Buddy Bears Berlin

Welcome back. As I said in my last post, last week I did a city break to Berlin for 4 days. I've never been to Germany before (country number 22) so, it was  a great experience.

Berlin is a city with a lot of history, WW1, WW2 and the cold war, plus amazing modern architecture, street art and crazy, weird, wild night life.

When I got there I didn't know what to expect. I heard so many people saying "Berlin is amazing, I love it", "Berlin is the city I want to live in", "Is the best place in the world", or "Is my favourite city". I needed to check by myself if it was true.

To be honest, at the beginning I didn't understand what the big deal was, for me it was just like any other big city,but everyday I found a new place, even more beautiful than the day before, and eventually I got what everybody was talking about.

Berlin is a weird city, with a lot of strange things happening. For example on my first day, I was at the park and I saw a guy, jogging, naked. Oh yeah, naked, just swearing trainers and something covering his genitals. Nice welcome Berlin.

You also have the United Buddy Bears, 140 painted bear sculptures that you can find all around the city. The best one that I've seen was in the U.S.A. Embassy, is a Statue of Liberty bear.

I saw some other interesting things. Like the conference bicycle, a 7 seat round bicycle, where one person steers and everybody pedals. Another one was Berlin Horizontal, a bike with a bed mounted on the rear side, so you can enjoy of this amazing place just lying down. How cool is that?

Something else that called my attention was the modern architecture, I was expecting old buildings, like in London or Paris, but what I didn't take into account was that Berlin had to be rebuilt after WW1, WW2 and after the Cold War. So if buildings is your thing you definitely have to come here.


But obviously I went to all the touristic sights. I went to the Brandenburg Gate, a symbol of Berlin, around it you've got a lot of actors dressed like soldier or even some fictional characters, like Luigi and Mario, with whom you can take a picture with.

I was staying close to Check Point Charlie, another MUST on a trip to this place, here you can get your passport stamped, this one was the last check point to fall after the fall of the wall. You always got some "soldiers" you can go take a picture with for the small price of €2.

I went to the East Side Gallery, a 1.3 km long section of the Berlin wall. On it, after the fall of the wall, 105 artists from all around the world painted their massages of freedom. This is probably one of the largest open air galleries on Earth. The sad thing is that they are moving parts of the wall so as to build new things. It was really beautiful, it makes you understand a little bit better what happened back then. It's bad that people didn't respect the artist and painted things on top.

Reichstag building, the Parliament House, is a place that I recommend. It has a dome with an amazing view, you just need to register online and you can get in for free, it also includes an audio guide that explains the buildings around, and as well as history.

There is something that I like doing when I travel. I like going on a tour, it makes me understand better the  places that I'm seeing and learn about the history of the place (I love history).  I usually go with this company, http://www.neweuropetours.eu/, they are in many cities. I've done tours with them in London and Edinburgh as well. Their tours are very informative and entertaining. They offer a free tour around the city, you just tipped them at the end, but I always end up paying for some of the other tours that they offer.


Another remarkable place is Bebelplatz, this is an important place because here is where the Nazis did the burning of the  books, a list of books and manuscripts that they felt were against the German spirit. The memorial of this event is a glass plate on the floor that gives us the view of the empty bookcase (big enough to hold the 20,000 books burnt). You can also find 4 plaques on this square, that read the same quote "Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen." (in English: "Where they burn books, they will in the end also burn people"). This phrase belongs to Heinrich Heine, a famous German poet, he wrote this in one of his texts in 1823 but you can see how can we easily related to WW2.

This Square is located in a really nice neighbourhood, the Mitte, and it also has many interesting buildings around. Like the State Opera building (rebuilt at least 4 times), the Humboldt University (there are 40 Nobel prize winners affiliated to it), and St. Hedwig's Cathedral (first Catholic church built in Prussia after the Reformation).

I also went to the zoo, I don't usually do this on my trips. The zoo here is one of the biggest in the world, it has species from all around the planet, I even found some animals from back home. I spent 5 hours there, and I didn't go to the Aquarium, so imagine how big it is. I don't usually like zoos, I don't like seeing animals in cages, but here it's different they are kept in like a small habitat, very green and open, but safe at the same time. No one wants a lion jumping on them.

