A new game plan for Argentina ?
Eight years after being downgraded to a frontier market, Argentina seems poised for a turnaround, one that offers investors long-term opportunity and returns. Argentina was never so visible as when Diego Maradona led the nation’s soccer team past West Germany to win the World Cup championship in 1986. It seemed emblematic of a country on the cusp of claiming its rightful place on the global stage. Things haven’t quite gone as planned. Over the past 30 years, Argentina has dealt with bouts of economic…
Living in Vaca Muerta Shale Fields: the young faces of a new Argentine dream
AÑELO, Neuquén.-“this is Vaca Muerta”. Juan Carlos Pais points his gaze towards a labyrinth of steel pipes installed in the middle of the desert. Giant and colourful, similar to the Pompidou Museum in Paris, the gas compressor plant moans loudly nearby. The engineer, who oversaw Pharaonic works in different parts of the world, feels a special pride for this. “it will be a memorable story. tell them that in Buenos Aires ” This is Vaca Muerta, rock that sinks to three thousand meters…
11 mistakes a new real estate sales person should avoid making
Anyone starting a new job is bound to make some mistakes along the way. Having said that there are some basic ones not to make. 1. Not choosing the best agency in the speciality you are interested in. Anxious to get their careers off the ground, many newbie agents often make the mistake of not choosing the best agency to work with. From a recruitment perspective, the biggest mistake would be choosing a less than ‘best in market’ agency to commence your career with. “You learn so much in your…
Peru’s mining bonanza spurring growth, and new investment
Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kucyznski, visibly frustrated by the lack of progress in infrastructure and other investment projects during his first year in office, has pledged to get the economy moving with a public spending spree. Now, a windfall driven by surging mining exports looks set to make that possible. Peru’s first half export revenue rose 27% to US$20.486bn, led by a 28% increase in metals exports to US$12.265bn, while crude oil and natural gas sales soared 84%, according to the central bank.…
Paraguay, Land of new Opportunities
STANDARD & POOR’S LIFT PARAGUAY CREDIT RATING Land of new Opportunities: Paraguay’s sovereign rating has been raised from BB to BB, keeping a stable outlook. This improvement is an important development, which reflects the success of measures implemented at government level, its strong external financial position, low debt levels. The international financial community increasingly looks more favorably the auspicious process that is being developed in the country, creating a virtuous circle of…
Renewed UK interest in South America
In political terms, apart from the Falkland Islands issue, UK relations with South America have been generally positive and “recent visits from U.K. government representatives hint at a renewed interest in South America”, according to Juliana Bertazzo, an associate at the London School of Economics and an associate fellow at the Institute for the Study of the Americas at the University of London. “The most significant recent event is a new rapprochement between the UK and individual South American countries…
Uruguay discussing new taxation on land holdings
President Jose Mujica last Monday during the cabinet meeting presented a fiscal proposal, elaborated with the head of the Planning Office which considers three main brackets: over 2.000 hectares, 8 US dollars per hectare; over 5.000 hectares, 12 USD per hectare and over 10.000 hectares, 16 USD. However Vice-president Danilo Astori, Economy Minister Fernando Lorenzo, Agriculture minister Tabare Aguerre and Public Works and Transport minister Enrique Pintado are proposing a tax linked to the production and profitability…
The facade of the De Ridder mansion on Alvear Avenue in Buenos Aires during its expansion, around 1927
In Buenos Aires’ golden age, Alvear Avenue was Frenchified, an idea based on the aesthetics of large residences preserved along with its short six blocks that, with few exceptions, recreated in the Beaux-Arts style of the Ancien Régime. The culmination of its axis is the great dome of the old residence Ortiz Basualdo, the current French Embassy, to which the Plaza Carlos Pellegrini with its monument by Jules-Félix Coutan serves as a setting, that can be considered as the apotheosis of a paradigm that…
El Tigre of Argentina – A fisherman’s paradise
By Larry Larson – Professional Fishing Guide“Don’t cry for me, Argentina. The truth is I never left you,” that’s how the song goes, and I felt like I’d never left after looking through my passport, which contained 25 border crossing stamps for Argentina in the last eight years. It was early December, and I had time to reminisce as I waited for dinner aboard my flight from Washington-Dulles airport to Buenos Aires. My thoughts of the hunting expeditions, good friends and the fantastic food I’d…
La Estancia de Cafayate – Lifestyle homes in Northern Argentina
La Estancia de Cafayate is a 550-hectare exclusive international community that combines vineyards, golf and horses, a world-class spa and fitness facility, among many other world-class amenities such as a 5-star hotel. It is located just outside the historic and charming town of Cafayate, in the heart of the breathtaking Calchaqui Valley in the south of the province of Salta, in northwest Argentina. Cafayate sits 1,683 metres above mean sea level, 189 kilometres from Salta City and 1,329 from Buenos Aires. The…
Los Lagos de Chile – 10 Region centred on the city of Osorno
Osorno is an important city and commune in southern Chile and capital of Osorno Province in the Los Lagos Region. It had a population of over 150,000. It is located 945 kilometres (587 miles) south of the national capital of Santiago, 105 kilometres (65 miles) north of the regional capital of Puerto Montt and 260 kilometres (160 miles) west of the Argentine city of San Carlos de Bariloche, connected via International Route 215 through the Cardenal Antonio Samoré Pass. Osorno is a rural service centre for the…
Argentina: “A Wonder of the Century” The Incredible History of Club Hotel de la Ventana
From what was considered the most luxurious hotel in South America, only a few bricks are standing that tell a shocking story. From the Belle Epoque to decay, home for German sailors and a specially built train to the door The Guide Javier Gómez, of Tierra Ventana, stops the 4×4 behind the wide trunk of a huge oak planted more than 100 years ago between the undulations of Sierra de la Ventana , and lights up a tablet in which black and white images begin to happen: an impeccable porter carrying a huge…
The disruption Facebook is having on traditional real estate advertising
The real estate industry has always had a love-hate relationship with the portals such as zonaprop, argenprop , gatewaytosouthamerica.com etc. While the portals own the best audience for property buyers – and are therefore an important part of any vendor’s marketing spend – the charging models and sense of dependence have always irked independent agents. No one likes being obliged to pay for a service you feel you have little control over. But the portals and the technology that drives them are now…
IN ARGENTINA THE UPPER CLASS DOMINATED RURAL LAND OWNERSHIP
Unlike English Colonial expansion to what now is called the Commonwealth Countries, which were mainly colonised by the middle and lower classes, Argentina was dominated by upper-class immigration for farming. Towards the end of the 18th century, the ruling class consolidated its position, commonly called “Argentines oligarchy”. It is a group of families who own massive amounts of land, dedicated, especially, to livestock production, in the humid Pampa of Buenos Aires, as well as financiers and large…
Boating, Golf and Polo: living the dream in Buenos Aires
Boating, Golf, and Polo: living the dream in Buenos Aires In the River Plate edge of the great Pampas, Buenos Aires allows polo, golf, yachting, and motor boating enthusiasts to literally live steps from their playgrounds. Numerous modern megalopolis dwellers move into central areas to reduce commute times to their workplaces. Come their free time, they recur to ingenious exercises: urban bicycle lanes, rooftop running trails, indoor gyms, skating rings, or simply walking the cat around the block. Yet many…
