South America Blog
About this blog
Wayne Bernhardson is the author of Moon Handbooks to Buenos Aires, Chile, Argentina, and Patagonia. Here he shares his vast knowledge of South America and its people.
Recent Posts
- The Papal Cumbia
- The Uruguayan Sacraments: Tango & Mate
- Taxing the Tourist: Argentina's AFIP Aims Low
- Fortress Falklands: A Book Review
- Pope Argentinus I, The Musical: Ragtime Meets Tango
- Credit Where Credit Is Undue?
- ¿Adios Hugo?
- When "No" Is A Positive
- Chile and Its "Crazies"
- The Oscars: A Post Mortem, So to Speak
- Sacrificing the Atacama? A Chilean View of Dakar
- Chilean Oscar Faceoff? "No" v. "Kon-Tiki"
- Friday Digest: Southern Cone Nuggets
- Dancing in the Mud? The Andean Aftermath
- Floods & Mud: Summer Storms Hit the Andes
Patagonia's Kelp Capital, a New National Park
In a recent post, I wrote about Argentina’s proposed Parque Nacional Isla Pingüinos, but I didn’t have time to add anything about the brand new Parque Nacional Patagonia Austral, recently declared along the shoreline of Chubut province south of the town of Camarones and Reserva Provincial Cabo Dos Bahías. more >>
Chaitén Versus the Volcano
For the first time since the eruption of Volcán Chaitén in May 2008, I was able to visit the Chilean town of Chaitén - or what remains of it - this past Wednesday. While I stayed in Futaleufú, the renowned whitewater kayaking and rafting mecca on its namesake Río Futaleufú near the Argentine border, I drove the roughly 160 km (100 miles) to Chaitén and spent about three hours in town before returning to Futaleufú. At El Amarillo, about 25 km south of Chaitén, the Carabineros police check passports and ask where you’re going and what you’re doing, but there are no restrictions on travel to town, and several hotels and other lodgings remain open. more >>
Perón Plays Patagonia!
Argentine literary great Jorge Luis Borges, who detested Juan Domingo Perón, famously said that “Peronists are neither good nor bad, but incorrigible.” I generally tend to agree with Borges’ assessment of a political party whose leaders’ motto always seems to be “If you’re not with us, you’re against us,” but at the same time I’ll admit to being impressed with the new Museo de la Familia Perón, which I visited on Thursday, in the Patagonian town of Camarones. more >>
A Patagonian Penguin Park
When I first visited Argentina in 1979, the country had only one coastal national park, Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego. Thanks to a donation from environmental philanthropist Doug Tompkins, Parque Nacional Monte León came into being in 2004, but it’s even more recently added a new maritime coastal park in Patagonia and is due to add another that, last Monday, I managed to visit for the first time from Puerto Deseado. more >>
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