Argentina in Pictures

So this post was started a week or two ago, but now it seems really old.

Mendoza

A few weeks back we crossed the border from Chile to Argentina. The border is in the middle of the Andes Mountains and the border crossing was in a large warehouse building surrounded by mountains. 

Mendoza is the first big city on the Argentina side. It is known for having wide avenues, an abundance of water due to a irrigation system started before the Spanish arrived, and for being the hot spot in Argentina´s wine region. 

Unfortunately, we spent a lot of time sitting around waiting for "the money guy" who had offered to exchange our american dollars for Argentine pesos at the blue dolar rate.  

Argentina´s economy has been facing some tough times which has destabilized the currency and created inflation. To protect from inflation Argentinians exchange their pesos for dollars, however it is virtually impossible to get US dollars in Argentina because everyone wants them, so the people are willing to pay a higher rate than the government has acknowledged... basically demand sets the price around 13-14 pesos per dollar but the official rate is around 8.  So if you want your money´s worth, you go with the blue dolar rate and you wait all day for the money guy. 

We saw an interesting protest of street artists and musicians who have apparently been labeled a public nuisance.  

Below is some art from the actual art museum... 

Mendoza was nice, especially the icecream and all the green areas, but we were eager to move on to the next city and see a little more of Argentina. 

Córdoba

Cordoba is the second biggest city in Argentina so it seemed like a good place to check out.  We found an abundance of places to shop, some nice churches and a few lovely  museums (so pretty much the norm of a big city).

Buenos Aires

BA is the place to be. It´s loaded with great parks, great art, good museums, lively street performers, sweet old buildings of every style and its just a classy place. Below are pictures from our first three days. We went on two walking tours and a day journey on our own through an artsy district and a nature reserve. 

The congressional building

Evita is still all the rage

Casa Rosada (presidential office)

monument to the Mothers who prostested to find the kidnapped(adopted) children of disappeared 

massive art fair

The cemetary is almost like a mini city.

Much more later!!!