Being in Buenos Aires

Even though I live in Buenos Aires it is impossible to take this special city for granted. Buenos Aires is perhaps one of the most extraordinary cities there is, or at least one of the more spectacular cities I have ever visited. I thought a quick entry on Buenos Aires would do this blog good and perhaps be helpful to anyone planning on visiting the city.

In Buenos Aires, each barrio (or neighborhood) has something different, and often surprising, to offer to its visitors. One can walk in the colorful Boca neighborhood, visit the famous cemetery in Recoleta, relish a delicious Argentinean steak in any number of the high scale restaurants of Palermo, or listen to the melancholic sounds of the bandoneon playing the last tango of the night in a small bar in Almagro.

The different barrios are also connected to the world in their own particular manner. Boca is not only the colorful old harbor where Italian immigrants once resided, but it also the home of the legendary football club Boca Juniors, where Diego Maradona started his career. Debatably the best football player of all time – which can be argued (although not with Argentineans) – Maradona is unique in many ways, not least because of his goals in the World Cup of 1986 where the saying “Hand of God” chiseled itself forever into the jargon of the football world. Diego’s thrashing of the English on that fateful day – so I am told – was his own personal response to the war fought in the Falklands. Regardless of his motives, Maradona successfully put la Boca on the map, and with its many colorfully painted corrugated iron sheet buildings, and its world famous stadium, La Boca is a great place to visit.

Eva “Evita” Perón Duartes’ grave can be found in the Cemetery of Recoleta, a charming (and slightly gothic) looking cemetery filled with picturesque tombs and angelic statues. Catholicism in Argentina is of course the prevalent religion, and wealthy Argentineans have in the past chosen the most elaborate tombs imaginable. Evita’s remains were exhumed and reburied in the cemetery, while recently there were unsuccessful calls for her husband’s bones to be buried with hers. Funnily enough, Evita was originally a poor country girl who wanted to become an actress, but then turned into the country’s first leading lady and an angelical pariah figure for the poor. She was highly skilled with playing with the tax payer’ funds in order to make people think she was a great charity giver, but while supporting her husband’s (Juan Domingo Perón) political moves, she loved to dress up in the finest European gowns and adorn herself with jewelry. Her funeral in 1952 was an unforgettable event in the Argentinean history and the famous cemetery where she was buried is a national landmark. Its great place for visitors to pass a few hours, wandering among the many beautiful tombs and cornices belonging to the late greats of Argentina’s long ago.

Apart from these historical figures, the present Buenos Aires has an abundance of qualities that make it both a dynamic and fantastic city. There is a reason why it is called the Paris of Latin America. It is because it is beautiful.

There are plenty of old-style cafés and bars to be found on the corners. The fabled tango can be seen being performed live on the streets; many of porteños (the inhabitants of Buenos Aires) practice the dance themselves and go to milongas (tango dance halls) on the weekends. And the steak – well words fail even me. In order to understand the fabled beef of Argentina, you just have to try it. Even if meat is not your favorite thing, the city offers world-class dining with its ethnic diversity; with sushi, kosher and arab food being a few of the most outstanding examples.

Cultural activities and events, parks with handicraft markets, a public transportation system that works incredibly well (generally considered to be a miracle in Latin America) and a political activism that can be perceived all over the city, are just a few building blocks of the everyday routine of Buenos Aires. It really is a genuine mixture of Europe and Latin America (spiced with subtle Asian, African and North American influences). It’s a great place to visit, a great place to live, and a genuinely all round great place to be.

All the best

Bart
www.cat-travel.com

Ten Years in the Latin American Travel Game

Hello again fellow travelers. Recently Class Adventure Travel turned ten years old. It’s quite a monumental moment for us to tell the truth and both Karin and I feel very proud. Over the past ten years we have been working very hard to build up what we hope will one day become the preferred incoming tour operation company in Latin America. The journey so far has been fantastic and while the work has been hard, we have – over the years – traveled to so many extraordinary places, witnessed so many incredible things, and had the privilege to work with such great people that we both feel truly blessed.

It all started a little over 12 years ago when I was traveling through one of Ecuador’s innermost jungles, spending some time living it rough and experiencing the Amazon first hand. It was in the middle of some spectacular jungle trail – somewhere not to far from Misahuallí – (after being bitten by a spider and cured by a cacique!), where the idea first came to me to start a travel company in Latin America. It all centered around two of my deepest wishes; firstly that of turning my greatest hobby (travel, of course) into a professional way of living, and secondly trying to establish possibilities to help build a bridge between Latin America and the rest of the world.

