughout this experience, but I was able to overcome them and have a great time. I really like what I discovered about myself that day, but what I like best is what I discovered about how much I trust Fran. I was scared out of my mind while I was rappelling down the shaft, but the minute I saw the little light from Fran’s helmet, I knew I was going to be OK and I was able to pull myself together and make it safely down. That experience meant a lot to me.

1) Walking on a Glacier

I got to take an eight hour hike ON A GLACIER!!!! I have no words to express how excited I was that day. I was already excited before going just because it seemed like it was going to be a lot of fun, but when I actually got there, saw the glacier, learned that the glacier had formed during the last ice age and that I was walking on something that had been forming and transforming for over 15 thousand years… well, all I can say is that it was a completely humbling experience. Living in a large city like Buenos Aires, rushing between work and Law School, I sometimes forget that I’m just a tiny little person in an incredibly beautiful planet. I saw things that day I never want to forget: lakes, rivers, ice caves, cracks on the glacier… seeing the mountains from the glacier and not the other way around changed my perspective on many things, and that makes the day I walked on Perito Moreno Glacier one of the best days of my life.

How about you, what are the coolest things you’ve ever done on vacation? Feel free to post comments if you feel like sharing.

Mendoza Part 3: The Pretty

2009-08-24T12:01:00.000-03:00

This is the final post on the three post series about my trip to Mendoza called " The Good, The Bad, and The Pretty." What you'll see in this slideshow is pretty much the reason why despite the stitches and bruises, Mendoza was still worth visiting.

Mendoza Part 2: The Bad

2009-08-19T16:45:00.003-03:00

This is post two of a three post series on Mendoza: The Good, The Bad, and The Pretty. Welcome to the “The Bad.”

I can’t talk about Mendoza without first clarifying one thing: I hated the way I was treated, loved the natural beauty of the province, and have mixed feelings about the people. When travelling through Argentina I’m usually impressed by how nice people are outside Buenos Aires, not that porteños aren’t nice, but people in the province are particularly friendly and helpful, especially to tourists. However, in Mendoza I was quite surprised at how badly tourists were treated in the city and just how many times people tried to rip us off. The thing about Fran and I is that we pretty much scream out tourists wherever we go. We’re taller than the average Argentine and rarely speak Spanish to each other (Fran likes to practice his English with me and I find it refreshing to speak my stronger language with someone who really understands what I’m saying), we dress like tourists with our silly little tourist outfits, and carry our cameras everywhere we go –and I do mean everywhere! As if that wasn’t enough, Fran often goes into photographic fits in which he takes pictures of almost everything he sees. This was never an issue when traveling through Argentina before, but in Mendoza being so obviously not a local didn't work in our favor.

Our first slap in the face came when the taxi from the airport to the hotel in the city overcharged us by almost 30 argentine pesos (about 10 American dollars), airport cabs overcharging you is not a new thing, and certainly one Mendozinos didn’t invent so we really didn’t make much of it. But then we got to the hotel, which looked really pretty in the pictures, except up close and in real life it seemed to have been designed for and by really tiny people… who smoked like chimneys apparently because our room reeked of cigarette smoke. As if that wasn’t enough, the air conditioner had some sort of central control system so you couldn’t regulate the temperature in your own room and I think the person controlling the temperature was either an Eskimo or had serious cold-seeking issues. Either way, after covering ourselves up with every cover available we actually had to open the window to let cold air out and hot air in. This was not only extremely uncomfortable, but also not very eco-friendly. So, if you’re an environmentally friendly, average sized, non-smoker who’s thinking of traveling to Mendoza and staying at Hotel Internacional, think twice.

Fortunately, we only had to stay there for one night. We had already booked a nice little mountain cabin in Piedras Blancas, a town near Potrerillos. We originally chose this location because it was half-way between the city and all the attractions we were interested in visiting in the North of the province. When we looked up the town on Google Earth before booking our cabin, we realized it was in the middle of nowhere and were concerned about transportation. So before booking, I contacted the owners of the cabin, explained to them that we would not be traveling by car, and that since we were relying on buses and tours we needed to make sure the town had a good transportation system. They assured me there were plenty of buses and tours leaving from their town. They lied. Since I’m quite accident prone, I also asked about hospitals and emergency rooms. They said the town had a hospital, they lied about that too.

Potrerillos had a really great public transportation system, but to get from Piedras Blancas (where the cabin was actually located) to Potrerillos (where the good buses stopped) we actually had to get up at 5 in the morning to take a bus that took an hour (sometimes more) to go over 11 miles (~18 KM) only to drop us off at another stop in Potrerillos where we usually had to wait 1 or more hours for the bus to wherever we wanted to go. As if that wasn’t enough, the last bus back was at 7 p.m. on some days and 9 p.m. on others. This made it impossible to get to and from most of the sights we wanted to visit, because it implied waiting for buses for hours, only to have to rush through sight-seeing, to get a bus back to Potrerillos and then wait for another few hours for the bus to Piedras Blancas. Frustrating to read? Well imagine spending 4 or more hours a day on your vacation just waiting for buses in the middle of nowhere. When we talked to the cabin owners about this, their suggestion was that we hitchhiked. I’m not kidding, they actually said that and what’s worse: they meant it!

Clearly, all this made me a not-so-happy camper. The icing on my cake came on the day when I sliced my finger open with a plate and had to get stitches. This is how it happened: the cabin didn’t have cupboards, so you had to keep your dishes in drawers. One day, as Fran was doing the dishes after lunch I was drying them and putting them away. One of the dishes slipped from my hand, bounced off the drawer, broke in several parts and a huge chunk of dish plunged into my finger and sliced it open. Fran immediately called the cabin owners (who lived next door) hoping they would drive me to the ER since we had no other means of transportation (no cabs, and the midday bus only came by every other day). After looking at my finger, the cabin owners concluded I didn’t need a doctor, instead they offered to pour disinfectant water on the wound and wrap it up in bandages. I was not happy. Neither was Fran.

Fortunately, this happened right after lunch on one of the days in which there was a midday bus out of Piedras Blancas to Potrerillos. So we packed our bags and jumped right on it. At Potrerillos we waited for over an hour for another bus that took nearly two more hours to reach Uspallata where the nearest hospital was and where I waited for about 40 minutes to see the doctor. To make a long story short: it turned out I did need a doctor and had to get stitches. It took us so long to get there that I barely made it in time to stitch (apparently you have a six hour window, after that you have no choice but to wait for the wound to close itself and then, if necessary, get surgery). We were lucky it happened on a day in which there were midday buses available, had it been any other day I’m pretty sure my finger would have rotted and fallen off or something. We were also very lucky we met Roberto (see Part 1: The Good) who gave us a complimentary stay at his hostel. If it hadn’t been for his hospitality and willingness to pick us up and drop us off in that godforsaken little town, that whole part of our trip would have been a nightmare. I don’t recommend staying at Cabañas Villa Campestre. Seriously!

Sound bad? It gets worse, I could actually write a book about all the ways in which we were cheated and places in which we got really bad service in Mendoza. I’m not going to though, all I’m going to say is if you’re thinking of going be careful and try not to get hurt.

