Noël - Navidad - Christamas - Weihnachten - Blablabla

Et bien voilà, c'est la fin d'une année bien chargée de mon côté, haute en couleur et rebondissement !!! Pour ma part, je suis en vacances depuis demain soir et je m'en vais pour les Sierras du nord argentins, plus précisément à Córdoba et Salta. Donc si je ne vous entends pas d'ici là, je vous souhaite à tous un excellent réveillon et une année 2009 des meilleures!

On se revoit début janvier ! A+ et gros becs a tous !

¿¿La Presidente, Madonna y Betancourt, en la Rosada?? ¡¡Que pasa!!

La reina del pop se sumó al encuentro que Cristina Kirchner mantuvo, en Casa de Gobierno, con la ex candidata presidencial secuestrada por las FARC.

La estrella de la música pop, Madonna, mantuvo un encuentro con la presidente Cristina Kirchner y realizó una visita por los salones de la Casa Rosada.

Madonna entró por la explanada de la avenida Rivadavia sobre las 19:45 y realizó primero un recorrido por el palacio de Casa de Gobierno con empleados de la casa para luego entrevistarse con la jefe de Estado. La audiencia anterior de Cristina Kirchner fue con la ex rehén de las FARC, Ingrid Betancourt, quien se cruzó con la cantante en el despacho presidencial y la saludó afectuosamente.

Así, Kirchner, Betancourt y Madonna compartieron durante algunos minutos un encuentro tripartito en donde hablaron sobre cuestiones generales. "La reina del pop" había estado en la Rosada en 1996, durante la segunda gestión de Carlos Menem, cuando filmó una escena en uno de los balcones de la sede gubernamental para la película Evita, que protagonizó junto a Antonio Banderas y Jonathan Price.

Fin del mundo: Diluvio en Buenos Aires

Samedi, en fin d'après-midi, le ciel a décidé de nous offrir un spectacle humide et incroyable! En quelques minutes, les rues de mon quartier de San Telmo sont devenues torrents! Du coup, je me suis dis que je ne pouvais pas manquer cela et je suis sorti prendre quelques photos.... Enjoy!

Partido de fútbol: Independiente Vs River Plate

Increíble, espectacular, genial!!! Estan son las mejores palabras para describir el ambiente durante un partido de fútbol en la parte del estadio que se llama: La popular.

Fui con mis amigos Alejandro, Manu, Cristian, Julio y Belen a un choque fútbolistico entre Independiente (el mejor) y River Plate, dos equipos de Buenos Aires. Como dije arriba en el texto, el ambiente es simplemente espectacular. La gente saltaba, gritaba, bailaba, etc!

Francamente, si vos venis alguna vez a Argentina es

obligatorio de ver un partido de fútbol!

Fotos (gracias a Ale) para allá!

Damien is gone!

Unfortunately, everything need to end and Damien left this morning at 5am for the United States of America after almost 2 months here in Buenos Aires!

Very good time spent here with you mate and I wish you all the best in YankeeLand and for the end of the year!

See ya soon,

!!!Cheers!!!

Pics of the farewell

Integración completa: Bienvenido al Lobo!

Les mentalités évoluent à Buenos Aires! Festival Tango Queer

Les mentalités évoluent à Buenos Aires. La preuve en est cette manifestation de tango queer, dansé par des couples de même sexe, mais pas seulement. Il s'agit de la première édition de ce festival qui confirme la place émergente de la capitale argentine dans l'univers gay.

El propósito del Festival Internacional de Tango Queer es reunir a las personas que tanto en Argentina como en otros países estamos trabajando en relación al tango queer (profesores, organizadores, intelectuales, músicos, bailarines y alumnos de todas partes del mundo). El término "queer" significa "raro", "extraño", en el sentido de "lo que está fuera de la norma". El lema del festival es bailar tango sin que los roles estén fijos al sexo de quienes lo bailan. Es por eso que el Festival Internacional de Tango Queer no está orientado exclusivamente a parejas del mismo sexo, sino a todas las personas y espacios que apoyen nuestra propuesta y que promuevan el respeto por la diversidad.

Festival Tango Queer

El mate kit!

Si nosotros los suizos tenemos el kit fondue de

queso, los argentinos tienen el kit mate. Basicamente, el mate es una bebida elaborada a partir de la yerba "ilex paraguariensis". Como sucede con el té, el café o el chocolate, el mate posee un efecto estimulante debido a la cafeína (sinónimo "mateína") que contiene. Su sabor amargo proviene de los taninos, la espuma, de los glicósidos y su acción es estimulante.

Si quieres saber más sobre el mate, click acá: El mate

Para ver las fotos: El mate kit

2 movies to understand the reality of Favelas in Brasil

If you ever wanted to understand the life of people living in Favelas in this
"Tropical country" called Brazil, I highly advise you to see "Tropa de Elite". This movie is based on real fact, more precisely on the visit of our friend the Pope in 1997 to Rio de Janeiro. Basically, the government of the city of Rio decided to "clean" a Favela located nearby the place the Pope wanted to stay during his visit of the city. Half documentary, half movie, the film explains precisely what is going on in those "town of non-right" where drug dealers seems to be more powerful then a police that have ridiculous equipments to fight. Highly violent, this movie is not recommended to sensible soul. For more info: Tropa De Elite, the trailer. An English version of the movie called Elite Squad is available, but if you really want to feel the real ambiance, I recommend the original version with subtitle English or Spanish.

