Ana Astri-O’Reilly

Imagine spending days, even weeks, in the vast plains with only your horse and your loyal dog for company. Herding cattle during the day, sipping mate next to the campfire at night. The need for human interaction will be met at the nearest pulpería, although near and far are relative terms in the Argentinean Pampas. Deliver the cattle to the port first or take it to a distant pasture and only then you can relax and stock up on staples.

When Buenos Aires became the capital of Argentina in 1880, the mayor, Torcuato de Alvear, decided to modernize the city in order to leave its Spanish colonial past behind. People of his generation and social class – the upper crust— venerated European powerhouses like England and France and looked down on the local criollo culture, the mix of Spanish and indigenous cultures.

The reddish-pink ramparts around the Marrakech medina enclose a thousand years of history. The Almoravids, a confederation of Berber tribes, conquered North Africa and Muslim Spain in the 11th and 12th centuries and established Marrakech as their capital. The new city became a thriving political and economic center, as well as a multicultural and multiethnic crossroads.