It wasn't all bad though, geographically Mendoza is actually a beautiful place and totally worth visiting. Join me next week for Part 3: "The Pretty" and find out why.

Mendoza Part 1: The Good

2009-08-13T13:29:00.016-03:00

This summer vacation Fran and I visited Mendoza (if you’re wondering who Fran is, that would be the boyfriend). I came back with five stitches on my left index finger and a huge bruise on my right leg, which would probably make it sound like I had a miserable time, but it wasn’t completely miserable. In fact the stitches and bruises were souvenirs, if you will, of some of the highlights of our trip. But I’m not going to focus on that just yet. Because Mendoza is such a large and rich province, I decided to blog about my trip in a three-post series called: The Good, The Bad, and the Pretty on the count of how I felt many times while on this trip.

Since I’m a pretty upbeat person, I thought it would be nice to start with the things I liked about Mendoza and close with all the pretty things the province has to offer. However, since I’m also an honest and realistic person, I can’t completely ignore some things I didn’t like, which I feel every tourist should know before visiting the province.

One of the things I liked best about Mendoza aside from the wines and natural beauty of the province was how much fun stuff there is to do there. You can do pretty much everything from crossing the Andes on horseback, to rappelling down mines. I tried a lot of new things and actually came back inspired to take on all sorts of new hobbies.

One of the things I tried in Mendoza for the first time was rappelling, but in Mendoza they took it to a whole new level! We hired a full day tour through historic lead and silver mine ruins in the north called Minas de Paramillos and had an amazing time. Mariano, our guide, was extremely flexible and actually went out of his way to pick us up and then drop us off at the town in which we were staying (which was really nice of him considering most other companies didn’t want to have to drive all the way up there). Since the full day tour included a traditional Argentine asado (BBQ) and I don’t eat red meat, he personally took care of picking out vegetables and preparing salads and other vegetarian foods. It’s really hard to get yummy vegetarian options in some parts of Argentina, so I really appreciated the gesture.

When we were approaching the ruins, Mariano provided really interesting and insightful information about the mines and many historical facts I didn’t know about the area. It was nice to start the tour by learning something new. Then he gave us some nice, short tips on how to keep our impact on the area to minimum. Environmental friendliness was definitely another point in his favor!

The actual tour consisted of walking through some mine shafts for a while (while learning about mining) and then rappelling down to the lower levels of the mine. I had never rappelled before and had no clue just how scary it would be. It never occurred to me how much scarier it would be inside a pitch black mine. Fran of course was the first person to try it and helped Mariano rappel everyone down safely. I was really scared but feel I did pretty ok for myself. We also met some really nice people on that tour, so we had a really awesome time!

Another one of the highlights of this tour was a wonderful family-run 4x4 tourism company we came across by accident when we visited the beautiful town of Uspallata. Roberto, our guide and owner of the business, is a professional photographer who has personally been exploring the area for years and takes you to amazing places where no other company goes. We took one of their tours and were so happy and impressed by the quality of their service that we booked him for a full day exclusive tour of some of the nicest places in Mendoza. Roberto and Fran hit it off really well, so well that we ended up having dinner with him, his wife, and lovely daughter and on the night before our full-day tour they gave us a complimentary stay at their hostel. I couldn’t find their website online, but here’s their email address fototravsias4x4@gmail.com (please don’t spam them though, they’re really great people!). Roberto is also organizing what could potentially be one of the best trips from Uspallata to Cusco. I can hardly wait!

Something else I really enjoyed in Mendoza was whitewater rafting. Rio Mendoza (in the North of the province) is a class III-IV river. There are a lot of companies that take you from the city of Mendoza to Potrerillos to raft down the river; we went with Rios Andinos because their facilities had so much more to offer. They had a wonderful cafeteria that made the best pizzas and a really nice deck and pool. Since we went out on the last raft of the day, after we got back to base we hung out with Marcos, our guide, and some of the other people on our raft and then hopped on the bus to Potrerillos. When we were waiting for the second bus from Potrerillos to our cabin we ran into the guides again and they invited us up to their house for a BBQ. We had a lot of fun. Fran and I couldn’t actually stay for dinner on the count of the horrible buss schedule (see “The Bad” next week), but we still had an awesome time.

Last but not least: the wines and restaurants. Roberto took us to some amazing vineyards; we were particularly impressed with Salentein. Not only do they make the best Pinot Noir I have ever tasted, but they’ve got their own art gallery and gourmet restaurant. They are located quite far from the city of Mendoza (several-hour drive) in Valle del Uco, but it is worth the trip. As far as restaurants in the city of Mendoza, I have no complaints.

However, Mendoza was not all fun and niceness. Join me next Monday to see why at some points of my trip I was feeling a lot like Clint Eastwood in The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.

What is your favorite province?

2009-08-04T19:31:00.003-03:00

Do you have a favorite province? Would you like your province featured in this blog? If so, vote for it. This month in From LA to BA we’re exploring Argentina from North to South. Make sure your favorite province doesn’t get left out!

Northwestern Argentina

2009-07-26T21:15:00.018-03:00

Living in a large city like Buenos Aires, with all its theaters, cinemas, tango shows, museums, and overall coolness, it’s easy to forget one is in a developing country. There’s nothing you can’t find in BA, from amazing restaurants to hidden golf courses, you name it, BA’s got it! But there’s so much more to Argentina than its European-like architecture and varied night life. Outside BA are wonderful little sub-worlds called provinces, each with its own histories of native Argentineans, gauchos, and caudillos. Each region of Argentina is so unique and different from the rest that defining what an Argentinean is and describing Argentine idiosyncrasies is nearly impossible.

As someone who is fascinated by the diversity of Argentina and its people, I would like to dedicate a few blog entries to different regions of this amazing country. It’s hard to pick a favorite, since it's all so beautiful, so instead I’m going to go from North to South.

My two favorite provinces in Northwestern Argentina are Salta and Jujuy. I have visited the region twice and plan on visiting it again; both times I came back amazed at everything I saw and learned. Just as the US has nicknames for its states (my state, California, is known as the Golden State), Argentina has nicknames for its provinces. The City of Salta is known as “La Linda” (the Pretty City) and honestly, I think the whole province should carry the nickname.

The historical and archeological value of the North of Salta is unbelievable. The province –and particularly its caudillos and its women – played a key role in Argentina’s independence from Spain. Salta is home to many heroes of the resistance against the Spanish forces, including Martin Güemes, who held off the Spanish in the North so San Martin could liberate Argentina, Chile, and Peru. But the history of Salta, and the Northwestern region in general, doesn’t begin with the Spanish conquest, it goes way back even before the Incas and their little known conflicts with other indigenous tribes like the Mapuches. Because of this, located in the heart of the capital of Salta is its archaeological museum currently displaying what the archeological community has called "the best preserved Inca mummies ever found".

