South America Blog
About this blog
Wayne Bernhardson is the author of Moon Handbooks to Buenos Aires, Chile, Argentina, and Patagonia. Here he shares his vast knowledge of South America and its people.
Recent Posts
- Reporting from Santiago, on Robinson Crusoe
- Recovering Chile Charts New Course
- Argentina Takes the Oscar
- Coffee & Submarines in Southern South America
- From Uruguay to Chile, with Concern
- Quake-Stricken Chile Begins Bouncing Back
- Massive Earthquake (8.8) in Chile
- Argentina Pressures South Atlantic Cruise Ships
- Skies of the Atacama
- Buenos Aires: Carnaval Meets Chinese New Year's
- Catamaran to Carmelo: Whys and Wines of Uruguay
- The "Caves" of Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
- Sex & Food in Buenos Aires: Part 2
- "Authentic Buenos Aires"
- Freezing Out the Little Guy? Professionalization of Tourism in Chile and Argentina
Reporting from Santiago, on Robinson Crusoe
I have just returned to Buenos Aires from Santiago, where I spent two-plus days exploring Chile’s post-quake capital and barely had time to sleep, let alone write any extensive blog posts. Within a few days, I’ll have a summary up, but for the moment I’ll just note that things are returning to normal - despite a brief Sunday night blackout that extended from the Atacama desert town of Taltal in the north to the archipelago of Chiloé in the south - and that flying out of Santiago’s Aeropuerto Internacional Arturo Merino Benítez was utterly routine, even if the main international terminal building remains closed. more >>
Recovering Chile Charts New Course
As I wrote in an earlier post, the Chilean earthquake - at least compared with its Haitian counterpart - is more an economic than a humanitarian disaster. Admittedly, it’s not either/or - the number of deaths in Chile is small compared with those in Haiti, but it would be cruel to tell someone in Concepción who’s lost everything that “you’re not so bad off,” even if they’re not starving and Chile’s dry Mediterranean climate doesn’t expose them to torrential tropical rains and diseases. more >>
Argentina Takes the Oscar
For only the second time, Argentina has taken home a “Best Foreign Film” award from the Oscars. Last night, the Academy awarded the statuette to director Juan José Campanella’s “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” (The Secret in Her Eyes), starring Ricardo Darín and Soledad Villamil in a noirish crime drama with political overtones that begins in the 1970s, but before the coup that overthrew civilian authority in 1976. It takes place mostly in 1999, but deals with the legacy of Argentina’s history of political violence. more >>
Coffee & Submarines in Southern South America
In the age of Peets and Starbucks, one of the things than most concerns people when they vacation in distant lands is whether or not they can get good coffee. People who go to countries such as Guatemala, Colombia and Brazil, which are tropical coffee producers, count on fresh brewed caffeine, but they’re not always so sure about the Southern Cone countries of Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay.
In reality, there’s never been much to worry about in Argentina where with few exceptions, the Italian influence has made espresso the default option even in remote Patagonian hamlets. The simplest “café chico” is a dark thick brew in a tiny cylindrical cup; diluted with milk, it’s a “cortado.” “Café con leche” is a latte or cappuccino, while a “lágrima” (literally a tear, as in crying) is steamed milk with just a little coffee. Uruguay is similar. more >>
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