By the end of my trip I started to like the city. There is so much more to Berlin that just a great place to go out (next time I go I'll fill you in with this info), with a wild night life and crazy weird bars and nightclubs. Is a place full of history, a place where they try to cover those horrible years but without forgetting about the victims (you've got memorials everywhere).A place with beautiful art everywhere you look. So next time you want to travel somewhere new and exciting with a little bit of everything, choose Berlin.

Bienvenidos a Argentina!!!

Hey guys, this week I'm just going to post once because, oh well, I went to Berlin and just got back on Tuesday night.

But as I promised, today I'm going to talk about my beautiful country ARGENTINA!!!
Hope you like it =)

Argentina is located in South America. It is bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, Brazil to the north-east, Uruguay and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Chile to the west and the waters of the Drake Passage to the south. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2 (1,073,500 sq mi), Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second largest in Latin America and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations. We also claim sovereignty over a little part of Antarctica ;). The country is composed of twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires (The capital).

Now that you've got a better picture of it let's check what places you can go visit. The list is long but I'll try to show you the main attractions, the most beautiful ones. As I always say, this country has everything from colourful mountains to enormous glaciers, from vineyards to breathtaking waterfalls, so let's start.


You MUST go to Buenos Aires, the capital. Where you will find everything you look for in a big city. There are lots of museums, parks to relax, cinemas, theatres and a wild bustling night life.  It has a lot of history, just walking around you can appreciate the European architecture, every time you'll find something new to admire. I like comparing it to London, is a city that never sleep, everyday of the week you've got something to do and you'll always find a place to go out. If you are here you need to go and experience a football match, I've never seen people so passionate about a sport anywhere else.

Up North I would recommend you visiting  Salta, a beautiful colonial city with interesting museums and traditional peñas (local cheap food and folk music); Cafayate, a vineyard zone; Purmamarca (Jujuy), where you can find the Seven Colour Hill or, as we call it "Cerro de los Siete Colores". Nature can be impressive sometimes and here is one of those places, you can actually see more than 7 different colours, just amazing. And not to far away you can go visit Tilcara, a pre-inca fortification, Humahuaca and the lovely Iruya.

 If you start going south you'll find Salinas Grandes, a salt desert around 6000 km2.

On the north-west, in the province of San Juan you can find the Ischigualasto Provincial Park, commonly known as El Valle de la  Luna ( Moon Valley). The name comes from the otherworldly look of the rock formation. Check it for yourself.

To the west we got vineyards (Mendoza, San Juan and La Rioja). Argentina is the biggest wine producer in Latin America and 5th in the world. So you can always go visit one and by the end enjoy a nice glass of wine of the best Malbec.

Along side the west, we've got the Andes, the longest continental mountain range in the world. Located in it, you've got the highest mountain in America, the Aconcagua, 6,960.8 meters.

San Martín de los Andes

Further south, we are starting to reach the Patagonia region. Bariloche and San Martin de Los Andes, are beautiful cities with amazing landscapes and are really popular during the cold months. They are the top destinations to practice winter sports.

Cerro Catedral, Bariloche

Even further south, but this time to the east coast. Here we find Puerto Madryn. Between the months of June and December you can find the Southern Right Whale, not the best looking whale to be honest, it's covered in callosities, but an impressive one. You can also go visit the Magallenic penguins, funny little guys.





Even further further down south you've got El Calafate, where you can find Los Glaciares National Park, in which you've got the Perito Moreno Glacier, something that shouldn't be missed.

Finally we got to the bottom, Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world (Reason why it should be included in your trip!). From here you can take a cruise ship to go to the Antarctica, something that I would love to do but it's too expensive for me, at the moment, but someday, oh someday. You can never stop dreaming ;)

OK, now let's go back up, to the east. You'll find this spectacular falls, the Iguazú Falls. The most important part of it to see is the Devil's Throat, which is  82 metres high, 150 m wide, and 700 m long. One of the reasons why I advise people to go here is not only because of this, it's also because you can visit 3 countries in one day. The Iguazú Falls are shared between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina, in a corner we call La Triple Frontera, the 3 boarders. How cool is that?

In the middle of the country we got  the province of Córdoba, the second most populated province in Argentina. These province is important for two reasons. One, after WW1 and WW2, there was a lot of immigration, specially from Germany. This is probably why people say the Nazis have hidden themselves in the hills. But because of them, the Germans not the other ones, now, every October we celebrate Oktoberfest in Villa General Belgrano. It's a big party with lots of German food, beer and traditional dancing. I've been there twice and is lots of fun. Two: Also located in Córdoba,in the city of Alta Gracia to be precise, one of the most famous Argentinians, Ernesto "CHE" Guevara, used to live. His house is now a museum.