As one of the many US-raised kids whose parents dragged them to the Grand Canyon against their will, but who were later grateful for having had the opportunity to see the Earth at its best, I have always found myself lost for words when trying to describe its colors and overall magnificence. When traveling through the South of Salta, I felt the same overwhelming feeling of not being able to believe my eyes. There are several small canyons in the South of the province, each worth visiting, each as flabbergasting as the rest. Although they are not as big as the Grand Canyon, they are just as beautiful.

But history and beauty are not the only things the province has to offer, Salta produces some of the best wines in the North of Argentina and has great little gourmet restaurants and regional restaurants all over its main districts. So for those of us who enjoy good food and good wines, it’s just heaven!

Jujuy, my other favorite province, is simply too much for words. While most of the population in Salta is either of European descent or criollo, the population in Jujuy is mainly indigenous. Most of the people I met in Jujuy considered themselves to be of Inca descent, however before (and in some cases) after the region was dominated by the Incas, the province of Jujuy was inhabited by other groups such as the: coya, cochinhucas, diaguitas, jujuies (which is where the name Jujuy comes from), chaqueños (where the name of the province of Chaco comes from), oclayas, papayas, osas, and omaguacas (where we get the name Humahuaca). From a sociological and historical point of view, Jujuy is by far one of the most valuable provinces in the region. However, much of the pre-Columbian history of this province has been lost and what little remains is highly ignored by most people in Argentina. The Argentine school system allots a very small part of its academic curriculum to the pre-Columbian era and the general population in Argentina is very blind to its own heritage.

UNESCO has acknowledged the value of this province and in 2003 declared the Humahuaca Ravine a world heritage site. However, the consequences of this have been bitter-sweet. Although it has brought tourism and “development” to the region, it has also brought abuse and corruption. The inhabitants of this region don’t have the financial resources to defend their rights or their lands and often find themselves victims of massive abuse by large hotel chains, salt producers, and other privately funded corporations.

When traveling through this region I befriended many “coyas” and was very much impressed by their love of their land (although, when you live somewhere as beautiful as Jujuy it’s hard not to love it). One of the things I was impressed by the most was a statement I heard over and over again from the locals, “our skin is red, like the Earth on which we walk, and the Earth is red because of the blood we have shed defending it.” The Earth is red in many parts of Jujuy and the people of Jujuy spent years defending their land and culture from Spanish conquistadores who showed no respect for the land or its people. Although many people in Argentina consider the Spanish conquest to have been a source of “development” for the region, I respectfully disagree. This region was already inhabited by developed cultures; they were simply developing differently and had other views and values which were neither less nor more valuable than the views and values of the Spanish. The fact that these people today are forced to live in chronic poverty is an outrage. So when writing about the beauty of Jujuy today I would like to remind the world that the beauty of Jujuy is not just its land, it is also its people.

Coming soon Mendoza!

North of Argentina

2007-11-23T19:50:00.002-03:00

Yes, I know…it’s been forever. You would think that now that I don’t have a company anymore I would actually make time to keep my blog updated. Well, you're wrong. I still have law school, work, a boyfriend, a family, etc., etc., etc. Speaking of loved ones, at Lolo's request, this blog will now be published both in English and in Spanish. (Si si, ya sé… hace siglos que no escribo nada. En teoría ahora que no tengo más mi empresa debería tener más tiempo para actualizar mi blog. Pero, la realidad es otra. Todavía tengo la facultad, el trabajo, mi novio, familia, etc., etc., etc. Hablando de seres queridos, a pedido de Lolo este blog ahora será publicado en inglés y español.)

Today’s post is long overdue. It’s about my trip to the North with Fran, his good friend Fede, and Fran’s friends from school in France, July and Bertrand. (El tema de hoy viene con bastante atraso. Es mi viaje al norte con Fran, Fede (su amigo del alma), y sus amigos de la universidad en Francia, July y Bertrand.)

Fran and me

The first place we went to was the City of Salta. Salta is often referred to as "La linda" (The Pretty One) and honestly, it has totally earned its name. Between its California-like palm trees, colonial buildings, and incredible churches and cathedrals it truly is amazing! (El primer lugar que visitamos fue la Ciudad de Salta. A Salta se la suele llamar “La linda” y sinceramente, su nombre es muy bien merecido. Entre sus palmeras que me recordaban a California, sus edificios coloniales y sus iglesias y catedrales impactantes, es una ciudad increíble.)

The streets of Salta

Salta used to be inhabited mainly by the Incas who dominated the area from the XII to XV century. The Spanish murderers and thieves history often refers to as “conquistadores” arrived in the XVI century and we all know how the story goes from there... (Salta solía ser habitada principalmente por los Incas, quienes dominaron la zona desde el siglo XII al XV. Los asesinos y ladrones a los que la historia suele llamar “conquistadores” llegaron en el siglo XVI, y bueno, todos conocemos como siguió esa historia…)

Fran in colonial Salta

However, the Incahuasi ruins still remain in Rosario de Lerma (province of Salta) and researches believe these ruins are an ancient fort built by the Incas to control the tribes they themselves had conquered: the Diaguitas, Atacamas, Humahuacas, Chiriguanos (also known as Lules). The Fort is believed to have been built during the reign of the Inca Yupanqui or his son Huaina Capac. (No obstante, las ruinas Incahuasi sobrevivieron en Rosario de Lerma, Provincia de Salta, y los investigadores creen que estas ruinas en realidad son un fuerte construido por los Incas con el fin de controlar a las tribus que ellos mismos habían conquistado: los Diaguitas, Atacamas, Humahuacas, Chiriguanos (también conocidos como los Lules). Se cree que el fuerte fue construido durante el reino del Inca Yupanqui o su hijo Huaina Capac.)

There are two theories as to where the name “Salta” comes from. One is that it comes from the Quechua word “salta” which means “nice, beautiful place to settle.” The other theory says it was named after the tribe known as "Sahta," originally from the great “Lule” nation that inhabited the Argentina province of Chaco and crossed the valley to settle in Salta when the Spanish arrived. (Existen dos teorías acerca del orígen del nombre "Salta". Una de ellas dice que proviene de la palabra Quechua "salta" que significa "lugar lindo, hermoso para asentarse”. La otra teoría dice que proviene del nombre de la tribu “Sahta” que originalmente pertenecía a la gran nación “Lule”, la cual habitaba la provincia argentina del Chaco y cruzó el valle para asentarse en Salta cuando llegaron los españoles.)

Salta from the mountain

The Spanish first went to Salta from Peru in the year 1535, 43 years after Christopher Columbus allegedly "discovered"

America

. However, the conquest didn’t begin in the area until 1550 in an area known as “el Tucumán.” On April 16, 1582, Hernando de Lerma founded the city under the name “Ciudad de Lerma en el Salta.” The city was founded to defend and support commerce and communication between the Argentine province of Santiago del Estero and Peru. (Los españoles llegaron a Salta desde Perú en el año 1535, 43 años después de que Cristóbal Colón supuestamente "descubrió" América. Sin embargo, la conquista no comenzó en la zona hasta 1550 en un lugar conocido como “el Tucumán”. El 16 de abril de 1582, Hernando de Lerma fundó la ciudad con el nombre “Ciudad de Lerma en el Salta”. La ciudad se fundó con el objetivo de defender y apoyar el comercia y la comunicación entre la provincia argentina de Santiago del Estero y Perú.)

