If I recall, a reporter had once asked an Argentinean general to describe the war it had waged against its enemies during one of Latin America’s most repressive dictatorships during 1976-83. The general answered by stating it was “a dirty war.” That’s how the name of Argentina’s civil war was baptized. During the dirty war,…
Diving into fall’s mystery
Is fall so candid because it has an unwanted job, namely getting ready for winter the full-bloom landscapes that summer worked so hard at building? The mysticism you’ll find in the sub-arctic is therefore the only present that autumn offers to those that watch as it toils.So fall’s mystery can be summed up by its…
Ragged Ass Road
This may sound like a joke but it’s not. I visited two years Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories in Canada, and discovered by chance that there is a street called Ragged Ass Road, which means “dirt poor.” On a map of the city you’ll find the street in what Yellowknifers call the Old…
Abajo con la pastera de Botnia en el Uruguay
La compañía finlandesa Botnia está construyendo una pastera de $1,2 mil millones en las orillas de del río de Uruguay en frente de la ciudad argentina de Gualeguaychú. La planta será inaugurada a principios de septiembre. Cada país, como Uruguay, tiene ciertamente el derecho de atraer inversión extranjera para incrementar el desarrollo económico y crear…
Thumbs down to the Botnia pulp mill in Uruguay
The Finnish company Botnia is building a $1.2 billion pulp mill on the shores of the Uruguay River right across the Argentinean city of Gualeguaychú. The plant will be inaugurated in early September. Certainly each country like Uruguay has the right to lure foreign investment and thereby boost economic growth and create more jobs. Moreover,…
Past midnight and peering into the future
To all the migrants of the world. It is now a few minutes past midnight and the night has come to a near-standstill. So many things to do in such a short time! However, whenever evening screeches to a near-halt, I have discovered it to be the best time to peer into the future. How many times…
The Destroying Angel mushroom
Una planta que ha contaminado las relaciones entre Argentina y Uruguay
Hay varias opiniones a favor y en contra de la pastera que costará 1,2 mil millones y que están construyendo en la orilla del río Uruguay en frente de la ciudad argentina de Gualeguaychú. Ninguna otra planta como ésta, que fue construida por la compañía finlandesa Botnia y será puesta en marcha en estos días,…
Argentinean roots: The Immigrant Hotel of Buenos Aires
If you want to know where one of the places Argentineans are from, visit the Immigrant Hotel Museum. Here’s a picture of some of the baggages and belongings immigrants brought from Europe to Argentinean shores. In the 1914 census, 2.391 million people, or 30.3% of the total population of 7.885 million, were foreigners. In Buenos…
Pre-fall blues or where happiness lives
No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings. William Blake (1757-1827) Of all the seasons that pass over the Nordic region, possibly fall is the most magical. But what makes it stand out from the rest? Is it the pitch-darkness? Is it the vast universe above and its peppered celestial inhabitants…