Carnival of Argentina - N3

Welcome to the third edition of the Carnival of Argentina! The Carnival is a weekly round-up of posts, news, photos and other articles related to Argentina.

National holiday? Last May 25th was the anniversary of the revolution that began on 1810 and ended with independence on July 9th, 1816. But it was also the third anniversary of Kirchner's presidency. The government made an act in Plaza de Mayo with a speech from the president and the presence of well-known artists. This act was more of a political rally to promote a re-election of the president than a celebration of the national holiday. Jeff Barry has a report on the event.


Visiting El Chaltén: Maciej Ceglowski traveled to this town in southern Patagonia and shares the story of how and why the town was founded. The place is like paradise to climbers and hikers, who seek to visit Fitz Roy Mountain and Viedma glacier.


To the Zoo: if you go to Trendy Palermo Viejo, you can watch a set of pictures from the zoo in Palermo.


I hope you enjoyed the carnival! Go to the main page of the Carnival of Argentina to learn more about the Carnival or to submit a post for the next one.

Technorati Tags: argentina, travel, carnival

Guide to the Province of San Juan

The Province of San Juan is located in the western part of Argentina, and forms part of the Cuyo region. It has a population of 620,023, and its capital is the city of San Juan.

History: Huarpes, Olongastas, and Capayanes inhabited the lands before the arrival of the Spanish. The capital city, founded in 1562, had to be rebuilt after an earthquake tore down the city in 1944.

Geography: San Juan province has a mountainous relief, with mountain peaks and valleys between them. Tectonic movements are very frequent in the zone.

Climate: the weather of the region is arid. It has the lowest precipitation average of the country: 83 mm. The local wind, called Zonda, is very hot and dry, because it loses its humidity when it passes through the Andes Mountains. Average temperatures are 79 F on summer, 50 F on winter, and 65 F on autumn and spring.

Economy: the economy of the province is based on agriculture, especially viticulture. San Juan is the second wine producer after Mendoza. Since the year 2000, the mining industry began to grow, with the extraction of gold in Veladero as the biggest project.

Tourism:

• Ischigualasto Provincial Park (Valley of the Moon): it is located in the north-east of the province. It contains Triassic deposits with some of the oldest known dinosaur remains. The antiquity of the formations is estimated in 230 million years. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000. There are guided tours of the park.
• Birth house of Sarmiento, in the city of San Juan, transformed into a museum.
• El Leoncito Astronomic Complex: inside El Leoncito Reserve lies the biggest reflector telescope of the country, with 2215 cm of aperture.
• Adventure tourism: in this province you can do sport fishing; windsurf in Ullum and Cuesta del Viento dams; rafting and kayaking in San Juan river; cavalcades in Ullum and Zonda valleys; mountaineering and trekking along the mountainous region. A popular route is the one that San Martín followed to cross the Andes Mountains during the independence war, travelling to Chile.

Technorati Tags: argentina, travel, san juan

First Carnival of Argentina - N2

Welcome to the Carnival of Argentina! The Carnival is a weekly round-up of posts, news, photos and other articles related to Argentina.

Medical Care in Buenos Aires: Yanqui Mike says that medical care in Buenos Aires is better than in the USA; and Laura from Moving to Argentina agrees.

Argentinean Food: Asado Argentina, a site that teaches how to cook Argentinean food (mostly meat), offers a recipe for cooking pork flank steak (matambre de cerdo)


Delivery in Buenos Aires: Laura tells a story to show that in Buenos Aires you can get anything delivered to your home.

WiFi for Buenos Aires: Global Voices Online reports that Jorge Telerman, Buenos Aires Mayor, announced that the city is going to be one of the first to provide free WiFi access in every point.

Wide-band providers in Buenos Aires: following the subject of the Internet, Yanqui Mike translates a guide for getting to know what the local ISPs offer.

Borges: Jeff Barry has begun a series called “30 Days with Borges” to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his death (on July 14th).

Slang of Buenos Aires (lunfardo): Brandán talks about the origin of the word Quilombo and its meaning.

ArteBa 2006: Dalila points that the contemporary art fair will take place between May 19 and 24 at La Rural, in Palermo.

I hope you liked the carnival! If you want to know more or submit a post for the next Carnival, go to the main page of the Carnival of Argentina.

Technorati Tags: argentina, travel, carnival

The right whales arrived in Puerto Madryn

Every year, between May and December, hundreds of right whales arrive in the coasts of the Province of Chubut. They go there to reproduce themselves, giving a spectacle to every one that's near. They can be watched at the cities of Puerto Madryn, Trelew, Rawson, and Puerto Pirámides, on the Valdés Peninsula. There are boats that sail from Puerto Pirámides every day to see the whales from a short distance.

You can see mating groups, of between 2 and 10 whales, formed by a female specimen followed by some male whales that try to mate with her. The gestation period lasts 12 months; since June you can see the first siblings, and then the Peninsula becomes a giant nursery.