The Cathedral

The Convent

Ownership of the area moved from one hand to another while all over the place natives were being exterminated. However, native lives were replaced by that of African slaves who by the year 1778, made up 46% of the population. The land continued to be disputed between the natives (mainly Calchaquies) and the conquistadores until approximately 1810 when commerce with Peru ended and the war for independence began. This caused the economy of the region to deteriorate to a point from which it never fully recovered. (La propiedad de la zona pasó de mano en mano mientras a todo su alrededor se exterminaba a los pueblos nativos. Sin embargo, sus vidas fueron reemplazadas con las de esclavos africanos, quienes para el año 1778 ya conformaban el 46% de la población. La zona siguió siendo disputada entre los pueblos nativos (principalmente los Calchaquíes) y los conquistadores aproximadamente hasta el año 1810 cuando cesó el comercio con Perú y comenzó la guerra de la independencia. Esto causó en la economía de la zona un deterioro del cual nunca se pudo recuperar enteramente.)

Because it was located between Lima (in the hands of the royal army) and Buenos Aires (fighting for independence), Salta became a bloody battlefield between the Spanish and the soon-to-be Argentineans. Martin Güemes, one of the greatest heroes in the Argentine struggle for independence, and his army of gauchos, fought off 7 Spanish invasions before Argentina claimed its independence from Spain. The royal armies were eventually defeated in Salta in 1813 by lawyer/general Manuel Belgrano. (Por su ubicación entre Lima -en manos del ejército real- y Buenos Aires -que luchaba por su independencia- Salta llegó a ser una zona de batallas sangrientas entre los españoles y futuros argentinos. Martin Güemes, uno de los heroes más grandes de la lucha argentina por la independencia, junto con su ejército de gauchos, venció 7 invasiones españolas antes de que Argentina pudiera reclamar su independencia de España. Con el tiempo, el ejército real fue vencido en Salta en 1813 por el abogado y general Manual Belgrano.)

Monument to Güemes

We only stayed in Salta for a few days, then we went to the neighboring and to some extent surrounding province of Jujuy. (Nos quedamos en Salta únicamente unos días, luego visitamos Jujuy la provincia vecina y rodeante.)

I’m not really going to go into the history of Jujuy, not because it isn’t as interesting as that of Salta, but rather because not so much information is available. Most of the sources I’ve referenced for this blog seem to consider the history of the province begins after the Spanish settlement, ironically from what I could see the greater part of the population in Jujuy is indigenous and quite amazing. (No voy a entrar en la historia de Jujuy, no porque no sea igual de interesante que la de Salta, sino porque no hay tanta información disponible. La mayoría de las fuentes que consulté parecen considerar que la historia de la provincia comienza luego de la conquista española, irónicamente por lo que pude ver, la mayor parte de la población jujeña es indígena e increíble.)

Bus station at Jujuy

The first city we visited was Humahuaca, named after the great tribe. I can’t say how much I fell in love with Humahuaca. Fran seems to think it’s because we stayed behind after our group left and had some time to ourselves there. I’m not going to say that didn’t have anything to do with it at all, but I don't really think that's the main reason why I loved it so much. There’s something about a city high in a mountain where the streets and houses are made with the same stones... (La primera ciudad que visitamos fue Humahuaca, nombrada en honor a la gran tribu. No tengo palabras para expresar mi enamoramiento con esta ciudad. Fran cree que me gustó tanto porque ahí nos detuvimos unos días más que el grupo y tuvimos un poco de tiempo para disfrutar solos. No voy a decir que eso no influyó, pero tampoco creo que sea el motivo principal por el que me enamoré tanto de Humahuaca. Una ciudad en la que las calles y las casas son hechas de las mismas piedras, tiene un encanto especial...)

Humahuaca

… or where houses are made of mud… (o donde las casas son hechas de barro...)

Houses in Humahuaca

...or where walking through the valley one finds sacred rock formations... (o donde uno se cruza con formaciones de rocas sagradas mientras camina por el valle...)

Bunch of rocks ;)

All in all, Humahuaca was my favorite part of the entire trip. (Resumiendo, Humahuaca fue mi parte preferida del viaje.)

Fran, who found us the best picnic spot ever!

Two days later, we got on a ratty old bus that literally looked like it was going to fall to pieces and actually did on the way over and left Humahuaca… (Dos días después, nos subimos a un colectivo rotoso que parecía que se iba a caer a pedazos, y de hecho, lo hizo, y partimos de Humahuaca…)

Our bus

…up and down a zig-zagged road… (subimos y bajamos por un camino zigzagueado…)

The road to Iruya

…crossed an amazing valley… (cruzamos un valle espectacular…)

The valley

…climbed 4000m above sea level on very steep scary looking mountain... (subimos 4000m por encima del mar en una montaña empinaba que daba miedo…)

…and made it to a city called Iruya, which I barely got to see because I had an allergic reaction to an allergy medication (how’s that for ironic) and had to be hospitalized. Judging by the donkey in the center of town, the view from the main square (below), and what people's "back yards" look like, I feel I don't really need to describe the hospital. Precarious though it was, I don't think I've ever met nicer hospital staff in my life. Sure the doctor brought his dog (yes, his dog!) to the emergency room while treating me, but that didn’t stop him from giving me the best possible treatment available despite the hospital’s limitations. I’m really grateful to the hospital staff in Iruya for taking care of me the way they did. (…y llegamos a una ciudad llamada Iruya, a la cual pude ver muy poco porque tuve una reacción alérgica a un remedio para la alergia (hablando de irónico) y tuve que ser internada. Juzgando por el burro en el centro de la ciudad, la vista desde la plaza principal (abajo), y los “jardines” de las casas de las personas, creo que no necesito describir demasiado al hospital. Pero, por más precario que haya sido, nunca en mi vida me un atendió personal hospitalario mejor. Bueno, admito que el doctor trajo a su perro (si, ¡al perro!) a la sala de emergencias mientras me atendía, pero eso no le impidió darme el mejor tratamiento disponible a pesar de las limitaciones del hospital. Estoy muy agradecida al personal del hospital de Iruya por cómo me cuidó.)

