Patagonia crossing

Emptyness, gravel roads, blue skies, fast moving clouds, freezing wind... that's the extraordinary experience of crossing Patagonia...

Puerto Madryn and Peninsula Valdes

Under the 42nd parallel, in Patagonia

My visit to Patagonia starts in Puerto Madryn, a small town founded by Welsh immigrants, who arrived in Argentina in 1865.
Peninsula Valdes, next to Puerto Madryn is a fantastic ecosystem where whales, sea lions, sea elephants and pinguins come every year in spring to mate and give birth to their babies

Sea lions and sea elephants at Punta Norte 'sunbathing' to change skin

Penguins at Punta Cantor

Whales at Puerto Piramides...
In this time of the year, mothers are teaching babies to swim, offering an incredible show...
Very difficult to take pictures when surrounded by such beauty...

"Los inmigrantes"

"Los inmigrantes"

Some say Argentina is a country made of Italians who speak Spanish. That never seemed so true after a few days here, when I realised this country really shares some of the most hateful and lovely features of my home country.

What I found very interesting was the everyday references that people make to their Italian or Spanish ancestors and the celebration of immigration to Argentina as key moment in this nation's history.

To make sense of the importance of immigration, I first visited the 'Hotel de Los Inmigrantes' in Buenos Aires, an enormous and at the time beautiful building where immigrants arriving from Europe were hosted and provided with a job. In San Antonio de Areco I was lucky enough to watch a beautiful play, 'L'America': this showed very vividly how poor Italian and Spanish immigrants mixed together to effectively give origin to the first true Argentinian generation. Played half in Italian and half in spanish, it was a true example of the "mescla" that is this country 

The night ended with a surprise when I met the Carugati family, whose origins trace back to a village next to hometown! what are the chances! 

I want to thank the Carugati sisters for sharing the amazing story of their family and for being so friendly. This really proved to me the unique bond between Argentina and Italy!

Con la famiglia Carugati

La Pampa

San Antonio de Areco

is a 'pueblo' near Buenos Aires and yet in the middle of the pampa, where I had the chance to go horseback riding, catch a polo match amongst gauchos and spend a day at a beautiful estancia, a typical argentinian horse farm

El gaucho

La pampa

Buenos Aires

Intro

This blog will record my six-month long trip around Latin America, showing some of my best photos of the trip
Hope you will enjoy it!
Que lo disfruten bien!

Buenos Aires

My six month vagabonding in Latin America started in one of my favourite cities worldwide, Buenos Aires.
Having rented an apartment in Palermo for two weeks, I could see what it is like to live in this wonderful but 'cursed' city.
One the one side, the decadent and yet grand beauty of the buildings and squares built up to the 1920s, with Plaza de Mayo and Avenida de Mayo, the tango quarter of San Telmo, when time has stopped, and the posh and European Palermo, with bars, restaurants and lots of live music.
On the other, I was 'lucky' enough to experience what the locals said was one of the craziest weeks in Buenos Aires. First, the hottest week ever experienced in early november (early spring here), with highs of over 40 degrees. This caused 'el apagon', a massive black out that cut off the whole city for a day, including the subte and the air conditioning. Then there was "siete ene", a huge strike against the government: on 7 november, people took the streets banging pots and pans at ten in the evening (night doesn't start in BA until 2am...). Finally, a 'basura' (rubbish) strike made the whole environment so unreal, and what we were breathing wasn't really 'buenos aires'...
Real life in Buenos Aires couldn't get any more real...

Plaza de Mayo

Casa rosada

San Telmo, where time stopped 80 years ago...

Mafalda

La Recoleta