Articles in Próxima Estación – Esperanza
Argentinidad
I find Argentina´s national psyche fascinating. Of course, as an outsider, it is difficult to define, pretentious even. But as a former European, I feel a connexion with this country. Argentinians like to eat (late), drink (good wines), smoke, dance, listen to music, talk and hang out in groups, seem to value their family, and love kids.
An Argentinian Coin Story
Everywhere there are signs: “¡no hay moneda, no insista!” (we do not have change, don´t insist). So instead of receiving, let´s say, 25 cents for change, you will get a bubble gum or a candy. Great. But we still don´t have change.
Buenos Aires By Night
We arrived late the first night and we figured we would have to starve until the next day, because nothing would be open. Yeah, right… We found an hostel in the microcentro, right by Avenida 9 De Julio (the widest street in the world!) and we barely had to walk ten meters before seeing bars, food, bookstores, cafés… What a sight!
Colorful Boca
Working class “La Boca” is a barrio of Buenos Aires, famous for its colorful houses and home of the Boca Junior soccer team. Italian immigrants settled there, at the mouth (“boca”) of the Riachuelo river, giving the place a strong European feel.
Busing 3,048 Kilometers...
Bus rides are pretty tiring. We try to sleep as much as we can, but between the police check points (“Señores passajeros, por favor, su pasaporte o su cedula de identidad…”) and the many many stops, it is hard to doze off for more than a few hours. Not to mention that at every stop (including gas stations), the driver will yell “cinco minutos, no más” and that we will jump on our sits and run outside for fresh air, a smoke, bathrooms or a snack.
Ice Field And Icebergs
As the sun hit the face of the glacier, around noon, we witnessed several huge chunk of ice collapsing in the Canales de los Témpanos (Iceberg Channel). Enormous blocks suddenly crashed into the water, causing a huge wave, temporally clearing the water of other icebergs for a few minutes.
Torres Del Pain(e)
The boulders were not stable. We stepped on rocks that would move downhill, avalanche like. Other rocks appeared huge but offered little help, because they were unsteady. I was quite scared to be honest. We were high in the mountain with no help whatsoever, no trail, we were tired and worse of all — we would have to make our way down, which I was afraid we might not be able to.
Ushuaia, The End Of The World
Traveling to the Southernmost city in the world is pretty exciting. Sure, it´s a silly symbol, but it´s fun to sit by the seaside and imagine Antarctica is right there, barely 1,000 kilometers away. To know that Canada is 13,000 North. To reach the end of the road, literally.
We were not prepared for how bizarre and expensive was Ushuaia though.