Iruya

Upon leaving Iruya, Fran and I went back to Humahuaca for the night. We had found a cute little hotel we completely fell in love with and since I wasn't fully recovered yet, didn't want to take our chances in another town. The hotel in Iruya was not in best shape for someone in my condition at the time, and we were afraid the same thing might happen in the next town, Tilcara. Fede and July (who hooked up right before the trip) went to Tilcara. Fran, Bertrand, and I stayed behind. The next day, Bertrand left a little earlier. Fran and I had breakfast and since I didn’t feel as sick anymore, got on the bus to Tilcara. We hiked up another valley to what's known as the Devil's throat. Unfortunately, we had camera trouble and I don't have any pictures of our own. And by the time we got back from the Devil's throat it was too late to see the Pulcara (indigenous ruins in Tilcara), but here are some pics of the outdoor market surrounding its entrance and the view from a nearby bridge. (Al irnos de Iruya, Fran y yo volvimos a Humahuaca para pasar la noche. Habíamos encontrado un hotel muy bonito del cual nos enamoramos y como yo todavía no me había recuperado del todo, no queríamos arriesgarnos a ir a otra ciudad. El hotel en Iruya no estaba en condiciones demasiado aptas para una persona en mi estado en ese momento, y teníamos miedo que nos pasara lo mismo en nuestro próximo destino, Tilcara. Fede y July -quienes se pusieron de novios poco antes del viaje-fueron a Tilcara. Fran, Bertrand y yo nos quedamos atrás. Al día siguiente, Bertrand partió más temprano. Fran y yo desayunamos y como yo me sentía mejor, nos subimos al micro a Tilcara. Subimos otro valle a pie hasta la Garganta del Diablo. Desafortunadamente tuvimos problemas con nuestras cámaras y no tenemos fotos propias. Para cuando volvimos de la Garganta del Diablo era demasiado tarde para visitar las ruinas de Pulcara, pero he aquí fotos de la feria que se encontraba en la entrada y la vista desde un puente cercano.)

Outdoor market

The view from Tilcara

(oh, and by the way, no matter what anyone says, I LOVE MY HANDMADE HAT!) (ah, y digan lo que digan, ¡AMO MI GORRO ARTESANAL!)

That said, we returned to Salta, rented a car and drove down another valley to the South of Salta... but that is a whole other story! (En fin, volvimos a Salta, alquilamos un auto y atravesamos otro valle hacia el sur de Salta… pero eso es toda otra historia.)

All I can say is there is not one part of Argentina I haven’t loved so far. And despite some difficulties during the trip traveling with Fran is awesome! I'm really glad he took me with him, and I’m so looking forward to our next trip together (oh, yeah, we're road tripping across Patagonia in January!). (Lo único que puedo decir es que no hay una parte de Argentina hasta ahora que no me haya encantado. Y a pesar de algunas dificultades durante el viaje, viajar con Fran es increíble. Estoy muy contenta de que me haya invitado, y estoy muy ansiosa por nuestro próximo viaje (¡vamos a cruzar la Patagonia de punta a punta en auto en enero!))

Dreaming of a white... independence day!!

2007-07-09T16:01:00.002-03:00

Today isn't just my sister's birthday. It's also Independence Day in Argentina. To celebrate this happy, patriotic occasion, for the first time in nearly a century, the city has decided to dress herself in white...

Goodbyes...

2007-07-03T21:43:00.000-03:00

So I guess it’s that time again when I realize it’s been forever since my last blog entry. My excuse? Everything from saying goodbye to Bunny, to meeting someone really special, to being hospitalized, to "selling" my company…

So, yes, after two years of friendship and three short and failed attempts at the whole dating thing, Bunny and I finally decided to go our seperate ways. My feelings on the matter are something I’ll keep to myself. But I will say this: no guy is worth loosing one of your best friends over, especially if that guy IS one of your best friends! Will our friendship ever recover? I hope so, but I'm guessing not.

And now to my other drastic decision, after three years of owning my company, I’m selling my part to my business partner. The reasons for this I'll also have to keep to myself... I'll just say it's for the best. Running a company, even a small one, is definitely not compatible with law school or the simple quiet little life I so long for. And it gets even harder when you and your partner can't see eye to eye on even the simplest of things.

All that said, I’m sure why I haven’t been in the mood to sit down and blog is pretty obvious. On the bright side, in the first week of August I'm going to the North of Argentina with Francisco, so I'll probably have lots of pictures to share.

Like this one, that reflects about as big as I feel right now… :(

Easter at the Beach!

2007-04-25T17:46:00.000-03:00

I know Easter was weeks ago and this blog entry is long overdue, but as usual between work, school, and my not-completely-dead social life, I've been totally swamped. Since my first vacation this year (Patagonia) was a little short, Bunny and I decided to take a couple of days off work between the three-day weekend right before Easter and Easter weekend itself, which added up to a whole extra week off. Our destination: his beach house in a small town called Miramar. I'm not sure how far away that is from the City of Buenos Aires, all I know is that it was about a six hour drive and it’s in the Province of Buenos Aires near a large ocean-side city called Mar del Plata, which is apparently famous for its Casino.

Unfortunately the weather was amazing! Those who know me know I'm no pessimist, but summer heat in mid fall has global warming written all over it (that's the unfortunate part). On the bright side (leave it to me find one!), I finally got somewhat of a tan...and I didn't even have to try all that hard. That and we got a chance to enjoy all the fun things this little town has to offer. We didn't get to enjoy any of it last Easter because of the rain and cold, but at least this year I got to see why so many Argentineans rush to the Atlantic in summer.

I was amazed to see how many surfers choose Miramar beaches, not that the beaches aren't nice or anything, it's just there are very small waves. Maybe it's a great place for beginners to learn how to surf, who knows? Argentine beaches are quite windy, so this one guy kite surfing made much more sense to me:

The further away from the city you go, the more deserted the beaches are. You can find all sorts of rocks from igneous to volcanic, sea shells, crabs and other creepy crawlers and my favorite...caves!! Little mini caves like this one:

Some of you might remember last year we found some dead penguins on the coast. This year we found a dead sea lion. Its face looked like it had been smashed in and its skin was gone. I have no idea how it got there or how it died, but as it turns out, there happens to be a whole sea lion colony in the sea port in Mar del Plata so my guess is it got lost in the storm that preceded Easter. I didn't take any pictures (seemed a little morbid), but I did think mentioning it would be interesting since so many changes are going on down here: from the whether, to that weird moth in my new place, to dead penguins and sea lions roaming too far from their natural habitats!

Another interesting thing I noticed on this vacation is a little of what people here like to call vivesa criolla (not sure I got the spelling right, sorry!). I still don’t know exactly what that means, but I know it involves breaking rules (even those that make sense) to get ahead or gain some sort of social acceptance. Anyways, the reason I'm bringing this is up is because the pier in this city is almost literally falling to pieces, if you look at the picture below there's a huge sign that reads: DANGER, DO NOT PASS and it’s got all sorts of barriers so that people don’t pass a certain point yet it was full of fishermen, some for sport, some for commerce (after fishing they lay their fish on the sidewalk, yes, literally ON the sidewalk, no trays, plates, or containers of any sort, just dirty concrete) and sell it to people passing by (tax free, of course).

Needless to say I did not enjoy the pier and the fish, what I did enjoy A LOT was the beach past the pier... as you go down South, you start seeing little cliffs and if you look down you see deserted beaches. So deserted, in fact, are these little bits of coast that there's no way to get down there. The view from there was incredible. I wasn't really able to capture it in photos (due in part to my complete lack of photographic skills and also because I was too busy slipping in mud...long story). Anyways, here’s what I did manage to capture (before "the mud incident" that is):

My other favorite thing was how the Moon seemed to rise from the Ocean here (opposite to where I grew up in California). Again, I made my best effort to capture it in photo and here's my best shot:

Another one of my favorite things was the sunsets. They were absolutely beautiful.

