Monday 26 October 2009

Imagining Argentina*

As those of you that usually follow my blog probably already know, I am currently spending my holidays in my country, in Argentina.

It is my intention to show you the places I visit during my stay and also other places that I have been to in previous years. But before I start doing that, I thought it might be a good idea to run a sort of survey to see how much you already know about Argentina. I am sure you have at least once in your life before heard about my country? You don't need to start googling now or looking desperately for your World Atlas - we are not going back to school, people!

Let us see how much you've heard or know about my part of the world, shall we?

  • First of all - have you ever been there? I know that some of you have! You are disqualified!! (just joking)
  • Do you know where it is located? If I were to show you a map of the world, would you know where to point?
  • Do you know what is the official language spoken there?
  • Have you heard the names of any cities in Argentina? Do you, by any chance, know the name of the capital city?
  • Do you know any particular food or dish that is typically Argentinean? (you can cheat by scrolling down my older posts....)
  • Have you heard of any geographic landmarks or any popular tourist region in the country, like mountains, lakes, forests, waterfalls, etc.?
  • Have you heard of any typical Argentinean music or Argentinean musician, band, composer?
  • Have you heard of any political or historical figure,writer, scientist, footballer(!) or celebrity that you know was born in Argentina? (that excluding myself, of course! hehe)
  • Do you remember hearing about Argentina on the news in your country? And do you remember what it was you heard?

And finally,

  • Is there anything in particular you would like to know about the country or the place where I come from?
Remember, this is not school so you don't need to answer all the questions! And now a little help from your friend Aledys:

Do you know any of these Argentinean figures?

This is a famous "house" in Buenos Aires, does it look familiar at all to you?
Don't Cry, for me, if it doesn't!

These are photos of the province/city where I come from.
Do you the name of that province/city?



Have you ever seen photos or heard about any of these places?

Buenos Aires, Puerto Madero ©Maximiliano Buono


Iguazú National Park, Misiones


El Calafate National Park, Santa Cruz ©Ramón Tello



Have you ever heard of or experienced any of these things?

My father is drinking the national drink: mate

home-made dulce de leche


Tango, Buenos Aires ©Ramón Tello

Improvised asado (barbecue), Argentinean style.

empanadas, a typical filled pastry dish.


I hope you enjoyed this thread about Argentina. In future posts I will be showing you more places and things about the country, its people and its habits.


Ackowledgments:

I would like to thank
Maximiliano Buono (from Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Ramón Tello (from Cariñena, Spain) for allowing me to show their pictures in this blog. Thanks guys, for your generosity.

*Imagining Argentina is the name of a film featuring Antonio Banderas and Emma Thompson and it deals with the desaparitions of people during the military government in Argentina during the ditatorship between 1976 and 1983.

26 comments:

buday said...

Oh, I was answering in my mind! Maradona, Messi, tango, Buenos Aires, beef (lots of it!), cowboys, del Potro (oh, Rafa!), it's at end of South America and is a VERY large country, Cordoba (hehe), Spanish is spoken, Evita, even more beef!

And I've never been there! (Sigh.)

BTW, your father looks like he danced a mean tango when he was younger. Coolness. :)

Presépio no Canal said...

Argentina is in South America, Capital Buenos Aires, Spanish Language, Tango, Astor Piazolla, Evita Peron, Videla dictatorship, Maxima is from Argentina, dolce de leche, Iguaçu Park, Maradona,...

Great ideia, Aledys!I want to know more :)

Besos :)

Anonymous said...

Fortunately, I had answers for most of the questions, but I'm really looking forward to seeing and learning more from someone actually there! I've never been, but would love to go someday. The beef, alone, is enough to make me want to go! ;) A couple of my mother's cousins moved there from Scotland many many many years ago, but the family lost touch with them, unfortunately.

TBM said...

Ok, I admit. I failed that test. I think I recognized three people in the line up (including Princess Maxima?). I love Empanadas, Argentinean steak (with chimichurri)... and yo hablo un poquito Espanol. I wish I could tango.

I would love to see more photos, of course. I hope you are having a lovely time!

VagaMundos said...

Hola Aledys. Well, we belong to the disqualified group :) We would never recognize Evita, we never saw Maradona (Pablo Aimar´s idol) play neither Astor performing ;) Puerto Madero??? Does it have good restaurants? If we had been there we would recommend El Campo ;)
Cordaba we don´t know at all so that´s what we want you to show us :)
Enjoy your holydays at the beautifull Argentina.
Besos

Unknown said...

@buday,
Good, you knew quite a lot about the country then!
About my father and tango: unfortunately he's never been much of a dancer! Much to my mother's regret! :o)

@Aggie,
Wow, you could write an encyclopedia about Argentina! Lol!
The singer you're talking about is Mercedes Sosa: half native, half French, great voice, she did native music of South America. I'm visiting her province this week!

Thanks for your answers! Loved reading them!

Unknown said...

@Vagamundos,
Next time you visit this part of the world, make sure you come to Córdoba! :o)
In Puerto Madero there are very good restaurants, yes. Actually, in Buenos Aires there are good restaurants everywhere - even the unexpensive ones serve very good quality food.
Thanks for your comments!!

@JaPRA,
Well, you did know something about us, so you haven't failed at all! :o) I will definitely be showing you more of Córdoba and the rest!

@oranjeflamingo,
Beef! Apologies to my vegetarian friends, but oh dear, how I miss good beef from Argentina! Right now we're living almost exclusively on it, 7 days a week :O)
Thanks for stopping by!

M.Eugenia said...

Que genial este post, se muchas mas cosas d elas que pensaba... la foto del dulce de leche me ha hecho recordar la primera vez que lo probé, fue el día de la fiesta de la primavera en Buenos Aires.
.........Tengo que volver.
Saludos

Droomvla said...