Last but not least we got the city of Rosario, the birthplace of Lionel Messi and Che Guevara. You can also find the monument to the Argentinian flag. It's a great city, really chilled with lots to see and night life to enjoy, as well as some of the most amazing people you are going to meet.

So welcome to Argentina!! Welcome to the land of Messi, Maradona and Che Guevara!! Hope you enjoy the tour =). And for you guys that want to learn a little bit about the history of my country I'm going to leave you a list of important events at the bottom. So I'll see you next week and I'll tell you more about my Berlin experience ;).

I've been trying to figure out how to summarise Argentinian history, and I think the best way is if I make a list of which, in my opinion, are the most important events that you should know.

• 1502 first European arrival. But it wasn't until 1776 that that Buenos Aires became the capital of the Vice royalty of the Río de la Plata (we were a Spanish colony as you might guess).
• During 1806 and 1807 we resisted two ill-fated British invasions. Sometimes I wonder if we would be in a better situation if things end up in a different way =P.
• 25th of May 1810, the MAY REVOLUTION, where we decided to kick Spain out and send them back home.
• 9th of July 1816 Argentina became independent, after the Independence War. We achieved this with the help of General Martín Miguel de Güemes, José de San Martín and Simón Bolívar. These men fought to free South America.
• By the end of the 19th century and during the first half of the 20th century (especially after WW1 and WW2), Argentina received a lot of immigrants from all around the world; Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, UK, Switzerland, Austria, just to name some European countries. As well as from Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus and Morocco.
• 1946 Juan Domingo Perón, a military officer, wins the presidential elections. After which he nationalised industries and services, improved the working conditions and wages, paid the whole external debt and made sure everyone had a job. He was popular between the working class.
  
• Perón's wife is known worldwide, her name was Eva Duarte de Perón, she dedicated herself to help the less fortunate and improve women's rights. Women's suffrage was granted in 1947. She was impersonated by Madonna in the musical Evita.
  
• In 1966 the military forces retake the power. Juan Carlos Onganía was named president. He closed the Congress, banned all political parties and dismantled all student unions and many worker unions. By doing so he  caused two big protests in 1969, the Cordobazo in Córdoba and the Rosariazo in Rosario. 
• 1973 Perón returns to the country and is soon re-elected president. But just a year later he died and was succeeded by his new wife, Isabelita.
• On 24 March 1976 military service take the power once again. This time anyone that had a different idea, a different opinion from them would then be made to "disappear".
• These actions were part of the OPERATION CONDOR, a campaign directed by the CIA to take control over Latin America. It involved the military in each country repressing and terrorising the opponent, murdering, kidnapping and torturing any one that represented a "threat". (My mum wouldn't forgive me if I forget to mention this)
• 1982 Leopoldo Galtieri decided to take back sovereignty over the Falklands (Las Islas Malvinas), sending people that weren't properly trained nor equipped for the low temperatures on the islands. Back then the military service was mandatory. The war lasted 2 months and Argentina was defeated.
  
• 1983 Alfonsín was the new president and we became a democracy once again. He established the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (CONADEP) to investigate the forced disappearances, they listed 8961 people.

 I still got another 30 years, but this is going to be it for now, don't want to bored you with facts and events. Eventually I'll write a post about specifically Buenos Aires and I'll include everything that happened after we got back to democracy, but I must warn you that it is a lot.

Let's set the record straight!

As I said before, I was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. But after travelling and living abroad I realise that people know very little about it.

First of all, I was impressed about people not knowing where it is located. I know I love geography and I've got a school size map in my room, but seriously what do people learn at school?? Particularly the young people, OMG they've made the funniest comments.

I'm just going to clear up some things that I've heard .

So, let's set the record straight!!!

ARGENTINA IS NOT IN SPAIN: I heard this one too many times. Yes, we do speak Spanish and yes, we were a Spanish colony over 200 years ago, but Argentina is in South America.

ARGENTINA IS NOT IN AFRICA: This was said to my friend when she was moving from the U.SA. to Argentina. I don't know where people get this from, I don't think the name sounds exotic or anything.

ARGENTINA IS NOT A TROPICAL COUNTRY: People have this image in their heads that we are in the Caribbean, with palm trees and pineapples. Not true, we've got 4 seasons (even though global warming keeps changing everything); in summer it can get really hot and in winter it gets really cold. Remember we are one of the southest countries in the world, we've got the Andes, it even snows in some regions.