I was told by some of the locals that Miramar is not the best vacation spot along the Buenos Aires coast; I'm not so familiar with any of the other cities, but honestly, I have no complaints. The weather was great, the beaches weren't crowded at all, the city was a lot cleaner than others, and the people were really nice (especially the lady from Bomblait, the chocolate store). All in all, I think it's a cute little town that's totally worth visiting!

Discovering the Paraná River

2007-03-19T00:42:00.001-03:00

Yes, it has been forever. But here's why: my internet service crashed in January and wasn't fixed until yesterday! So for the past three months, after having waaaaaaay too many not-so-friendly conversations with tech support and three technicians over my house, my service was finally fixed. Needless to say, I was charged for the service all three months that it was down, and will probably need to hire a lawyer to get my money back (which, of course, will cost more than the service itself).

Anyways, I’ve gathered tons of news about Argentina and millions of pictures I'd like to share. But between work, school, and my could-be-more exciting social life, I just don't have the time. But here's one of the highlights:

A few weeks ago Bunny and I went down to what they call Las Islas del Tigre, Tigre is a small, river-side city by the Paraná River (which, as it turns out, is the 13th longest river in the world and flows 2,485 miles). The city is a very popular tourist destination with a pretty big outdoor market in which you can buy lots of nice, hand-crafted wooden furniture, hand-knit clothes, and other crafts. You can get there from downtown Buenos Aires by bus and train or by a special train called Tren de la Costa (a lot like the regular train, except the stations are much nicer and it boarders the river). We took the regular train from Belgrano and got to listen to this nice man in the red shirt play the harp (yes, ON the actual train!):

The city is also known for its theme park, Parque de la Costa, which I think is the biggest theme park in the area. We didn’t stay in the city itself; instead we took a boat ride to one of the “islands” and spent the day there.

However, the river does not begin in Tigre, instead it begins at the junction of the Paranaiba River in Brazil (which is very famous for its waterfalls) and the Rio Grande do Sul, it then flows Southwest to the Paraguay River, and later South and East through Argentina to the Uruguay River and the Rio de la Plata.

The Parana River has the second largest drainage system in the American continent. Flooding is very common on the Southern part of the river, which is why houses are built on platforms.

But what was most interesting to me about this amazing place (which ironically I found out after moving from Escobar, only 14 miles away from the river) is that it is considered one of the world's greatest bird-watching destinations. We didn’t actually get to see any exotic birds on our weekend there, but we did get to relax with this view from our little tiki hut:

swim in its dark, yet cool water....

and have an amazing time!

Road Trippin to Puerto Madryn

2007-01-30T11:19:00.001-03:00

Those of you who checked out last summer vacation's pictures saw images of the Eastern side of Patagonia closer to the Andes Region (San Martin, Junin de los Andes, Bariloche, etc.). The Eastern side of Patagonia is characterized by tall, snow covered mountains, crystal clear lakes and rivers, and world-class ski resorts.

This year, Bunny and I took a road trip down the Western side of Patagonia, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. To get to Puerto Madryn, our final destination, we drove over 1500 kilometers total, including several hundred kilometers through a rich fertile area called Pampa Húmeda where sunflowers, chamomile, soy and other important crops that support the Argentine economy are grown.

After having visited the Eastern Patagonian region last year, I was under the impression the entire area was characterized by very rich vegetation and grazing fields. It turns out, I was wrong. To the West, boarding the Atlantic, Patagonia becomes a desert. The more fertile lands to the North of the desert area are used to raise cows, sheep, and llamas, but the further South you go, the more desert-like it gets...

We drove for three days down Ruta Nacional 3, which is the only government supported road to the South and then took a short cut down some road that seemed to lead to nowhere and be surrounded by absolutely nothing for over 200 kms. Finally, almost out of gas and having realized there were no phones and our cell phones were dead, we found a little town called Benito Juares (apparently, famous for its garlic), where people were so surprised to see tourists, they actually stepped out of their shops to take a good look at us.

Somewhere down these empty Patagonian roads we came across a couple of "night clubs" and gas stations where truck drivers stop and rest and hang out at the rural version of Copacabana (insert sarcasm here).

By the time we reached Puerto Madryn it was dark and we were sleepy, so we went straight to our hotel without seeing much of anything, only to discover the following day that this tiny little town in the middle of Peninsula de Valdes was not so tiny and had so much more to offer than we could imagine.

Most people associate Madryn and the Peninsula with whale watching, for almost nine months of the year this area is home to Humpback Whales. But throughout the year, the area is also famous for its amazing coral reefs and animal colonies. Some animals you can see practically year round are sea lions, seals, elephant seals, orcas, dolphins, and penguins only to name a few.

You can also go scuba diving, kayaking, windsurfing, and more on its amazing beaches. And if you're into caves, they've got those too!

Some of the other places we visited included, “La Isla de los Pájaros,” which is said to have inspired the image of a boa eating an elephant described in the Little Prince, and where thousands of different bird species coexist in peace and are protected from mankind (people are not allowed on the island).

Puerto Pyramides where we got to go snorkeling in the freezing cold waterand where we got to visit a sea lion and seal colony.

Another place I loved, where we saw a penguin colony and witnessed for ourselves just how friendly, playful, and curious penguins really are was Punta Tombo.

Also, for those who are into paleontology, between Madryn and Punta Tombo there's a city called Trelew with the cutest little museum of paleontology. I don't know much about dinosaurs except for what they taught me in school, but as it turns out, Patagonia was home to many amazing creatures way back in the day which you can check out at their museum.

All in all, I'd say this is definitely an area worth visiting. So much so, I'm thinking of going back this year during whale watching season. But in the meantime, I'm content with having befriended a couple of penguins, and having gone on the best road trip ever!

By the way, here are my favorite penguin pictures:

Penguin see...

Penguin do.

I'm calling this one "Pancho" the Penguin.

Giant Moths

2006-11-26T21:36:00.001-03:00

I’m about to share something that will definitely prove I AM the biggest geek that ever lived! Last year I broke my right shoulder (don't ask what I was I doing) and after having lived my whole life thinking I was right-handed, I was amazed to find that I'm actually ambidextrous. Needless to say, being as I’m an enormous nerd, I found this discovery to be absolutely exciting and started to pay attention to all the things I normally did with my left hand even before I knew right-handed people would only use their right hand to do them (nothing dirty of course). That, for a very long number of hours, led me to think about how the world (or at least my world in Buenos Aires) is designed for right handed people (and no, I'm NOT on drugs and there is a point in here...somewhere...).

Anyways, the other day over coffee Bunny, who's left handed, got me thinking about this even more when he started to whine about how mugs are made for right handed people. Naturally, the first thing I did when I got to the office was tell Rupert (one of the translators who work for me) about this amazing discovery. I even brought him my favorite mug and made him try holding it with his left hand in order to prove my point. To this he responded, "you need to get out more!" and that is what brings me to this blog entry.

Last night my home was invaded by a Black Witch (a giant moth) and instead of finding the whole experience really gross, I took pictures and set out to right about it! Proving without a reasonable doubt a) that Rupe's right, I DO need to get out more and b) that I AM the biggest geek ever!

