Category: Argentina

I have a very simple way of looking for hidden gems when traveling: I open a map, filter out five-star hotels in the middle of nowhere and ask chat gpt, what’s good about these places?

That’s how I found the best contemporary art museum on the continent, the James Turrell Museum of Light in Huhuya, in northern Argentina. It’s an unforgettable experience:

From the nearest village, it’s 3 hours down a dirt road. In the rain, the river can cancel the road. Suddenly you arrive at a pleasant hotel in the oldest winery. I haven’t had a drink in a long time, but I respect the views of vineyards and mountains from the window.

Next door is a museum. It is usually signed up a month in advance and not allowed with children, adepts of spontaneity, repeat my path: arrive before closing, when no one else is there, convince the Spanish-speaking seniors that you are very similar to a group of ten people 18+, especially a three-month-old infant. Every time I’m surprised at the speed of learning in Latin America: as soon as I booked my hotel and bought 10 tickets, I immediately found a guide with excellent English, a duolingo owl, how about that?

The museum itself is amazing: Tarrel creates impressions from the movement of natural and artificial light within the architecture. It’s like walking through a visual illusion or being in a trippy Gaspar Noé movie. In fact, you just sit on a bench in a white room and stare at a square of blue sky, lucky it’s blue all year round in Huhuja. The artist calls it skyspace. Photos and words do not convey feelings, you just have to come here through all the mountains and rivers and feel. By the way, the Museum in Huhui is Tarrel’s only personal museum and the largest skyspace in the world

There are 90 such locations in total, one of them is inside a volcano in Arizona (why not, really!) I’ve marked them on my secret map of epic places and will definitely stop by all of them

What’s the weirdest museum you’ve been to? Tell us in the comments!

The map makes it look like Buenos Aires is on the ocean, but in fact there is a brown river called La Plata, and the waves and beautiful water are 400 kilometers away.

A rare occurrence on the Argentine highway: exactly halfway along the route there is somewhere to get a speshalti coffee! Save yourself a point and send photos: Cafequevá.

But August needs to plan a trip to a more distant ocean. More about that in the next post.

I’m driving quietly through the vineyards in Argentina’s Mendoza Mountains, looking at museums, and then there it is, short as a morse code telegram of news: whales have come to Valdes. Tchk

🐳 Why would whales come anywhere?

It turns out that baby whales are scared to swim in the big ocean, so female whales come to breed in bays. In the Atlantic Ocean, the coziest one is on Valdez. The peninsula looks like a whale’s tail, the whales probably have an ancient whale legend on the subject, but chat gpt hasn’t been able to translate it yet, so just take my word for it.

It turned out to be very easy to get to Valdes: 600 kilometers of road crossing Argentina across, one day and I’m there, and most importantly – before all the tourists. I’ll tell you what to do on the spot.

Puerto Madrynes is the big town in front of the peninsula. Have a coffee at Casa Hulpe and go to the wild beach Playa el doradillo, you can see whales from the shore, and it’s also a rare place where there are more whales than tourists, which is nice.

Puerto Pyramides is the harbor village where the whale watching boats leave. Minuses of the low season: at 1pm the boat trips end and the captains go on a bender. Pros: the boat is all yours. Arrive early and book via wotzap. There is one pizzeria open in the evening and one bar for locals. The cutest shithole!

The boats on Valdes are prehistoric, after them you really want to sleep, I advise you to spend the night in the village and the next morning go for a drive around the island. Pastoral landscapes, sheep and the biggest herds of ostriches in all of Argentina!

The whales are amazing. Everyone knows they are huge, but it’s only when you get up close that you realize just how big! A big ancient animal, every breath exhales as if the ocean and the whole planet is breathing with it. Must see!

Sunset, rapidly emptying Argentine highway, 1/8 in the tank. The nearest civilization is 300 km away. It would seem to be an ordinary place, where God himself has already forgotten the way….

Last time I was here almost a year ago – I was returning from the national swamp with capybaras. Christmas morning, ten centimeters of clay on the wheels, desperately looking for at least one open car wash. The chances of success seem to be zero, but at this gas station helped – a healthy young man, a slouch in the shoulders, with ruddy cheeks and a shy smile, was already unscrewing the corroded tap of the water pump covered with dust.

• How is it in Ibera, the roads are very muddy after the rain? The young man silently holds out a calabas with freshly brewed mate.
• And Leo’s all grown up, did you put him in the gym?

The gas station attendant has not only not forgotten me for a year, but also perfectly memorized his son’s name. And I thought hard: do soccer achievements arise in spite of or because of love for children?

The national characteristic of Argentines is that if they don’t want something, you can’t make them do it, especially work. Even if you are the president.

Miley remembered that the country is socialist and cares for the people and banned ministers from going on vacation abroad. No pretty picture, no news for journalists.

What is the result?

Patricia Bulrich, Minister of Security: I promised my grandchildren a trip to Disneyland, promises cannot be broken.

Manuel Adorni, spokesman: I go on vacation abroad because it’s a habit I developed long before I took public office.

And you ask why the whole country doesn’t work in the rain.

The president himself would not be taking a vacation this year and will only take his mind off work for Trump’s inauguration. A party is certainly not a trip to Disneyland, so you can do that.