Ski Centers in Argentina

Catedral Ski Center Cerro Catedral is located in the Nahuel Huapi National Park, surrounded by a unique landscape of lakes and mountains, and only a 19 Km paved route away from San Carlos de Bariloche, a city with lodging and food infrastructure at the most demanding international tourism level.

Chapelco Ski Center Chapelco is one of the most attractive places to enjoy the splendor of snow, with the incomparable Andes mountain range in the background, and panoramic views of lake Lácar and the volcano Lanín in all directions.

Las LeñasSki Center Valle de Las Leñas is located in the middle of the Andes mountain range, in the province of Mendoza, and 2,240 meters above sea level. It is surrounded by the mounts Torrecillas, El Collar, Ponce, Las Leñas, Entre Ríos, Martín and Los Fósiles. Read more on Buenos Aires Times.

Media in ARGENTINA

Argentina is one of South America's leading media markets. The country has well over 150 daily newspapers, many hundreds of commercial radio stations, dozens of TV stations and one of the world's highest take-up rates for cable TV.

Large media conglomerates have emerged. Public broadcasting plays a minor role. Television is the dominant medium. The main national free-to-air networks - Telefe, America, Canal 9 and Canal 13 - are privately-owned.

Argentine readers are among Latin America's most voracious newspaper consumers. Clarin and La Nacion are the best-selling national dailies.

Media freedom is guaranteed by the constitution. However, Reporters Without Borders maintained in 2008 that "direct attacks on the media and obstacles to press freedom... remained high". It said former President Nestor Kirchner had shown "great hostility" to the media - and particularly the conservative La Nacion daily - while in office.

By December 2008, Argentina had 16 million internet users, comprising nearly 40% of the population (Internetworldstats.com) and giving the country the second-highest number of surfers on the continent, after Brazil.

The press

· Clarín - popular daily

· La Nación - respected conservative daily

· Crónica - tabloid daily

· El Cronista - business

· La Prensa - Argentina's oldest newspaper

· Pagina 12 - left-wing daily

· Buenos Aires Herald - English-language daily

Television

· Telefe (Canal 11) - leading national network, operated by Grupo Telefe

· Canal 13 (El Trece) - leading national network, operated by Grupo Clarin

· Canal 9 - popular national network

· America (Canal 2) - popular network

· Todo Noticias - cable/satellite news channel owned by Grupo Clarin

· Canal 7 - state-run cultural, educational network

Radio

· Radio Mitre - private, speech-based, operated by Grupo Clarin

· Radio Nacional - state-run, cultural

· Radio America - private, news

· Radio Continental - private AM (mediumwave) speech-based network

· Los 40 Principales - private FM music network

News agencies

· Diarios y Noticias (DYN) - partly owned by Grupo Clarin

· TELAM - state-run

· Noticias Argentinas - set up by privately-owned newspapers

Check out more info on BBC News Argentina.

"One semester of Spanish" video. Really fun!!!

Check out more videos on Youtube.

Review: Learning Spanish in a Buenos Aires way

I was recently contacted by the folks at Miniature Studios about their new Spanish language learning product Bueno, entonces.

[Disclaimer: Miniature Studios did provide me with free access to the product in exchange for this review, but otherwise there was no payment for this review and there are no affiliate links in this post.]

Ever since my days implementing digital technologies in higher education I’ve been very interested in multimedia-based approaches to learning. There are different learning styles and some people learn better in ways that are different from others. Of course, language learning always requires a high degree of personal interaction to achieve any level of proficiency. But language tapes and computer-based approaches serve as useful starting points.

Bueno, entonces is a series of animated videos that replicate a one-on-one Spanish class.Unlike most learning Spanish resources online, Bueno, entonces is designed specifically for the person who wants to live in Buenos Aires, or at least have an extended visit to Buenos Aires and have a good time.

Read more on buenoentonces.com/blog

Argentine Peso Exchange Rate 11/10

US Dollar Exchange Rates
Argentine Peso (ARS)	3.8174
Rates as of 11/10/2009

Source:www.exchange-rates.org

British Pound Exchange Rates
Argentine Peso (ARS)	6.3674
Rates as of 11/10/2009

Source:www.exchange-rates.org

Euro Exchange Rates
Argentine Peso (ARS)	5.7105
Rates as of 11/10/2009

Source:www.exchange-rates.org

Argentina To Offer To Settle Paris Club Debt By Issuing Bond

BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The Argentine government will try to settle its roughly $6.5 billion debt with members of the Paris Club by offering to issue a new bond, the Economy Ministry said in a statement Thursday.

Economy Minister Amado Boudou will pitch the idea to club members at a G20 meeting in Scotland later this week.

Before leaving for the trip, Boudou shared the idea with officials from the French Embassy in Buenos Aires. He said the plan entails issuing a new bond whose value would be equivalent to the debt owed to club members.

While in Scotland, Boudou will try to convince other Paris Club members that they ought to accept the proposal instead of a typical repayment plan, the statement said.

The bond would reportedly have the same payment structure as the loans owed to the Paris Club.

Argentine officials had previously given few details of how they planned to reschedule the debts owed to the Paris Club, which have been in default since Argentina's financial meltdown in 2001-02.

Around 14 months ago, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez announced a plan to settle the debt by making a lump sum payment.

But that bold plan fell apart within weeks as the global financial crisis clobbered world markets and crimped credit.

News of the new proposal comes a day after Argentina's House of Representatives passed a bill reopening a debt swap for the holders of about $20 billion in defaulted bonds.

The Senate has yet to debate the bill authorizing the offer, which requires congressional approval because a 2005 law expressly blocked a new swap.

The country is preparing a proposal to end the conflict with the holdouts who refused to accept terms of the 2005 swap. That swap involved a 65% discount, and any new offer will be on terms "more advantageous to Argentina," Boudou has said repeatedly.

To read more go to Google News.

On Argentina

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico, Colombia and Spain are more populous.

Argentina's continental area is between the Andes mountain range in the west and the Atlantic Ocean in the east. It borders Paraguay and Bolivia to the north, Brazil and Uruguay to the northeast, and Chile to the west and south. Argentina claims the British overseas territories of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It also claims a part of Antarctica, overlapping claims made by Chile and the United Kingdom, though all claims were suspended by the Antarctic Treaty of 1961.

Argentina has the second-highest Human Development Index and GDP per capita in purchasing power parity in Latin America. Argentina is one of the G-20 major economies, with the world's 30th largest nominal GDP, and the 23rd largest when purchasing power is taken into account. The country is classified as upper-middle income or a secondary emerging market by the World Bank.

Read more about Argentina, on Wikipedia.