Author: Daniel Neilson
Daniel Neilson is a freelance writer and photographer, and lived in Buenos Aires for five years eating too much meat, going hoarse at football games and thoroughly failing to learn a step of tango. He edited Time Out’s Buenos Aires guidebook and has contributed words and photos to a variety of publications about Argentina for Four Four Two, The Wire, CNN Traveller, Real Travel, Adventure Travel and the Observer among others. He now spends his days drinking imported mate and planning his return journey.
Daniel Neilson is a freelance writer and photographer, and lived in Buenos Aires for five years eating too much meat, going hoarse at football games and thoroughly failing to learn a step of tango. He edited Time Out’s Buenos Aires guidebook and has contributed words and photos to a variety of publications about Argentina for Four Four Two, The Wire, CNN Traveller, Real Travel, Adventure Travel and the Observer among others. He now spends his days drinking imported mate and planning his return journey.
The Patagonian Lake District, with its famous Siete Lagos route, is undoubtedly one of Argentina’s outdoor highlights. It’s stunning whichever way you go, but nothing beats on horseback. The days pretty much go like this: wake up in camp, light a fire to warm water, drink some mate tea, lazily eat some facturas (pastries), saddle up and hop on a horse, amble around some of the world’s most idyllic countryside, get off the horse, set up camp, help the gaucho with an asado, eat meat and drink wine overlooking a mirror flat lake, sleep into a divine slumber.
Undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places on earth, Torres del Paine National Park is South America’s final hurrah before crashing into the ocean with only the prospect of Antarctica further south. The scenery is incomparable: a rugged wilderness of scaling mountains, vast lakes, dramatic glaciers and dense forests. It is an unbelievable sight.
Could there be a better day? An exhilarating few hours whitewater rafting along the mineral blue meltwater of the Andes before pulling over for an asado brimming with meat and a glass brimming with wine, before a gentle meander downstream. I can think of fewer ways I’d rather spend a sunny day in my favourite country. When Pacahmama (Mother Earth) created Argentina’s geography, or more accurately, its geology, she was in a fun-loving mood…
Aconcagua is one of the world’s great mountains. It rises 6,959 metres (22,841ft) up into Argentina’s sky in the Andes. Despite being the highest mountain in the Americas, in fact the highest mountain outside of the Himalayas, it is also relatively straightforward to climb with almost no technical sections. Beware, straightforward does not mean easy – it’s one of the deadliest mountains and an extremely challenging undertaking…
Ten years ago, even before I was such a beer snob, when a friend and I were planning parties, we would put “NB” on the invitations: No Brahma. OK, maybe I was a beer snob then, but the Brazilian beer, a whole 20 centavos cheaper than Quilmes, wasn’t just bland. It was offensively bland. Like Kenny G…
You will have heard Gustavo Santaolalla’s music. He may not be a household name everywhere, but his prodigious talent – some have argued genius – has been one of Argentina’s greatest musical exports. Where to begin? Well, there was an Oscar for Ang Lee’s gay cowboy epic Brokeback Mountain soundtrack. Oh, and there was another one the following year for…
Nothing quite prepares you for Gaby Kerpel. In his benchmark album, Carnabailito, he took the sounds, mood and, most importantly, the vibe (or onda as they would say in Argentina) of this stunning part of the country and mixed it, mashed it, messed it until it was, if not quite unrecognisable, then certainly genre defying.
Electronica has always found a home in Buenos Aires. It has also provided Argentina with some of its biggest breakout acts – most notably the Gotan Project and Gustavo Sanatolla’s project Bajofondo Tango Club. Then, in the post-superclub space came The Manta Raya. And since their genesis in 2000, with the current bands making the same sort of New Rave noises (M83, Foals, Hot Chip et al), they have found their groove again and are partying as hard ever. Read on to find out all about this anarchic Argentinian electronica outfit.
Don’t let the following words put you off: Juana Molina is an actress turned musician. Yet her ambient bedroom mixes remain warm sounding, luscious even, and ruefully manage to skip over the ‘that’s interesting’ which experimental music often elicits, to be gorgeous cross over music, soundtracking dinner parties in Buenos Aires and across the world.
We love Buenos Aires: its frenetic lifestyle that oozes sex appeal, charm and culture. But living there for years, there’s a limit. And that’s when, through whispers, rumours and idle gossip, you find out that there are places to unwind. Some obvious, some a little bizarre and some hidden.
