The Soul of Buenos Aires

January 17, 2012 – 12:29 pm
Buenos Aires - Through a loudspeaker, a violin is making a weeping sound, and two bodies are elegantly moving to the music over the Plaza Dorrego in Buenos Aires. The air is heavy with the late summer. The asphalt is giving off heat, which is rising into the cloudless evening sky. A light breeze is whistling through a side street. Here, in the middle of San Telmo, the oldest district of the city, is a meeting place for everyone - couples, the homeless, street artists, tourists. The charm of the plaza attracts all kinds of people. A self-declared military dictator is going through the area, gesticulating wildly with a stick and shouting orders to the motorists. San Telmo Classic Street Sitting on one of the roughly one hundred folding chairs on the plaza, one can simply enjoy the here and now. Juan has grown up in the Paris of South America, as Buenos Aires is ...

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Emirates SkyCargo launch air-services to Buenos Aires, Argentina

January 16, 2012 – 8:17 pm
Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates, has increased its South American operations to meet the growing demand for air freight between the UAE and the carrier's global network. Following the launch of a daily passenger service from Dubai to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires on January 3, Emirates SkyCargo is now able to connect three points in South America with trade opportunities in more than 100 destinations. In addition to the belly-hold capacity of the 14 passenger flights each week between Dubai and Rio de Janeiro-Buenos Aires, it also offers cargo space on the 14 passenger flights it operates each week between Dubai and South America's largest city Sao Paulo. The capacity on these two routes — both served by Boeing 777-300ERs — is bolstered further by Emirates SkyCargo's dedicated freighter service to Sao Paulo three times a week, which provides a further 620 tonnes of capacity on Boeing 777Fs. "Emirates' new ...

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Buenos Aires, from another point of view – Foto Ruta Photography Tours

January 16, 2012 – 8:12 pm
Get ready to roam the barrios of Buenos Aires in a scavenger hunt for tourists like no other, in which no one is in it for the win, but for capturing the essence a multifaceted city through the lens of a camera. For more than a year now, Foto Ruta has been an interesting alternative to the much reviled “city tour” that so many visitors have vowed to stay away from. Created by expats Becky Hayes (UK) and Jocelyn Mandryk (Canada) in October 2010, Foto Ruta opened with a strong focus on the city’s minimal stories that can be found throughout several barrios porteños, including San Telmo, Villa Crespo, Recoleta, Montserrat and other lesser-known areas. The concept is simple: visitors sign up for the city tour and meet at a designated location (usually a bar), where they are given clues as to what they are expected to identify and photograph. After a brief ...

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Five-day trip to Buenos Aires. Differences with Santiago, Chile

January 13, 2012 – 12:23 pm
A Seattle native talks relocation to the world's southernmost nation. A few months ago, I took a five-day trip to Buenos Aires, notable because I’ve always wanted to visit and it marked my first time traveling outside of Chile since I’ve been down here. I was bubbling with excitement to see what all the fuss was about. Buenos Aires did not disappoint. I remember taking the taxi from the airport to my hostel and having this silly grin on my face as I peered out the window, wide-eyed at the skyscrapers and neon billboards interspersed with run down, Colonial style hotels and office buildings. The city had the romantic, old-world feel of Paris, the passion of Madrid, and the mix of energy and frenzy of New York City. La Boca en Buenos Aires There are many differences between Santiago and Buenos Aires that became immediately apparent. First, the city is enormous. I can almost ...

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New City Tour Launched: “Discover Buenos Aires”

January 12, 2012 – 7:06 pm
- Discover Buenos Aires. - Pick up and drop off from at hotel - Duration: 3 Hours. - Bilingual Tour Guide (English/Spanish) - Season: Everyday at 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM. - The itinenary includes main tourist Spots Discover the beauty of Buenos Aires through a tour of its civic center, Plaza de Mayo square the Govemment House (“Casa Rosada”), The Metropolitan Cathedral and the Town hall (“Cabildo”), a panoramic view of the Colon theatre one of the most precious opera houses in the world and pride of the local “porteños“. We will also visit the traditional quarter of San Telmo, with its magical atmosphere that will take you back in time. (Sunday Tour includes the Antique Market). After this, we will stop at La Boca, the place where the first Italian immigrants settled down and famous for its picturesque and colorful architecture (Caminito Street). We will continue to Palermo a residential quarter with diverse attractions Suchas ...

