Southern Cone Travel

Book Review: The Practical Nomad

2012-01-25T15:39:00.000-08:00

Ever since I first visited Latin America, with a spur-of-the-moment train ride from Mexicali to Mazatlán nearly 40 years ago, I have preferred to travel independently and – with the exception of a few necessarily fixed cruise ship itineraries - I’d sooner wing it. Even now, as my Moon Handbooks and other writings include suggested itineraries for those who must fit their travels into fixed

Torres del Paine: The Final Word for 2012?

2012-01-21T18:12:00.000-08:00

Given the scale of the recent wildfire disaster at Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, and the fire's strategic location, it’s reassuring that things in the park are returning to relative stability, if not quite normality. Those still intending to visit this season may not get to see everything they’d like and do everything they’d hoped, but there’ll still be plenty to occupy their time.

Subte's Soaring Fares; Airports & Ash

2012-01-18T13:10:00.000-08:00

It’s been hot in Buenos Aires but, of course, that’s not unusual in January. What’s made it hotter is that, with the New Year, the federal government turned over authority to the Subte (the capital’s underground railway) to the city administration of mayor Mauricio Macri, with the knowledge that Subte fares would have to rise. After a city court affirmed the legality of the increase, it has taken

Paine's Road Back; Chiloé Update

2012-01-14T11:52:00.000-08:00

In the aftermath of the recent wildfire at Torres del Paine, the Chilean government is trying to do what it can to salvage the season – whose peak is normally January and February – in the country’s iconic national park. With that in mind, they’ve adopted measures that can only be described as small-minded: in the country’s costliest park, whose entrance fee for foreigners is roughly US$30 (

Tango Mexicano, ¿Rancheras Argentinas?

2012-01-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

One of my most incongruous memories is the sight of a band of mariachis, in full regalia including elaborate wide sombreros, spilling out of a Buenos Aires taxi at 3 a.m. on downtown Avenida Callao. In an urbane city whose Mexican restaurants start at mediocre down and head downward, the vision of a rural brass band with multiple violins, guitars and guitarrón felt hallucinatory, to say the least

Book Review: Malbec Conquers the Wine World

2012-01-07T13:50:00.000-08:00

Over three decades ago, as a peso-pinching backpacker in South America, I first tasted Argentine wine. In the Bizarro world of an Argentine economy where prices sometimes rose 50 percent in a month, it astonished me that a bottle of wine could cost less than a liter of a sugary soft drink that I will refrain from naming, since it needs no more global publicity. Now, after reading Ian Mount

Paine Catches Fire: the Aftermath

2012-01-04T15:26:00.000-08:00

It’s felt like a long week in Torres del Paine, and a lot has happened in the aftermath of the fire that consumed almost 15,000 hectares (roughly 36,000 acres) in Chile’s premier national park but was finally brought under control last Sunday night. President Sebastián Piñera has responded to furious criticism from Puerto Natales, the city with the most to lose from Paine’s shutdown, by proposing

Paine Catches Fire

2011-12-31T13:47:00.000-08:00

It won’t be a Happy New Year in Torres del Paine. Four days ago, a careless camper – tentatively identified as a 23-year-old Israeli - apparently started a fire that, in dry and windy conditions, has burned some 11,000 hectares in and around Lago Grey. Flaming in the vicinity of Cerro Paine Grande (pictured below), a 3,050-meter peak in the heart of both the week-long Paine Circuit and the

Cáncer con Perón?

2011-12-28T12:28:00.000-08:00

About a year ago, I briefly mentioned an improbable new trend toward “Peronist” restaurants in Buenos Aires, and the irony of it all. Recently I stumbled upon an article by Uki Goñi, one of Argentina’s most astute political journalists, explaining in clearer detail than I can, the irony of establishing a restaurant called Perón Perón (photograph by Manuel Massolo) in the so-called “Palermo

Saturday Sundries: Chaitén, the Carretera Austral, Argentina's At-tax Dogs

2011-12-24T12:05:00.000-08:00

Today's entry is a series of items of interest to travelers in Argentina and Chile. Chaitén & the Carretera Austral Earlier this week, I exchanged emails with Chaitur’s Nichols LaPenna, the go-to guy for all things Chaitén, about recent developments at the northern gateway to the Carretera Austral (pictured above, south of town). When I was last in Chaitén, almost exactly one year ago, the

The Malvinas Museum of Argentina

2011-12-21T12:09:00.000-08:00

In April of 1982, an Argentine military dictatorship under General Leopoldo Galtieri invaded the British-governed Falkland Islands (known to Argentines as the Malvinas), in pursuit of a longstanding irredentist claim (perhaps more accurately, a grudge). After seventy-four days of global headlines, Argentine forces surrendered to the British counter-invasion in mid-June of that year. Since

Patagon Journal Takes Off; Cape Horn's in Dutch

2011-12-17T15:55:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, I mentioned the fund-raising efforts of Puerto Varas-based Jimmy Langman to launch a print version of his bilingual Patagon Journal. As I watched the deadline approach and donation pledges appeared to be barely trickling in online, I have to admit that I was pessimistic that he would garner enough funds for this worthwhile project. I’m delighted to admit that I was