Prices: the pass to the Provincial Reserve of Península Valdés costs 35 argentine pesos. Whale watching on a boat costs 50 pesos (25 for minors).

More information: to learn more about whales, visit the Ocean Alliance page

Videos:

• Video of a right whale at Peninsula Valdes, 39 seconds
• Another video of a right whale at Peninsula Valdes, 35 seconds
• Short video of three whales at Peninsula Valdes

Technorati Tags: argentina, travel, whales, puerto madryn

First Carnival of Argentina - N 1

Welcome to the first post of the Carnival of Argentina! The Carnival is a weekly round-up of posts, news, photos and other articles related to Argentina.

Carnival Queen: Evangelina Carrozo, Carnival Queen of Gualeguaychú, paraded before 60 world presidents at the conference in Viena to protest the construction of pulp mills in Uruguay. My life in Argentina has a post on the subject. Patrick, from Argentine au jour le jour (French) says that there are 10 other pulp mills in Argentina that pollute, and that the conference was intended for serious matters.




Real Estate Market: Laura, from Moving to Argentina, has two articles about the real estate market in Argentina. They are a great resource if you want to understand rental laws in the country and real estate abbreviations and terms.

An encounter with god: Fiona, an Irish expatriate, confesses to the reason why she came to Argentina: Maradona and the goals he made to the English. She managed to meet her idol recently, wrote an article telling the story, and posted a picture to prove it.

Dog walkers: Brandán Buenosayres from In the Argentine Metropolis writes about dog walkers in the city of Buenos Aires and compares them to dog walkers in New York. In Buenos Aires the paseadores de perros charge less money and take a lot more dogs.

Law on Sexual Harassment: Eugenia from Moving to Argentina, reports that it is now illegal to harass a worker in the country.

A Passion for Soccer: Brandán Buenosayres writes about his experiences watching the match in which Boca Juniors won the League Championship surrounded by barra bravas.
Dave shares his views about the soccer match between Vélez Sarsfield and Newell's Old Boys. He writes about the English names of some of the teams, the Libertadores Cup, and the behavior of the fans.

Healthcare System: Deby from TangoSpam gives us her views on the Healthcare system in Argentina, and compares it to the system in USA. Fiona complains of the lack of general practitioners in the country, something that doesn't happen in Ireland.

Time of anniversaries: Dalila, from Trendy Palermo Viejo (a trilingual blog about fashion) reminds us that the Argentine Hippodrome of Palermo reached its 130th anniversary on May 7th. Also, the Palace of the Congress of Argentina reached 100 years last 12th of
May.

I hope you liked the first carnival! I'll be glad to know your opinion on it. And remember, if you want to know more or submit a post for the next Carnival, go to the main page of the Carnival of Argentina

Technorati Tags: argentina, travel, carnival

WRC Rally Argentina 2006 Videos

Now that the WRC Rally Argentina 2006 is over, it's time for making balances. The podium was occupied by Sebastien Loeb, who took the first place; Petter Solberg, who was second; and Gigi Galli, who managed to get the third place.

This event is known for being the one with the largest quantity of spectators of the world circuit, and this year was no exception: according to police authorities, the number of spectators of the Rally Argentina 2006 rose to 1,700,000, setting a new record for the WRC. The drivers were very satisfied with the circuit and especially with the enthusiasm of the supporters.

I noticed that many visitors of the site are interested in finding videos of the Rally, so I selected the best and made a gallery. Enjoy:

Video with the best moments of the Rally Argentina 2006, 4 minutes

Video of Gigi Galli, took by a fan, 29 seconds

Video of Sebastien Loeb at high speed, 14 seconds

Video of Petter Solberg that shows why it's better to wait for the cars at the shortest side of a curve, unless you want to eat some dirt, 9 seconds

Video of Henning Solberg that proves the same, 35 seconds

Video of Marcus Gronholm jumping a pond in Calamuchita, 12 seconds

Video of a Ford Focus doing a spectacular jump in La Falda, 18 seconds

First Carnival of Argentina, be a part of it!

What's a carnival?

It's a round-up of articles that focus on a topic, gathered into one post. You can go to the Conservative Cat for a deeper explanation, and examples of different Carnivals.

The Carnival of Argentina will be a weekly round-up of blog posts, news, experiences, photos and other articles about Argentina.

To be included, send an e-mail to blogdocs (put @) yahoo.com with your blog's URL and a description of it. Don´t forget to put Carnival as the subject. Any article about places or events in Argentina, travel experiencies and tips, or expat life in the country may be included. The deadline for submitting your articles to the Carnival is every Sunday at 10 pm ET.

Visit the Carnival N 1

Go to the Carnival N 2

Visit the Carnival N 3

Technorati Tags: argentina, travel, carnival