I returned to Holland where Karin and I began working on getting some money together in order to be able to move back to Latin America and get a company started. Many people thought us crazy, the idea of starting a tour company in South America back then was not the type of initiative embraced for its financial viability. Eventually however, we managed to borrow enough money from a few friends and family members and were ready to get started. Against the advice of quite a few people, we both finally agreed that Peru would be the best place to begin. In the beginning of the nineties, Peru had just come out of a bloody civil war. Abimael Guzman, the leader of the notorious Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso), had only been captured a few years before we chose Peru, and while stability had returned to the country, many still feared some form of Maoist revolution would come. These fears however seemed blown out of proportion, and with a phenomenal array of both natural and man-made wonders, a peaceful Peru was a tourist Mecca just waiting to happen.

And so we went to Peru, with little more than a couple of suitcases, a little borrowed money, and a couple of really big dreams. Karin and I opened our first office in Lima in 1997. The first year was incredibly difficult, and I often had to work other jobs in order to support us while Karin kept on working tirelessly on getting and keeping Class Adventure Travel off the ground. We came very close to giving up that first year, but luck was on our side and after one year, more or less, business began to pick up. At the end of that famous first year we had received a grand total of 27 passengers… The work experience was what made all the difference though!

The following year I returned to Holland to work for a few months in order to gain some more capital for the company while Karin continued working in Lima. By the end of our second year we were gaining ground, and while we weren’t making any serious money, we could finally consider the company to be fully self-supportive. It was finally beginning to look as though we were going to succeed and at the end of the second year we had actually received a total of 303 passengers.

After over 4 years of courting, Karin finally decided to marry me in 1998; and when we returned to Peru from the wedding in Holland, things finally began to take off in earnest. We began to hire our first employees, we moved into a bigger office, and in the beginning of 2000 we formally opened our first office in Cusco. In 2003 we organized tours for over 2,000 clients, and it was time to start looking outwards to the rest of Latin America. Not only did Karin and I want to open new offices in other countries, we began thinking about moving to another Latin American country in order to get a new perspective on the continent. The options were many and we ended up traveling through Chile, Argentina, and Brazil looking for the right place to settle down.

It was in Sao Paulo, Brazil, that we opened our next office in 2004. Later that same year, Karin and I moved to Buenos Aires where we set up a regional head quarters for Argentina and Chile. In August that year our first daughter Edie was born – the first proud Argentine-Dutch member of our family. Please note Karin basically went through this entire expansion and emigration phase pregnant (Edie was born 2 months after we had arrived to Argentina)… She is a strong woman and most definitely more than my significant other half; without her this company would not have survived, I am pretty sure of that.

As our family grew – so did our company. We began to form alliances with a number of affiliate travel companies in other Latin American countries – and it wasn’t long before the company was able to offer tours across the continent. Most recently we opened a proper office in Costa Rica– a venture that will give us the opportunity to offer tours in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama, and will give our clientele the opportunity of undertaking the very best there is on offer in each of these Central American countries.

Karin and I celebrated the birth of our second daughter Noa earlier this year, increasing the number of family members to 4 (2 Dutch and 2 Argentine!). Noa just turned 2 months old, while Class Adventure Travel turned 10 years old. In retrospect it seems like quite a journey, although in everyday working life one hardly realizes what has had to happen for our little company to become what it is today… After ten years in Latin America, we have seen so many breathtaking places, have learned so much, we’ve grown, we’ve been graced with the presence of two incredibly beautiful daughters, and we’re delighted that we get to continue our adventure through this extraordinary continent together with all the wonderful people in our team.

Oh yes, I almost forgot: as an anniversary special – We have decided to knock 10% off all tours publicized on our website. The offer stands on all tours purchased before the 31^st of December this year – regardless of when you’re actually traveling. It’s a good deal (at least I think so…), and our special way of trying to encourage all of you to travel to Latin America and witness some of the many beautiful things we have been lucky to see over the years. For more information take a look at CAT’s Special Promotional Offer on the Class Adventure Travel website. Hope you all like it; let me know what you think!

Bart

www.cat-travel.com