Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
Tango argentino is far more than a dance: it is a living expression of Buenos Aires, shaped by the city’s immigrant neighbourhoods, port districts, and cosmopolitan character. Its close embrace, dramatic pauses, and intricate footwork create an atmosphere that feels both intimate and theatrical, while the music carries a distinctive mixture of longing, pride, melancholy, and humour.
Continue reading “Tango”
Rosario is one of Argentina’s most engaging cities: a lively river port on the western bank of the Paraná, roughly 290 kilometres north-west of Buenos Aires. Its early history began as a modest colonial settlement, but it gained national importance during the struggle for independence. In 1812, General Manuel Belgrano first raised the Argentine flag here, giving Rosario its enduring nickname, the ‘Cradle of the Flag‘.
Continue reading “Cradle of the flag”
The Río Paraná is one of South America’s great rivers and the continent’s second-longest after the Amazon. It is formed in southern Brazil where the Rio Grande and the Paranaíba meet, then flows through Brazil, along parts of the Paraguay–Brazil and Paraguay–Argentina borders, and southwards through Argentina for roughly 4,880 kilometres before joining the Uruguay river in the Río de la Plata estuary and reaching the Atlantic Ocean.
Continue reading “Paraná”
The Argentine peso (ARS) has been Argentina’s national currency since 1881, although the country has repeatedly redenominated it after periods of severe inflation and economic crisis. The current peso dates from 1992, when it replaced the austral at a rate of 10,000 to 1. Since then, inflation, currency controls and sharp devaluations have repeatedly reduced its purchasing power, making exchange rates a practical concern for visitors rather than a mere financial detail.
Continue reading “ARS”
Tandil is a pleasant hill town in south-eastern Buenos Aires province, set where the open Pampas meet the ancient Tandilia mountain range. Its modern history began in 1823, when Governor Martín Rodríguez established Fuerte Independencia as a frontier settlement. The fort was intended to secure the expanding colonial state, but conflict with Indigenous communities caused many settlers to leave after attacks in 1856; Tandil later recovered and was formally declared a city in 1895.
Continue reading “Mountain scenery”
Eva María Duarte was born in 1919 in the small town of Los Toldos and grew up in modest circumstances. As a teenager, she moved to Buenos Aires to pursue a career as an actress, gradually becoming well known on the radio and stage. Her life changed when she met Colonel Juan Domingo Perón; they married in 1945, and when he became president in 1946, she emerged as one of Argentina’s most influential public figures.
Continue reading “Evita”
Combining a visit to Montevideo and Buenos Aires is easy, as you can cross the Río de la Plata via ferry boat. There are multiple options; I opted in for the Buquebus crossing which begins at the company’s terminal in Colonia del Sacramento. To get there, you need to take a bus from the Tres Cruces bus terminal at Montevideo where you can also check in your luggage.
Continue reading “Crossing the Río de la Plata”
Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital and principal port, grew from a Spanish military settlement founded between 1724 and 1730 to control the strategically important Río de la Plata and resist Portuguese expansion from Brazil. Its original name was San Felipe y Santiago de Montevideo, while the settlement gradually developed around the bay and its fortified old town. The city’s walls were built in the eighteenth century but demolished in the nineteenth, leaving the Ciudad Vieja and the surviving gateway as reminders of its colonial beginnings.
Continue reading “I see a mountain”
The peso uruguayo (UYU), usually written as $ or $U , is Uruguay’s official currency. The present peso was introduced on March 1st, 1993, replacing the nuevo peso at a rate of 1 peso uruguayo for 1,000 nuevos pesos. It is divided into 100 centésimos, although centésimo coins are no longer commonly used.
Continue reading “Peso Uruguayo”
The river Garte is a small, approximately 23-kilometre-long tributary of the Leine in Südniedersachsen. Its name gives the Gartetal – literally the Garte valley – its identity, and the river is one of the defining features of the landscape around Gleichen, east and south-east of Göttingen. It rises near Weißenborn, close to the Thüringen border, and flows westwards before reaching the Leine south of Göttingen, near the area east of Rosdorf.
Continue reading “Garte”