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
Evita's "Millions"; Plus, Tango by the River
For a country with Argentina’s polarized politics, it’s surprising that there are so few explicitly political jokes. I’ve heard plenty of people gripe and moan about the state of public life, but only a handful have ever told me political stories that were truly funny. In late 2001, I did hear then president Fernando de la Rúa referred as “Frenando de la Duda,” a pun suggesting his ineffectual hesitancy – a phrase that, roughly translated, means, “Just in case, keep your foot on the brakes.” more >>
Travel & the Environment: Interview with Hernán Torres
I first met Hernán Torres Santibáñez in 1979, when I was researching my M.A. thesis on llama and alpaca herding in Lauca Nacional Park and he was in charge of the regional office of the Corporación Nacional Forestal, in the northern Chilean city of Arica. Given our mutual interests in conservation and travel, we have stayed in touch ever since and, when I was in Santiago recently, I asked him to answer some questions about his career trajectory and current activities. I’ve also seen his daughters – also his business partners – grow up to achieve a level of English fluency so impressive that it’s hard to tell that they’re not native speakers. more >>
Evita's Money
A decade ago, on one of my rare winter visits to Buenos Aires, I went to the opening of the Museo Evita on July 26th, 2002 – the 50th anniversary of Eva Perón’s death. Evita events were ubiquitous, as pilgrims flocked to her tomb, and there were even press tours of her former Posadas street apartment in Recoleta (an AP correspondent friend of mine garnered an invitation but, unfortunately, I was not so lucky). more >>
The Black-Browed Albatross's Comeback; Plus, Five-Star Falklands?
In the course of more than a year in the Falkland Islands, from January 1986 through February 1987, I grew to adore the place. Just four years earlier, it had been the site of brief but contentious conflict when Argentina’s vicious military dictatorship invaded and occupied them on the basis of an ambiguous 19th-century territorial claim, and held them for 74 days before being dislodged by a British naval task force. Overnight, the territory changed from a state without police – Falklands cops did not even carry firearms – to a brutal police state that threatened their lives and property. more >>
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