I’m posting some pictures below and am including this link to the wonderful world of creepy critters! I’ve seen plenty of weird looking bugs here in Argentina and even got bit by an ugly hairy spider since I live here, but this is the most exotic creature I've seen in Buenos Aires. What makes the whole Black Witch thing so amazing is that they're not even from this region! That said, I will now probably start wearing my pants up over my waist, get thick glasses and start collecting bugs!

Recoleta

2006-11-18T20:09:00.001-03:00

I recently moved in to a new place and have been trying to figure out what neighborhood I now live in. Some of my neighbors claim it's Recoleta, others Barrio Norte, and yet others Palermo. As it turns out, according to this site hosted by the Government of Buenos Aires, I live in Recoleta.

Click here to see my new neighborhood from above.

I’ll be uploading pictures of my own really soon, but in the meantime these will have to do.

This is the Law School of the University of Buenos Aires (also the school where I used to go):

The School of Engineering also of the University of Buenos Aires:

Tango in Buenos Aires:

“Iglesia del Pilar,” I haven’t done any research on it yet, but for some reason, this church is really important:

Contrasts

2006-10-08T23:10:00.001-03:00

One of the most interesting things about Buenos Aires is its contrasts (and contradictions): a city where old meets new; modern art deco skyscrapers like Edificio Kavanagh rise only blocks away from magnificent gothic constructions like Palacio Barolo. Meanwhile, Puerto Madero, one of the most expensive restaurant districts in town (and in my opinion, most beautiful) is located only blocks away from a park I recently discovered is completely infested with rats. Avenida Florida may resemble an outdoors market, but take a look inside the stores and you'll find some of the greatest names in the fashion industry... alas, contrasts!

The same can be said about its people, extremely warm, friendly, and kind to strangers, take a bus or subway in the middle of rush hour and, ironically, some of those same people might refuse to give up their seats to a pregnant woman or elderly person.

Often referring to Argentina as un país de porquería, thus seeming extremely unpatriotic (key word here is seeming), Argentineans will reminisce with pride on the time when Argentina was el granero del mundo (between the 1920s and 30s Argentina was the world's leading exporter of grains).

But one thing that’s really been catching my attention lately is the contrast (and contradiction) between the economic growth the government is declaring and the cruel reality the lower classes seem to be living. Only 30 miles away from downtown Buenos Aires, when their parents can afford it, these kids...

...buy their bread at this bakery.

It's the sort of thing you don't really see when you walk around downtown Buenos Aires, but you don't have to go to far to see it.

Pretty big contrast, wouldn't you say?

Zoos in Argentina

2006-09-17T23:28:00.001-03:00

As much as I hate zoos, I finally let my sister talk me into visiting Temaiken. A smaller, more "civilized" zoo where, contrary to the Buenos Aires zoo, animals don't live in cages in the middle of a large city surrounded by sound pollution and traffic, instead they live in cages in the green Argentine countryside (which of course, they don't actually get to see... you know... cause of the cages). And rather than coming from cars and buses, sound pollution comes from loud obnoxious children banging on the glasses that separate them from the animals... yes, a more civilized zoo indeed!

I felt too sorry for the hippos, reptiles, caged birds, and monkeys in general to photograph their misfortune (that and the glasses separating them from us were too dirty to even see through let alone photograph through! Apparently, some people seem to have a hard time grasping certain concepts like, "do not touch.")

So here are pics of the happier looking animals:

And yes, that is a human head inside the bubble thing behind the meerkat!

Despite everything, I did think these whale bones were pretty cool:

I'm feeling a little too lazy to upload the rest of my pics, so you can see the rest of my album here if you want.

Doing Business in Post-Crisis Argentina

2006-08-16T00:22:00.000-03:00

Anyone who is currently doing business in Argentina will agree it’s a very peculiar place to live and work if you come from the U.S., especially when it comes to the business world and to workplace ethics. A “good morning” kiss on the cheek from your boss, which you would understand as sexual harassment in the U.S., is simply a friendly greeting in Argentina. Arriving late to work, though frowned upon, is not uncommon; not because people here can't figure out how to work their alarm clocks, but because protests and road blockings (called piquetes) are part of your every day life when you have to make it to downtown Buenos Aires to get to work (as are unannounced transportation strikes and train accidents, in my experience, often involving cows!).

Other huge differences include a concept I'm finally beginning to understand, which is that of earning your salary en negro (or off the books). Because Argentineans seem to have lost all belief in their tax system, people will often avoid paying taxes as much as possible. When given a choice between paying their taxes and having that money added to their retirement plans, or keeping it off the books and starving to death at an old age, a lot of people will tend to choose the latter...and why not, by the time retirement kicks in you've got one foot out the door anyways, right? Not to mention that the money you get when you retire in Argentina drives the elderly to have to choose between eating and buying their meds!

My friend Cecilia’s grandmother paid her retirement plan for 40 years and now earns 200 pesos -less than 100 dollars- a month. As if that wasn’t enough, since she wasn’t receiving her checks she had to hire a lawyer to file one claim a week for ten years -yes, you read right, TEN YEARS- until she started getting her money…when asked what he thought of the matter, the lawyer said, "Yeay!"

Aside from not trusting the transportation system, the government, and often times… the Internet, Argentineans tend also not to trust banks. It's very common to hear stories of old people who died and whose grandkids found thousands of pesos hidden under their mattresses. The Argentine economy has crashed, or come really close to crashing, many times throughout the country's history.

In 2001 (the year I moved here) the Argentine economy went into a terrible crisis that lead President De La Rua (and all the hundreds of Presidents that came after him in a two-week period) to resign. Proving that a) Cavallo’s idea of legally pegging the Argentine peso to the U.S. dollar was the dumbest idea since letting David Hasselhoff sing, and b) I'm not as smart as my mom says I am (you know...cause of the whole moving to a foreign country in the midst of a crisis-thing).

There are many theories as to what caused the Argentine crisis. Some blame Cavallo, others the U.S. and IMF, and yet others blame privatization. In my opinion, it was a combination of three distinct, yet related factors. The first of which was legally pegging the Argentine peso to the dollar in order to stop hyperinflation. It worked for a while, but when Brazil devalued the Real in 1999, people could get whatever they were buying from Argentina (wheat, leather, etc.) at much lower prices in Brazil. Thus cutting off Argentina's exports, and driving many businesses to the ground and causing many people to loose their jobs.

The second factor was former sad-excuse-for-a-president Carlos Menem and his obsession with privatizing everything! The man literally sold every natural resource, piece of land, and local company he could. This caused the price of basic services and utilities to soar, and employment and job opportunities to drop when businesses (affected by the one-to-one conversion rate and rising prices) were forced to lay off even more people.

The third factor arose when the IMF refused to give Argentina an advance on a previously agreed upon loan to pay off interests and other older debts. That was when Argentineans finally figured out there was no way to continue sustaining the one-to-one conversion rate and started desperately withdrawing money from their bank accounts in order to stock up on dollars before the peso was finally devaluated.

