Innholdsfortegnelse for May-June 2015 i Faces People, Places, and World Culture for Kids and Children

1 Argentina’s national sport once involved a duck! Pato, a game played on horseback, now uses a leather ball with six handles in place of a duck. Invented by the horsemen who once worked the Pampas, this game was declared the country’s national sport in 1953. 2 Spice is everything! Well, it is when it comes to the tasty treat called empanadas. he filling of these pies varies from region to region, but most chefs agree that the spices used are the secret to their deliciousness. 3 When is a waterfall not a waterfall? When it is actually 270 waterfalls! Iguazu Falls, located on the border with Brazil, is one of the most breathtaking sites in the world. In fact, when Eleanor Roosevelt first laid eyes on the falls, her…

Empanadas (em-pah-na-thus) are a popular snack in Argentina. These juicy little pies stuffed with meat can be purchased from a street vendor, delivered to your home like pizza, or made from scratch using a secret family recipe. Dessert empanadas are stuffed with fruit, sweet potato paste, or the thick caramel called dulce de leche (dule-chay duh lay-chay). Each region of the country has a unique ingredient in their empanadas. In the Andes of the northwest the meat is llama and goat with peas. ussels fish suid and crab fill the pies baked in the southern coastal provinces. In Buenos Aires, empanadas can be a mixture of spicy beef, salty green olives, hardboiled egg, and sweet golden raisins or even ham and cheese. Food experts consider the empanadas of Argentina to…

by Marcia Lusted It’s one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, a UNESCO World Heritage Area, and one of the most visited places in Argentina. And the Iguazu Falls (its name means “big water”) deserves those titles, and more. It is one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the world, and home to thousands of species of plants, birds, and animals. Iguazu Falls is not just one single waterfall. It is actually more than 270 waterfalls, scattered over a half-moon shaped area of cliffs and small islands. The Iguazu River begins in Brazil (which shares the Iguazu River as its border with Argentina, and jointly owns the falls as well) and travels almost 800 miles until it suddenly drops 263 feet into a canyon known as the Devil’s…

Street art is everywhere in Argentina’s capital city of Buenos Aires. Colorful murals adorn storefronts, offices, homes, factories, alleyways, bridges, and abandoned buildings. Artists can paint on any privately owned building as long as they receive permission from the building owner. Street art is sometimes referred to as graffiti art, but the reference to graffiti can be confusing. Graffiti is defined as “writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place.” Graffiti is destructive, contributes to urban decay, and is frequently connected to gangs and criminal activity. Street art is just the opposite. It is meant to beautify communities and elicit favorable emotional responses in those who view it. Long before street art began appearing in Buenos Aires, political propaganda was…

patagonia is a land of titans and giants, explorers and outlaws. Stretching more than 260,000 square miles and into Chile, it descends from the Andes in waves of arid plateaus and mesas. This remote and rugged landscape is considered the last frontier in South America, and is Argentina’s national treasure. It’s filled with steep desert canyons, looming petrified forests, hidden waterfalls, and grinding glaciers. The colossal Perito Moreno glacier is three miles wide and towers 200 feet high. This icy mega dome contains the world’s third largest reserve of fresh water, and unlike other glaciers, Moreno is actually growing! Nearly as tall are the coihues and araucarias trees that seemingly touch the clouds, the glacier has grown to more than 150 feet high. But these aren’t Patagonia’s only giants… LAND…

Have you ever heard the expression, “It takes two to tango”? So what is the tango, and what does it have to do with people of Argentina? The tango is a dance with difficult steps and long slides. It is said to have originated with the gauchos, the cowboys of the Pampas of Argentina. But by the time the tango started to catch on in the late 1800s, the gauchos had been forced off the Pampas by roads and fences, farms and ranches — all great obstacles to their ability to ride the expanse of grasslands. Finding work herding cattle was difficult. It was often temporary and migrant work for a new large landowner or rancher. The gauchos, driven from the Pampas by the law and not socially accepted in…

Gaucho: Hola, amigos! When a gaucho rides across La Pampas, he hears strange tales. Not so long ago, the rancheros (the owners of the ranches) began to disappear. At the same time, one Señor Malvo appeared. He grabbed up all the deserted ranchos for himself and grew richer and richer. Meanwhile, in a shabby hut lived a poor boy, Benito, and his mother. Benito’s father, like many others, had disappeared. Mama: Benito, there is not enough food left to fill even one skinny empanada! Without grain or seed, Chiquita, the old hen refuses to lay eggs. How are we to keep skin and bones together? I wonder if we should sell our scrawny mule? Benito: Mama, please do not sell that mule! It arrived the same day that Papa disappeared.…

from January 2015 FACES : Why Greenland Matters “Whoa! That water is COLD!” – Ms. Gregory’s class“Belly flop!” – Finn R.“Man overboard!” – John S.“Did someone say, ‘bacon’?” – Will“Oooh, it’s time to eat!” – Mrs. Sedabres’ class“I hope the ice is thick enough!” – Ryland and Clem V.“Look, Mom! No hands!” – Gabrielle C.“Somebody HELP ME!” – Mrs. Schmitt’s class “The penguins are coming! The penguins are coming!” – Joseph D.…

Far to the south lie the former stomping grounds of the largest dinosaurs on earth. Between the Andes and the Atlantic Ocean, Argentina is home to many of the most important fossil sites in the world. Dinosaurs disappeared, but they seem to have left their mark of grandiosity, one that every inhabitant of this land continues to reach for. Argentines are known to strive for greatness. Their dreams and passion have unfortunately created an often violent society. But from that society many extraordinary and exceptional people were born. “God is an Argentine,” is a popular saying on the streets of Buenos Aires. Argentines consider themselves special people living in a very special country. Beautiful and proud, Argentina, the eighth largest country in the world, spreads from the Tropic of Cancer…

Ask people what the national sport of Argentina is and they’ll probably say soccer. But that would be wrong. Turns out that a quirky sport called pato (pronounced PAH-TOE) claims that title. A wild cross between polo and basketball, pato has a fascinating history and continues to entertain sports-loving audiences to this day. How to Play Pato Before explaining pato’s rules, you might be curious where the name of the game comes from. After all, pato means “duck” in Spanish. In the past, this sport was played with a live duck carried in a leather basket with handles. Luckily that’s not the case any more. Today, players use a leather ball with six handles. The ball looks similar to a volleyball. (Oddly enough, this six-handled ball is also referred to…

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires is commonly known as the Paris of South America because of the strong uropean influence in its architecture, food, and atmosphere. It is common to greet everyone with a kiss on the cheek, even if you have ust met him or her for the first time. Local people of Buenos Aires are known as portenos (people of the port) because many of them originally arrived by boat. The city is divided into 48 districts called bararios. Located on the estuary Rio de la Plato, uenos Aires is the most visited city in South America. The people of Buenos Aires are passionate about soccer. The city is the birthplace of Pope Francis and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. The city was founded twice! When Spain’s Pedro de…