Currency Roulette: Uruguay 2012

2011-12-14T14:39:00.000-08:00

It’s the time of year when Argentines start to pack their bags for the beach and, for many of them, the beach means nearby Uruguay. Casinos, such as the one at Punta del Este’s massive Hotel Conrad (pictured below), are a secondary draw, even though everybody knows that the house always wins. Uruguayan officials, though, are a little worried that the whole country will be a casino this summer,

Whales of the Atacama; Plus, Patagonia Winners

2011-12-10T13:13:00.001-08:00

Though Chile is one of the world’s most cetacean-friendly countries, the crumbling ruins of an old whaling station on the southern outskirts of Iquique are an historical reminder that commercial whaling continued here as late as 1963. A recent discovery, though, has put all this in perspective – near the coastal city of Caldera, another Atacama desert beach resort, paleontologists have discovered

Bridging the Beagle; Plus, Win This Book!

2011-12-07T14:50:00.001-08:00

The European Union may be in economic crisis, but its citizens remain accustomed to crossing borders with few or no bureaucratic barriers. That’s rarely been the case in the Southern Cone countries, especially in southernmost Argentina and Chile, despite the historic links between the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego and the Chilean region of Magallanes. The San Sebastián crossing between

Torture Tours, Part 4

2011-12-02T18:17:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, December 1, was the 35th anniversary of the disappearance of María Eugenia Sanllorenti de Massolo, my brother-in-law’s first wife, about whom I wrote briefly in a blog item last July. In 1976, in the university city of La Plata (pictured above), “Maru” fell into the hands of unknown kidnappers; her whereabouts remained unknown until early this year, when the Equipo Argentino de

From the Falklands: A 2011 Perspective

2011-11-29T11:56:00.001-08:00

The wildlife-rich Falkland Islands get extensive coverage in my new third edition of Moon Handbooks Patagonia, which has recently appeared on the shelves. To get a further update for upcoming season, I conducted an email interview with Paul Trowell, the Falkland Islands Tourist Board’s general manager. I was particularly interested in developments for independent travelers, rather than the

Rocky Roads, Ashy Skies & Fuegian Kings

2011-11-26T13:18:00.001-08:00

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I won’t return to South America until late January or early February, but that doesn’t mean a lack about Argentina, Chile, and the rest of the Southern Cone. Álvaro Jaramillo, whose birding guide to Chile I recently reviewed, has passed on some very useful information from his recent trip there. The Road to Lauca Most of Álvaro's updated

Conservation Conversation: Kris Tompkins's Patagonia, Part 2

2011-11-21T21:00:00.001-08:00

Last week, I published the first part of a lengthy interview with environmental philanthropist Kristine McDivitt Tompkins, wife and partner of Doug Tompkins, about Chile’s proposed new Parque Nacional Patagonia, conducted during my visit to Estancia Valle Chacabuco earlier this year. Today I’m publishing part two, which starts with a couple questions about Parque Nacional Corcovado, near the town

Tales of Airport Security

2011-11-18T18:22:00.001-08:00

In December of 2004, returning from my only visit to Antarctica, I was about to fly from the Patagonian city of Río Gallegos to Buenos Aires, three hours to the north. Boarding pass in hand, I headed to security at this relatively small airport only to find nobody to check my documents and nobody manning the X-ray machine. At the gate, there was nobody to collect my pass and, until I climbed

Return of the "Mercado Paralelo"

2011-11-15T21:20:00.001-08:00

When I visited and lived in Buenos Aires in the early to mid-1980s, changing money was a nightmare, as out-of-control inflation – sometimes exceeding 50 percent per month - undercut the peso ley and its successors, the peso argentino (pictured above) and the austral (pictured below). With their currency depreciating rapidly, Argentines fueled the fire by spending their paychecks immediately on

Conservation Conversation: Kris Tompkins's Patagonia, Part 1

2011-11-12T13:09:00.001-08:00

Earlier this year, I stayed at the new lodge at Valle Chacabuco, the ambitious Chilean conservation project of environmental philanthropists Doug Tompkins and Kristine McDivitt Tompkins. In the course of my brief stay, I had the opportunity for an extended conversation with Kris (pictured above, center, at the lodge) over the proposed Parque Nacional Patagonia, including several topics related

Birds of Chile: An Ornithological Extravaganza

2011-11-09T08:57:00.000-08:00

When adventurous birders think of travel, they often head to the tropical rain forests of Asia, Africa and the Americas, with their celebrated abundance of species. It’s an axiom of biodiversity that the low latitude tropics, especially the forests, are home to large numbers of species, even if individual numbers of those species are relatively few. By contrast, higher latitudes have fewer

Buenos Aires Subte Subsidies to End?

2011-11-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

Argentina’s Peronist government of President Cristina Fernández and the conservative administration of Buenos Aires mayor Mauricio Macri rarely agree on anything. Since Cristina’s recent re-election, though, they have decided to work together on at least one topic – the transfer of responsibility for the Subte from the national government to the city. As I detailed in an earlier

Where's the Money? Exchange Rate Update

2011-11-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

Argentine President Cristina Fernández managed an impressive re-election victory on Sunday, October 23, but her honeymoon could be short. Almost immediately after the election, confident with a nearly 40-point margin over the closest challenger, her government instituted new foreign exchange rules intended to reduce capital flight or, as her current economy minister/vice-president-elect Amado