Second good movie about the reality of the Favelas is "Cidade de Deus". If Quentin Tarantino invented a new style in 1994 with Pulp Fiction, the director Fernando Meirelles perfected it with this movie in 2002. The city of god was a housing project build in the 60's near Rio De Janeiro. This time, no Elite Squad or SWAT like policeman, but the true story of young people that became the biggest drug dealers during the 80's/90's. The story examines the life of many characters having different dreams or life style but all of them had to cope with the reality of life in the Favelas. If "Tropa de Elite" is a violent movie, there is nothing you can’t really expect as I guess we all have the habit of the violence trough American movie. However in "Cidade de Deus", the violence is rough without any compromise where children kill each other with cold blood.

To conclude, the reality here in Argentina can be seen by Europeans as hard but obviously Argentina and its "Villa" (it like this we call Favelas in AR) is now for me something more "acceptable". I am not aware for the moment of the reality in other Latino's countries, but I guess there is nothing to compare with the Favela life's some human being have to experience.

Fan or not fan, this is not the question! Today is a BIG day!

After more then 8 years out of the scene, AC/DC or nicely called in Australia AcDaCa is back. Nothing really new, same riffs, same simple recipe but believe me: IT ROCKS!!! (taking in account that Brian Johnson is 61 years old!)

Finally, I will maybe be able to use my AC/DC t-shirt I received for my last B-day in Oz :-) Woouuuu!

Infos about the world tour: ACDC.com

Rio De Janeiro and Back to Bs As

On the 18 of October, we decided to leave “Angra Dos Reis” for a day trip to “Rio De Janeiro”. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't with us and we had to cope with the rain all day long. The trip from “Angra to Rio” with a driver is of 2 hours and half (150km). Our driver was completely mad and I wasn't really happy about the way he was driving. Braisileros son locos! Once arrived in Rio, we started by visiting a beach called "Praia Baja Baja". Pretty nice, but without the sun it was a bit boring. We continue our way throughout the city and passed “Ipanema” and stopped at Copacabana. Like a miracle, as soon as we hit the sand of the Copacabana beach, the sun came for a quick visit. It is really a magnificent location and I think the Copacabana legend is definitely real. We then try to go the “Pan De Azucar”, but it was so cloudy that we decided not to pay the 44 Reals/person for the cable car. We found a little path around the mountain and made a quick trek in the jungle where we found some very cute little monkeys! A rapid stop at a restaurant and go to the star of “Rio De Janeiro”: Cristo Redentor. Unfortunately, the rain was with us again and we were not able to see anything (check the pics)! A quick advice for travelers: If you go there take the train at 36 Reals that will take you at the summit (this include the park entrance at 13 reals) and do not take the mini buses that will be proposed to you at the train terminal. It is a rip off! Our trip to Rio stops here and we had to go back to Angra.

Our last evening was pretty quiet. We meet some Argentineans and we were able to drink some Mate, Finally! I say finally, because Ale was clever enough to bring the thermo, mate and Bombilla, but he completely forgot to bring some Yerba :-). Yesterday at 06:00am, we woke-up to take a taxi to the bus terminal. 7 hours after we arrived in Sao Paulo and went to the airport. Our plan was late and we eventually arrived in Bs As at one o'clock this morning.....

To summarize, DO NOT GO AT ANGRA DOS REIS at any price! Watch out when you go in Brazil as the tourist is really a target, not like in Argentina. If you have to take some public transport, take the bus as taxis are incredibly expensive! Be ready for the food as most of the things are fried.

Yes I know, I know. You do not believe me as all your friends told you that Brazil is amazing. I am also sure of that and I will go back to Rio as the city seems to be really a good place to explore. Now concerning the beaches, the girls, the cheap prices and the friendliness of the people...hum...I am not sure at all and will have to check this again. Al final: Viva Argentina!

Angra Dos Reis

Yesterday, we arrived at 6am at Angra Dos Reis at 7 hours of bus of Sao Paulo. The trip started quickly as we didn't know that the bus station was situated at 40 minutes from our hotel. On top of that, my friend Ale forgot his ID at the hotel and we had to go back to pick it up. Fortunately for us, our taxi driver was a real Ayrton Senna and we made it in time. The bus was pretty comfortable and we did stop 3 times on the way. We arrived very early this morning pretty tired from the trip and ask a taxi to drive us to our hotel. The bad news was the price: 75 Reals which is definitely more than whatever taxi in Buenos Aires. Arrived at the hotel, we notice a sign mentioning the attendance time at the reception 8-22. However, the lady of the reception proposed us to have the breakfast. The weather was pretty shity today and after a long siesta, we decided to take the bus to the city centre. And wot a city centre! Angra Dos Reis is something like a favela, where only industrial thing happen. Therefore, for tourist like us it is pretty boring. We had a quick burger at a shopping centre and took a little walk around the city... still nothing to see or do. Back to the hotel, we had look to the playita and really nothing like a postcard. Bah... To finish with the very special welcome, we learned at 20h30 that the kitchen is closing at 21h and therefore had to eat a disgusting pizza. I will definitely not recommend our hotel to anyone unless if you are extremely old as there is absolutely nothing around, not even a bar to drink a quick cerveza (http://www.pousadadaleste.com.br/). Ale had the great idea to ask the owner of the hotel if a tour of Rio De Janeiro was available and the answer was YES! So tomorrow, vamos a Copacabana!!!

