There is Beauty in the World

Every country, every place, has beautiful scenery, but Patagonia took my breath away. It had been a while since nature inspired me so much: land wide open, raw yet gentle, desolate yet comforting, a corner of the world that elicits a rare joy and a persistent lump in one's throat as one sees the destruction global warming is leaving behind. The solidified blue of the sky against the contrasting white of the snow in the Andes made me hopeful that something more lies beyond, that us humans can't let such magnificent beauty just melt away ...

Sunrise over El Calafate

The Andes

Hope.

PERITO MORENO GLACIER - El Lago Argentino

"El Mirador de los Suspiros"

A rupture in the glacier

Merengues

The Perito Moreno Glacier is only one of three Patagonian glaciers that is not retreating.

Clowning around at 5:30am!

On the bus en route to the docking station to board the boat for our second day of tours around El Lago Argentino.

Clouds.

Icebergs

Hello Global Warming! You can see how this glacier has retreated in the nakedness on some parts of the mountain and how it continues to lose volume as it melts aways (see the waterfalls).

Here it is again: the infamous Perito Moreno Glacier.

Cheers! A delicious way to end the boat trip: with champagne (actually, it was espumante, but just as good!)!

Pink flamingos

Buenos Aires

Alas some pictures from our trip to Buenos Aires! It was hard to choose which pictures to post because: a) we did so much and b) Buenos Aires is such a beautiful city. We had the fortune to enjoy some unusually warm fall days and to discover the city the way we like to: by walking! The boys would end the day exhausted - we would put them to bed by 10pm and they wouldn't rise before 10:30am - it felt like our summer in Spain!!

There aren't many pictures of the city itself. While it is beautiful, I felt it lacked personality - I felt I was walking down any European city. There was no fusion of its indigenous society, rich with art and architecture of its own, with the European. However, one neighborhood which I found totally fascinating and interesting was La Boca. It's walls are a testimony to its proud immigrant past and how they built their neighborhood with hard work. In fact, before we visited the "barrio" we visited the Latin American Museum of Modern Art and I fell in love with the work of Benito Quinquela Martin, for it's strong social and political messages. Only later did I find out that the inspiration behind his works was the years he spent living in La Boca.

La Boca is also alive with its particular passion for soccer and for its local team, the Boca Juniors and it's famous son - Diego Maradonna.

Also fascinating, to me at least, was how politically rebellious Argentinians are. Signs abounded for social uprising to protest against low wages, equal opportunities and equal rights, for work opportunities, for socialism.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures and those from El Calafate, Patagonia, will soon follow!

At the Jardin Japones, Mati proudly jumps over a rope!

HOOOOOOT day ...

At the Palermo Zoo - Mati saw lions, panthers, pumas, tigers, Siberian tigers, elephants, zebras, crocodiles ... all his favorites!

At the Plaza de Mayo.

La Virgen del Lujan, patrona de Argentina, at the Cathedral.

Worshippers

Our guide checking the map

El Cementerio de Recoleta ... some families go way out to honor their dead!

The cemetery is CROWDED!!!

At the Museo de Ninos - seems we visit one in every city we go to!

Santi feeding his baby

Tango in San Telmo

Flea Market at San Telmo

Mercado de San Telmo

"Por Amor Usa Preservativo"

The murals adorning the walls of the "Bombonera" - the Boca Juniors Stadium

Republica de La Boca ... a lot like Republic of Berkeley!

Also in La Boca

Digging for dinosaur bones at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales

Exhausted

My handsome prince watching a soccer game at a local restaurant called "Locos por el Futbol".