Banks were hemorrhaging money to civilians and the system simply could not afford to see that money go. So in a second stroke of genius, former Minister of Economy Cavallo decided to freeze everybody's bank account. Making it impossible for people to withdraw money from their accounts to, I don't know, say...make their mortgage payments! Thus assassinating was what left of an already dying middle class.

“The crisis” as people here like to call it had devastating effects on the economy and on society in general. It raised the question as to whether or not Argentina could sustain a capitalist economy (more and more people in Argentina seem to think not), it made Argentineans question their relationship with the U.S. and the IMF (thus increasing Anti-American sentiment, but let’s not even go there!), and for a while, completely closed credits and trade.

Today the Argentine economy seems to be healing. Argentineans are once again saving their money in banks, applying for credit cards, and what's left of the middle class is back in stores and shops setting new market trends. For those of us who do business with American and European companies, this is an excellent time run a business from Argentina. Your money is worth three (or more) times as much, enabling you to have more competitive prices than your competition and paying better salaries while still making a larger profit.

So, crisis and all. Argentina is now a great place to do business.

Anti-American Sentiment Growing in Argentina

2006-08-08T02:05:00.001-03:00

Not to the point to which you fear for your life, but to the point to which people will write this on the walls of the American Embassy in Buenos Aires.

Please note, this picture does not reflect my sentiment towards the U.S. in any way, but I do think it very accurately depicts the current tension towards the U.S. and the I.M.F.

However, this sentiment seems to be found more on a political and ideological level than on a pragmatic level. So, to my experience, it does not affect business in Argentina as long as you stay off certain topics. Still, a little patience and understanding towards some of the devastating realities Argentineans face every day can go a long way when it comes to getting out of potential deal-breakers when politics are brought to the table (...and trust me, with Argentineans they always are!).

Hail Storm in Buenos Aires!

2006-07-27T01:52:00.001-03:00

Yesterday, for the first time since I moved here, I saw a hailstorm hit Buenos Aires and it was scary! This coming from someone that witnessed every earthquake to hit L.A. between 1980 and 1995, including the 95 shake.

Right before the storm, the sky turned so black it set off all the street light sensors on my block. When the street lights went on, I looked at the time and realized I was seeing a pitch black sky in the middle of the afternoon, which needless to say, is not a pretty image. Suddenly there was a roar and a second later the street looked like it was covered in snow.

I heard a loud noise in my kitchen and turned around just in time to see my curtain (with rail and all) fall to the floor. A huge hailstone, about the size of baseball, broke my kitchen window.

The only damage I suffered was my broken window, some were less fortunately, 14 people were injured in the storm and in my area alone it caused 10 car accidents. (Spanish speakers, click here for more info.)

Hailstorms are more common in summer (click here to read why), so why are we getting a kind of storm associated with summer in the middle of winter? If you guessed global warming, you guessed right. Find out what you can do to help.

Contact Form

2006-01-01T02:58:00.003-03:00

About the Author

2006-01-01T02:44:00.004-03:00

When I was one year old my family and I moved to Los Angeles, California, making me one of the many lucky people who actually got to grow up in L.A. A few years ago I moved back to Buenos Aires, Argentina, hence the name of this blog: From LA to BA.

Moving back to the country where you were born after living abroad for most of your life is quite an experience. You know the language, but not the slang. You know the culture, but not the social conventions. You know the foods, but not the contexts in which they are served. Meanwhile, you’ve been influenced by years and years of living in another country with its own values, ideals, and social conventions. So you end up being what my best friend likes to call a “hybrid.” You’re neither from here nor there. You identify yourself with the country, but not the habits. To some this is traumatizing. Some people never adapt to a new country and spend most of their lives feeling homesick and longing to return to the country from which they came. To me, cultural shock was just a phase that was quickly replaced by amazement and gratitude.

I was amazed at how many wonderful things both my countries have to offer. It took moving to Argentina to learn about my Latin heritage, but it also took moving to Argentina to truly appreciate the value of many things I learned while living in the U.S. Neither one of my two countries is perfect. They’re both struggling in many ways. Argentina’s struggles are mostly financial and therefore more obvious to the eye, which is why I dedicated this blog to Argentina, to revindicating the beautiful and interesting things my new home has to offer.

On a personal note I’m not a professional blogger or writer (clearly). I’m a Spanish/English translator specializing in medical and legal texts. I’m also a third year Law student. Blogging is my favorite hobby. It’s what I do to unwind from all my translating, deadlines, and tests. It’s how I manage to make it to the summer, which is when I get to do my other favorite hobbies: traveling, hiking, horseback riding, and pretty much anything else new, fun, and outdoorsy.

To know more about me you can visit my professional profiles on Proz and LinkedIn. You can also visit my Facebook Group, Translators for Ethical Business Practices which is a place for professional translators to share their best practices and work together to raise industry standards.

Finally, if you’re interested in Law and Language and like what you see here, be sure to visit my other blog.

About the blog and the Author

2006-01-01T01:57:00.000-03:00

When I have the time to write, sitting down to do so is very easy. After a really long work day and rushing to and from class, I find writing a little before bed helps me reflect upon my day. Every time I sit in front of my computer to write I first think about whether or not my day was productive, what I want to get done the next day, and what my goals are for the rest of the week. I think about whether or not I’m happy with the way things went that day and what I need to do for the next day to be even better. This, to me, is quite simple and motivating, and when I’m motivated, I write. I don’t know if my writing is any good, but I seem to have a lot to say about many different subjects and sharing it with others makes me happy. So it isn’t about writing as much as it is about reaching out to other people who may share my same interests and sharing the things that either interest me or put a smile on my face. However, tonight writing doesn’t seem so easy, because I set out to write about myself.

Anyone taking the time to read this blog is clearly interested in either Argentina or traveling in general and is not likely to be interested in me. I don’t blame you. I’m not a very interesting person; I’m just a person with many interests. But my mom went out of her way to teach me manners and one of the things she taught me was to introduce myself when meeting new people, so here it is: My name’s Paula. I’m a professional legal and medical translator and third year law student who likes to travel and blog about it.

When I was one year old my family and I moved from Argentina to California. I grew up in Los Angeles, spent some time living in Missouri, and then moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina just a few years ago. Even though I was born in Buenos Aires, I didn’t really travel much to Argentina as a child and was not very familiar with the culture when I moved back here. Moving to Argentina as an adult after living abroad for most of my life was quite an experience. It gave me the opportunity to be from here, but still see the people and culture from the outside. I get the inside scoop from the outside perspective, which leads me to what this blog is about: this blog is an inside view of Argentina from the eyes of someone who is neither fully an insider nor fully an outsider.

When Argentinean people find out my dad’s American and I grew up in the U.S., the first thing they tend to ask me is why I would want to live “here,” as if there was something wrong with here. Maybe they’re right. There are many things wrong with here, ranging from corruption to poverty. But there are also many things right with it that people who have lived here their whole lives sometimes fail to see. So the purpose of this blog is to focus on what many fail to see: just how pretty Argentina is.

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