Tandil Rock(s)

In southern Buenos Aires province, about 350 km south of the city of Buenos Aires, the town of Tandil and its surroundings offer literal relief from the unrelentingly flat Pampas. Nobody will mistake this area for the Alps or the Andes - its summits top out around 500 meters above sea level - but their barren pre-Cambrian granites create a deceptive illusion of high country in what, along with Sierra de la Ventana, serves as the nearest hill station for residents of the Argentine capital. It's particularly popular with hikers and mountain bikers, and its cheeses and salamis are famous throughout the country. more >>

A Mighty Wind Hits Buenos Aires

After I descended from a five-hour bus ride at Buenos Aires’s Retiro bus terminal at 6:15 this morning, the ensuing taxi ride to my Palermo apartment took me through a scene of arboreal devastation. An early morning storm, with high winds, had left dozens of fallen trees and limbs, ripping some of them straight out of the soil. As of this evening, some of them are still blocking streets and sidewalks (as pictured here, barely a block from my place), though it's clear and sunny, and the winds have abated.

Some 40 cars suffered damage from falling branches, at least one bicyclist was hospitalized after being hit, and the wind even lifted the roof off a large downtown gas station. In the Buenos Aires province town of Caseros, a pedestrian was electrocuted by a high-tension cable, and in some areas it was necessary to shut the electricity off for several hours. more >>