Introducing Mystery Class #1 Buenos Aires, Argentina 34.600 S, 58.450 W Roby and Tommy We are 2 brothers, Roby (7th Grader) and Tommy (4th Grader) from Buenos Aires, capital city of Argentina, the southernmost country of the Americas. Buenos Aires is a big city of approximately 10 million inhabitants and we live in a northwestern suburb, which grew with the influx in the 20s and 30s of European immigrants, mainly Germans. And this is probably a distinctive feature of Argentina among the Latin American nations. Most Argentines have European roots, with Italy and Spain being the nations that contributed most to our population. There's a saying around here which tells that Argentines are Spanish speaking Italians :-) We visit a bilingual school, where we learn according to the official Argentine curriculum in Spanish and German as a second language. For this reason, our school receives support from Germany, including German teachers. English is also a part of our learning program. Besides, we can freely choose among other extra activities, like athletics, chess, handball, etc. Buenos Aires Click on image to enlarge As we are in the southern hemisphere, our school period starts on March 1st till the end of November, with 3 weeks Winter holidays in July. Don't think that in July we are covered with snow, in fact, it never snows in Buenos Aires. Winters are very mild and Summers quite hot. Don't forget that our latitude is approx. 34 ° S. We usually spend our Summer holidays at the beach, which is 400 km away on the Atlantic Ocean, southeast of B.A.. If we wanted to go to the mountains, we would need to travel at least 700 km south to Sierra de la Ventana, which in Spanish means "Window Mountain", as the wind eroded the rock for millions of years and made a hole at the top of that mountain, which looks like a real window from the mountain's foot. As to the city of Buenos Aires itself, it has a high Obelisk on one of its main avenues, the Avenida Corrientes, similar to Washington DC's, and along this avenue many cinemas, theaters and restaurants are favorite places for "porteños" to go out. "Porteño" derives from the word port, as Buenos Aires has a big port on the shores of the Río de la Plata and therefore our city's inhabitants receive that name: "porteño = port people". The flat countryside surrounding us is a very fertile land called "Pampa", known for its excellent crops of wheat, soya, sunflower and also for cattle raising. Maybe you've heard about Argentine beef, one of the best in the world. A traditional Argentine meal related to cow meat is called "asado" or barbeque, roasted on charcoal. Delicious! Ushuaia Click on image to enlarge Regarding Argentina, we can say that it's a relatively big country, second to Brazil in South America, with approx. 2.7 million km2 and 35 million inhabitants, a third of which lives in Buenos Aires and surroundings. We are all predominantly Catholic or Christian. We received our Christian beliefs mainly from Spain, the country that with Portugal colonized Latin America, from Mexico down to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina. And as we mention Tierra del Fuego, an Argentinian province, it's worth mentioning that its capital city, Ushuaia, is the southernmost city in the world, looking to the waters of the Beagle channel and further south, the Drake passage, that links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Well, we hope that we gave you an idea of what it looks like down here and wish all the participants of Mystery Class, students and teachers, joy and success with this interesting learning experience. Sincerely Roby (11), Tommy (8) and Carlos (Dad) Back to Today's Report Copyright 2000 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form