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
- The Papal Cumbia
- The Uruguayan Sacraments: Tango & Mate
- Taxing the Tourist: Argentina's AFIP Aims Low
- Fortress Falklands: A Book Review
- Pope Argentinus I, The Musical: Ragtime Meets Tango
- Credit Where Credit Is Undue?
- ¿Adios Hugo?
- When "No" Is A Positive
- Chile and Its "Crazies"
- The Oscars: A Post Mortem, So to Speak
- Sacrificing the Atacama? A Chilean View of Dakar
- Chilean Oscar Faceoff? "No" v. "Kon-Tiki"
- Friday Digest: Southern Cone Nuggets
- Dancing in the Mud? The Andean Aftermath
- Floods & Mud: Summer Storms Hit the Andes
The Chilean Ski Scene: An Interview with Brian Pearson
Brian Pearson is the founder and CEO of Santiago Adventures, which opened in 2003, in the city borough of Providencia. One of the things that most attracted him to Chile was the snows of the Andes, so I recently asked him some questions about the Chilean ski scene. He appears on the right in the above photograph, taken by Kevin Chartier of the cat-skiing company Ski Arpa. more >>
Subte Strike Ends; Uruguay's Peso Market
Yesterday, finally, a tentative truce ended a ten-day Subte strike that had paralyzed the city of Buenos Aires. Contentious labor relations are not unusual in Argentina, but this one was more complicated than most, as it involved an ostensible devolution of power from the federal government (which controlled the system) to the city government (a political adversary) without providing sufficient funds to run the system. This obliged municipal authorities (headed by mayor Mauricio Macri) to raise fares substantially to try to reduce the operating deficit. more >>
Argentina's Olympic Basketry
Living in Argentina often means jumping through hoops – if, for instance, you need to purchase dollars to travel abroad – but for some Argentines it means playing or watching hoops.
Over the past two weeks, I’ve paid little attention to the Olympics, which I find tedious – and not just for the horrendous TV coverage implying that any sport without US participants is insignificant. Certainly there are inspiring stories but, far more often than not, the presentation is insufferably maudlin. more >>
Córdoba Controls Emissions?
Except among a handful of know-nothings who deny that humans have any effect whatsoever on their natural environment, there is virtually unanimous agreement that carbon emissions from automobiles is a major contributor to air pollution and global warming. The Argentine city of Córdoba, though, seems primed to tackle emissions as a public health crisis in a truly novel manner. more >>
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