ARGENTINA DOESN'T HAVE PARADISIAC BEACHES:  I wish this bit was true, but it isn't. The sand is not white and forget about the crystal clear water, not even warm water.
So guys, we all have internet now, Google it, check an updated map. Just do it and don't sound completely clueless.

Second, It really annoys me when they use Argentina in the movies but they don't do any research bout it. The stereotype that all Latinos are the same bugs me simply because we are all different, we don't look the same, we don't dress the same and, definitely, we don't sound the same. So many people told me "Mexico and Argentina, same same". No people, we are not, we are in two opposite extremes of Latin America, we just both speak the same language.

But let's go back to what I was trying to point out. These are just some examples used on tv shows and movies.

FRIENDS: There is an episode where Phoebe is singing outside Monica's restaurant, and she says that in Argentina you can buy a human spleen for 50 pesos. It's true, Argentina has been one of the biggest points of transit for the black market since it was a Spanish colony, but I can assure you it's not so easy and it's definitely not so cheap.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER: Robin decides to move to Argentina and they show this  kind of hut on the beach, an amazing one by the way, to be honest for me it looks more like a country in Central America. As I said before, we don't have those amazing beaches. To make it worst, she meets Enrique Igleasias. He is Spanish, he doesn't look Argentinian and he definitely doesn't speak like us.

TOO FAST, TOO FURIOUS: The big narco guy in the movie is supposed to be Argentinian. In this case he might look like one (it's a very diverse country, people came from everywhere, we are a mix of everything), but he doesn't dress like one and he doesn't speak like one either.

X-MEN FIRST CLASS: Biggest fail EVER!!! In this movie they show a little cottage in the mountain and it says VILLA GESELL. For the ones  that don't know, that town is one of the biggest beach destinations among locals, so they made a mistake. In my opinion, what they meant was Villa La Angostura, a beautiful town in Patagonia,south region of Argentina, located close to the mountains. But,apart from that, when they are at the bar the men start talking, and they don't sound Argentinian!! Just because we are from Latin America doesn't mean that we all speak the same (I know I said this a lot today, but it's true, ask any other Spanish speaker), we don't all say CABRON or COÑO.

So please Hollywood, PLEASE!!! Do your research before naming a country in your movies. Especially when you choose one you have no idea about.

Next time I'm going to tell you more about my country and the places you MUST visit.

But before I go, I'll leave you some YouTube videos you should check, they are called "Argentina according to Hollywood", they are hilarious, hope you enjoy them.

  I'd also wanted to thank my friend, Nati Riveiro, for helping me with this post, our tv series knowledge was useful after all ;).

Argentina According to Hollywood, part1

Argentina according to Hollywood, part 2

Jump in!! Join me

Since I'm a little girl, as far as I can remember, I always wanted to travel. I wanted to go far far away and explore the world. I remember getting a group of friends and convinced them to travel in a hot air balloon (that, is still on my list), leaving our parents behind. To be fair, I was 4 and I think I saw it in a cartoon or something, but for me it was going to be the biggest adventure. Even nowadays, my friends remember this, and one of them confessed to me, not that long ago, that he use to cry because he didn't want to leave his mum and dad.

But growing up, travel wasn't that easy. I was born in Argentina, I come from a middle class family and I've got 2 sisters, so travelling was something expensive that we couldn't afford. But my parents worked really hard and they tried their best, and they started taking us on holiday to places in Argentina, just for a few days, but that was more than enough. Until one day, when I was 11 we finally went away (ok we went to Uruguay a couple of times). They took us to the USA and Mexico, the first big trip, it was awesome.

After that we went back to normal life until I graduated school and I went backpacking through Europe for a month with my aunt Silvia. That trip change my life, first thing I told my mum when I got off the plane was, "Next time I'm going for longer".

And I did, I studied hard, finished uni, worked a lot, saved as much money as I could and left.
So this is going to be my story, I'm going to try to tell you everything that I know and that I’ve learnt, the good and the bad, give you some advice and show you all this amazing places that you've got out there.

My name is Jimena, I'm 26 years old, I've travelled 21 countries (about to go visit two more in the next couple of months), I've visited over 90 cities, 4 continents and there's no one to stop me now. This is my journey, jump in, join me .