Pics of Angra here: http://picasaweb.google.com/gijgij123/AngraDosReis

Sao Paulo by night

Voila, our journey in Sao Paulo is now finished and to celebrate this we made our way out in the city to watch the "partido del futbol" Argentina-Chile and unfortunately para los Argentos, Chile won 1-0.

Check out the pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/gijgij123/SaoPaulo

Microsoft TechEd / Sao Paulo - Brasil

Voila, voila! We finally arrived yesterday in Sao Paulo located at 3 hours and half of Buenos Aires. I am here with my colleagues for the Microsoft TechEd. Good suprise, Steve Balmer was here to open the event. However, he is not as good as our friend Steve Jobs. Bah, not an issue as the content of the event is pretty good so far. Be tuned as I will update the TechEd photo album during the week.

I will also post some pics of the city and of Brasil in general as soon as we start to discover the surrondings!

Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/gijgij123/TechEd

Stay tuned!

Delta of Tigre and Colonia in Uruguay

Voila, my photos of my last two trips: The Delta of Tigre in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Colonia de Sacramento in Uruguay, just in front of Buenos Aires.


Tigre and its Delta is a famous weekend destination for the Portenos, citizen of Buenos Aires.

There is plenty of things to do , however it is a bit busy over the weekend and the people are not very warm or happy to welcome toursit.

The second big weekend destination is Colonia de Sacramento. This town is located in Uruguay and when you go there is like going back to the past during the colonial years.

Both Spanish and Portuguese used to rule the region and you can really feel it in the architecture.

Enjoy the pics located in the list on your right!

Decided to change my look

Before:
After:

Miami vice in Buenos Aires

On Tuesday, I went with a colleague to make a vaccination for my trip next week in Brazil (yellow fever) and when we came back to the office, we saw a motorbike on the pavement coming toward our direction! It was robbers that the police was chasing. Always happening something in Buenos Aires

Article in Spanish below:

08.10.2008 El asalto fue en Corrientes y Florida y los ladrones huyeron hacia San Telmo. En la persecución un agente fue llevado por el motoquero de una mensajería.

Dos ladrones en moto asaltaron a un hombre cuando salía con dinero de un banco del centro porteño, pero la Policía los detuvo tras una persecución en la que uno de los agentes fue llevado por un motoquero de una mensajería.

El atraco se produjo en Corrientes y Florida y los ladrones fueron atrapados en Chile y Paseo Colón, al cabo de un raid en el que nadie resultó herido.

Todo comenzó alrededor de las 13, cuando un cliente que salía de un banco del microcentro fue abordado en la tradicional esquina por dos delincuentes que se desplazaban en una moto Honda Transalp.

El acompañante del motociclista golpeó en la cabeza del sorprendido cliente, a quien le arrebató un bolso con el dinero retirado momentos antes de la entidad crediticia.

Tras ello, los llamados motochorros emprendieron la huida por el Bajo, donde tomaron Paseo Colón con la posible intención de escapar en dirección a la provincia de Buenos Aires.

En esos momentos una brigada de la comisaría 2ª de la Policía Federal emitió un alerta, tras lo que comenzó una persecución, a la que se fueron sumando varios patrulleros.

En la avenida Paseo Colón, y alertado de la situación, un agente que estaba de
parada intentó detenerlos, pero los malvivientes le tiraron la moto encima y el uniformado la logró esquivar.

Por el lugar pasaba un motoquero que, advertido de la situación, subió al policía en la parte trasera del asiento.

Así, el uniformado pudo reanudar la persecución, que concluyó 200 metros después, en la esquina de Paseo Colón y Chile, donde los asaltantes fueron alcanzados.

En un intento desesperado por escapar, los ladrones subieron a la vereda, donde derraparon. Así, fueron detenidos y la policía recuperó el dinero robado.

Voceros policiales indicaron que también fue arrestada otra persona que habría intentado escapar del lugar, por lo que se investigaba su rol en el episodio.

Dos delincuentes fueron detenidos cuando huían tras haberle robado 24.000 pesos a un comerciante que momentos antes había retirado de un banco.

http://www.laprensa.com.ar/325436-Detienen-a-dos-motochorros-que-llevaban-un-bolso-con-$24000.note.aspx

Bienvenue - Bienvenido - Welcome

Bienvenue a tous sur mon blog!

Actuellement, je suis en Argentine et vous pourrez suivre mes aventures sur ce blog.

Pour les photos, cela se passe ici:

http://picasaweb.google.com/gijgij123