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
Massive Earthquake (8.8) in Chile
In 1960, the Chilean city of Valdivia, about 800 km south of the capital of Santiago, suffered the greatest magnitude earthquake ever recorded - 9.5 on the Richter scale - and much of the country suffered from a subsequent tsunami. Early this morning, the city of Concepción, about 500 km south of the Chilean capital, came dangerously close to that number, being hit by a temblor measuring as high as 8.8. In this region, where many city inhabitants still use wood for cooking and heating, the danger of fire is as great, or greater, than that of falling buildings. more >>
Argentina Pressures South Atlantic Cruise Ships
When I was last in the Falkland Islands, a little over two years ago, several thousand cruise ship passengers disembarked in the capital of Stanley on the day of my departure by air (as pictured here, passengers must disembark on smaller boats because Stanley's Inner Harbour cannot accommodate the big ships). In summer, when cruises bound for Antarctica or around Cape Horn stop here, the number of visitors can exceed the population of the town, which is about 2,100, and their presence is a major contributor to the Islands’ prosperity. more >>
Skies of the Atacama
From the tiny Chilean fishing port of Taltal, with its dilapidated but atmospheric heritage of wooden buildings from the nitrate era, a northbound road heads into the coastal range of the Atacama desert - the shortest route north toward the city of Antofagasta and other destinations such as San Pedro de Atacama. After about 20 km the coastal road turns to gravel and then, at the fishing village of Paposo, it swerves up a steep canyon known as Quebrada del Despoblado - so called because nobody lives there and, given its stark aridity, that's not surprising. more >>
Buenos Aires: Carnaval Meets Chinese New Year's
New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro get all the press, but Argentina too enjoys Carnaval in the weeks before Lent. The biggest celebrations take place in the Mesopotamian cities of Gualeguaychú and Corrientes, but over the past decade or so it’s taken off in Buenos Aires. more >>
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