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New Flights Between Buenos Aires and Holguin (Cuba)

January 12, 2012 – 1:27 pm
A new flight path, between Argentina and Cuba, will contribute to increase in 2012 the number of tourists coming to the Caribbean island from that South American nation. The trips, which began on Tuesday and will continue operating until May 1st, will initially link the city of Buenos Aires with eastern Cuba, and will promote tourist exchanges between the two countries, the Prensa Latina (PL) news agency reported. With a capacity for 300 passengers, the flights will take place every Tuesday, with Boeing 767 airplanes. The project, scheduled for the entire year, turns Argentina into the second country with the largest amount of direct air connections with several Cuban regions, after Canada. The source adds that during the first four months of 2012, the number of weekly flights will increase to eight –six of which will take place by way of Cubana Airlines- between the Argentinean capital and Havana, Varadero, Cayo Largo, Cayo Coco, ...

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French-style building in Buenos Aires

January 11, 2012 – 2:56 pm
This week's property of the week is a stunning colonial French-style building in Buenos Aires. Property of the week: A two-bedroom, ground-floor apartment in colonial French-style building, between avenues Santa Fe and Las Heras, Recoleta, £150,000. Sotheby’s International Realty (00 54 11 5648 9881; sothebysrealty.com) You’re spoilt for choice in the Argentine capital. There’s San Isidro, 45 minutes from the centre, with large, expensive houses near Lincoln University College, popular with expat students. Then there’s exclusive Recoleta, with its plazas, museums and shops. “Very popular with foreigners,” says Rosario Lix Klett, new business manager with SIR Argentina. “You can use it for two to three months a year, then rent it out the rest.” A two-bedroom flat, £140,000 to buy, will generate rental income of £650 per month. Palermo has a “young” part (theatres, art galleries, restaurants) and a “traditional” part (zoo, parks and polo ground). The formerly downbeat dockland area Puerto Madero has ...

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Fly to Buenos Aires with the new LAN Airlines gay and lesbian travellers website

January 10, 2012 – 12:06 pm
South America based LAN Airlines has announced the launch of a website dedicated specifically to gay and lesbian travelers. According to a company press release, the new site, found at www.LANdiversity.com, showcases the diversity found throughout South America, and is a one stop and shop resource for LGBT travel to South America. The site features information and resources for the prospective traveler to South America, including detailed descriptions of key South American destinations and recent LGBT-related news pertaining to countries throughout South America, as well as events and activities of interest to gay travelers to South America such as trips from leading LGBT tour operators. "If you're traveling to Buenos Aires, not only can you purchase your ticket from the online booking engine, but you can read current news relating to LGBT topics in that region, view dates for the Buenos Aires International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival or Buenos Aires Pride, ...

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Silver Whisper Cruise Ship, a small luxury Sails from Buenos Aires

January 9, 2012 – 10:58 am
The Silver Whisper of Silversea Cruises is a small luxury ship designed to pamper its guests and make their cruise vacation a memorable one. Although the Silver Whisper was launched in 2001, the ship underwent a major refurbishment in 2010 and looked almost new when I sailed from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso in South America on her in December 2011. The ship's classical, elegant furnishings are timeless, and guest favorites like iPod docking stations and shipwide WiFi make it seem as modern as its youngest sister ship the Silver Spirit. Another addition to the ship I really enjoyed was the outdoor Grill Dinner. Guests cook their own prime meats using a very hot lava stone. Cooking one bite at a time ensures the meat is hot. The ship uses hot plates for hot food and cold plates for cold food in the other dining venues, but it's difficult to keep a large steak ...

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Foreigners living in Buenos Aires

January 6, 2012 – 12:58 pm
The Foreigners, Maxine Swann. Riverhead Books, New York, 2011. Every foreigner living in Buenos Aires has his or her own take on the city, the porteños, and the other foreign inhabitants. As a foreigner myself, it is always interesting to compare notes on others’ impressions of the city and I suppose that’s why I was keen to read Maxine Swann’s latest novel The Foreigners. Intertwining stories of several characters living in BA, both local and foreign, Swann paints a picture of the city that is high-speed, over-sexed and racy – all the stuff people living outside the city love to believe about it. The novel follows the adventures of Daisy, a somewhat lost 35-year-old divorcée from the United States who comes to BA under the guise of doing waterworks research, but is really in the city because she is looking for something. What she finds, or rather who she finds, is a ...

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