How about a picture of Patagonia? Someday.... I'm going to see that place. Someday! hahahaha

About the pictures, Evita, MAradona, Maxima (of course! lol), Che Guevarra??? (I thought he was Cuban), tango, bandeneon (bandoneon?), Astor Piazolla (I have CDs hehehe)...

But I have a good friend from Rosario, so I know more about your country than the average man. HAHAHAHAHA

Anita said...

More photos from Calafate, Bariloche and pls pls pls: Ushuaia !!

Juan said...

It's a good thing I knew the answers to all of those questions, otherwise a lot of people would have been very angry with me! Great post, as always!

One thing, though: 'home-made dulce de leche' This just made me hate you a little! How lucky! I LOOOOOVE dulce de leche. I grew up on the stuff, which is odd now that I think about it. Argentine empanadas were also always a staple in my house. The only thing I haven't tasted is mate. I suppose that's as good an excuse as any to catch a flight down to Buenos Aires!

Sol said...

Hola Aledys
No creo que sea justo que desde Lujan Bs.As. participe de esta MARAVILLOSA encuesta.
Agradezco que haya personas COMO VOS que hagan conocer a nuestro país de la forma FABULOSA que lo hiciste en este post y en TODO tu blog!
Aprovecho para desearte una MUY LINDA estadia y que pases unos dias ESTUPENDOS junto a tus seres queridos!
Saludos
Sol

thamarai said...

hey I knew at least 70% of the answers to your question..:)..I hope you are having loads of fun visiting family and friends...one of my friends is Argentinian and he too apologizes every time he says how he misses beef..:D.

Apost(r)illada said...

I guess it's not fair if I participate in this poll... Anyway, great entry! Have heard lotsssssss of things about Máxima here in Netherlands. The funny thing is no one really knows here there!

thamarai said...

oh and I must say, this quizzing mode in this post made it sooo interesting! :)

Unknown said...

Beautiful photos! Enjoy your stay!

1.) I've never been, but would love to one day.

2.) Yes, I know exactly where it is in South America :-) Atlantic side, south on the continent, & I can point at the capital, Buenos Aires.

3.) Español!

4.) Buenos Aires & Cordoba.

5.) Dulce de leche & I can't forget about the steaks!

6.) Patagonia.

7.) I immediately think of the tango, but no particular artists come to mind...

8.) Besides Princess Máxima, Juan and Eva Peron.

9.) I remember hearing especially on the news about the Falkland Islands in the early 1980s.

10.) I've been learning all of the great things via your blog :-) So keep it up!

~ Lopa said...

To be honest, i had read this post yesterday, but i was ashamed of myself as didn't know answer of many of questions put here, putting a que for myself if i know naything about this beautiful country more than it's name !
But then i realised, but now through your blog I am getting to know it better, and that is awesome...so I am back to read it again...Thanks :)

Efrutik said...

1. South America, most likely I could point it out
2. Sultry Spanish
3.Buenos Aires, of course
4.Dulce de Leche!!!!!! Empanadas, yum, yum, yum. But I want the MEAT!!!!!
5.Not really
6.Tango, actually a story here. My b/f and I last year went to a free Tango session at our Uni., not to brag but I was told by the instructor that I have a future in the dance if I practiced. Sadly, my schedule was so busy we never went back :(. Argentine Tango dancers performed at our university last year, they were phenomenal!
7.Evita, Diego Maradona!
9.Umm to be honest not any time recent…right now it is all about the health care reform and other political junk. Plus in US to hear any international news you would have to dig or have cable networks, sadly :(

I would like to know how it really is living in Argentina. What people are like, how they are towards foreigners and what kind of immigrants live in Argentina
Does everyone really know how to dance Tango?


Enjoy your lovely vacation :)

Efrutik said...

1.South America, most likely yes
2.Sultry Spanish
3.Buenos Aires, of course
4.Dulce de Leche(you taught us well!!!!!!!), yummy Empanadas, yum, yum, yum. But I want the MEAT!!!!!
5.Not really
6.Tango, actually a story here. My b/f and I last year went to a free Tango session at our Uni., not to brag but I was told by the instructor that I have a future in the dance if I practiced. Sadly, my schedule was so busy we never went back :(
7.Evita, Diego Maradona!
8.Umm to be honest not any time recent….
9.I would like to know how it really is living in Argentina. What people are like, how they are towards foreigners and what kind of immigrants live in Argentina ???

:) Have a blast while home :)

Primary Work at Home said...

Wow great pics! I love it. You really had a great time and I am looking forward to visit your place.

Alejandra said...

Hola!!!! qué lindo!!! bueno, te pido disculpas por nopasar a visitarte, pero estoy con falta de tiempo, ahora tengo la pagina de viajes en Facebook, y cada vez me quda menos tiempo!!!
si necesitas fotos, tomalas de mi blog sin problemas!!!
te cuento que hoy o mañana podré un post que te va a encantar!!! el domingo pasado fue en Cañuelas la Fiesta del Dulce de Leche y me acordé de vos, vas a ver qué fotos!!! una delicia!!! besos porteños.

workhard said...

I barely know anything about argentina except that u can find llamas..What a lovely place!!! The pictures are really beautiful and the food looks delicious..

Argentina Consulate

Droomvla said...

Hey Aledys, when are you coming back? You've been gone for soooo long already. We miss you here! :D

buday said...

I second Droomvla's note. Come back! :)

Anonymous said...

Aledys, I liked this entry very much. And I'm not alone, judging by the large quantity of comments. Congratulations!

Unknown said...

Ohhh thanks everybody for your comments! I'll be soon replying to them in a new blog entry.
Cheers!