Welcome! Welcome to ThroughTheTube.com! Here you'll find the latest news from South America, as well as cultural features and traveller's tales. When the smoke blocks out the sun or the store shelves are suddenly barren, this is the place to go for timely explanations. We're working with the Argentimes so you can make the best of your time here, whether you're staying awhile or are just passing through. We publish something new every weekday, so check back often!
Buenos Aires’ Unfinished Business
In recent years Buenos Aires, and indeed the rest of Argentina, has been experiencing a development boom. It has in fact been described by property developer John Boyle as the largest in the nation’s history.
But it is the regularity with which ambitious projects seem to be left unfinished that grabs the attention of so many. Dramatic empty buildings with no windows or doors and roads that stop in mid air… All can be seen in Argentina’s capital and all lead to one big question: How is this possible?
Villa Cartón: A Year Without Progress
During the early hours of 8th February 2007, a fire ravaged Villa Cartón, a shantytown built under a motorway flyover in the neighbourhood of Villa Soldati, in the south of Buenos Aires. Nearly 400 families’ homes were destroyed, and 170 people were treated for asphyxia, minor cuts and light burns.
A year on, despite government pledges, little has been done to improve the living situation of the country’s most poor and vulnerable, and the housing deficit is bigger than ever.
US News
Pope Benedict Addresses the U.N.Everything about this Pope’s visit to the United States is turning heads. Many thought he would wag a finger at the President over Iraq… It didn’t happen. Additionally he has repeatedly reached out to the victims of pries sex abuse.
Cause of Airline Crisis Points to the FAAFirst Southwest was forced to ground planes following revelations the company had skipped mandatory inspections. Then it happened with American Airlines as well. The stream of forced groundings has left hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded and with few options.
Charlie's Corner
Bulimia Comes In All SizesLONDON – Confusion reigned this week when 20-stone former British deputy prime minister John Prescott admitted his lifelong struggle with an eating disorder normally associated with weight-conscious models.
Argentina News Feed
Links open in new windowGuiaEpicureo.com/
Nueva guia de restaurantes y bares de Buenos Aires! Ver el sitio nuevo!
Reuters
BUENOS AIRES, April 24 (Reuters) – Mobile telecommunications company Nextel plans to invest some $462 million in Argentina during the next five years, …
BBC News, UK
A Uruguayan man has pleaded guilty in a Miami court to taking part in an alleged Venezuelan plot to smuggle $800000 (£400000) into Argentina . …
Guardian, UK – Apr 21, 2008
The opening sentence of Richard Gott’s article on Argentina states: "The late Guido di Tella, the intellectual and Anglophile foreign minister in the 1990s, …
South America News
High Times in Mar del PlataPolice in Mar del Plata, Argentina could never have expected the tale that would unravel after a seemingly routine drug bust. The story they found themselves part of after a 2 am arrest is still causing the lawmen to shake their heads in wonderment.
It’s Good To Be The QueenIn the past two weeks the Kirchners have launched an organized offensive against Clarin, the largest independent newspaper in Argentina. Although widely believed to be pro-Kirchner, Clarin drew the ire of Christina with a political cartoon criticizing her handling of the campo crisis.
Two Bed, Two Bath and Walking Distance to a PlazaThe current housing crisis has caused people throughout Argentina to homestead in abandoned buildings. In Santa Fe a group of men have taken the squatting epidemic to a new level by seizing a community plaza and constructing a pair of houses on it.
Narbona: In the Era of Wining and Dining
Rays from the setting sun spill through the cracked windowpane of an open garage. The tiny dust particles catch in the soft light, swirling ethereally around cars used in the time of our great grandfathers. Phonographs, paraffin lanterns, antique water pitchers, wooden wheel barrels, time appears to have stopped long ago. However, its 2008 and one of Uruguay’s oldest estancias near the town of Carmelo is in its sixth year running as a refurbished luxury bed and breakfast.
A Night of Solitude: Refugios of the Andean Comarca
Every day of the year, Atilio’s home is open to throngs of hikers seeking a warm meal, mate, and a place to the rest their heads. Refugio Cajón del Azul is set against the startling beauty of the Andean Comarca of the 42nd Parallel, a mountainous area west of El Bolsón and Lago Puelo that has become of one Argentina’s most treasured wilderness sanctuaries.
Ruta 40 – The North
That’s the problem with small towns: the lack of choice. The long, enthralling drive from Salta had left us peckish, but a lack of options meant we had to wait for the curiously named ‘Los 3 Chinos’ restaurant to open at who-knows-what hour. No choice but to watch the handful of village kids spill onto the dirt football pitch. No choice but to watch lightning flash innocuously above the vast mountains. No choice but to place our beer on the jagged mud wall and amble onto the arena for a kick of the ball.
