Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
LITERARY LADY OF LA PLATA
She was 'the most beautiful cow in the pampas' according to French novelist Pierre
Drieu, and Jorge Luis Borges called her 'the most Argentine of women.' In the 1920s
and 1930s Victoria Ocampo gathered writers and intellectuals from around the
globe to her home, Villa Victoria, creating a formidable literary and artistic salon.
Ocampo never went to university, but her voracious appetite for knowledge and
love of literature led her to become Argentina's leading lady of letters. She founded
the literary magazine Sur,which introduced writers such as Virginia Woolf and TS
Eliot to Argentine readers. She was also an inexhaustible traveler and a pioneering
feminist, and was loathed for her lack of convention. A ferocious opponent of Peron-
ism, chiefly because of Perón's interference with intellectual freedom, Ocampo was
arrested at Villa Victoria at the age of 63. In jail she entertained her fellow inmates
by reading aloud and acting out scenes from novels and films.
If Victoria is remembered as a lively essayist and great patroness of writers, her
younger sister, Silvina, was the literary talent, writing both short stories and poetry.
Silvina won several literary prizes for her works, and in 1940 married Adolfo Bioy
Casares, a famous Argentine writer and friend of Jorge Luis Borges.
As the sea lions attest, Mar del Plata is one of the best spots for fishing in Argentina.
The rocky outcrop at
Cabo Corrientes
, just north of Playa Grande, is a good spot to try,
as are the two breakwaters -
Escollera Norte
and
Escollera Sur
- at the port. Freshwater
fishing is popular at Laguna de los Padres, while
Mako Team
(
493-5338;
www.makoteam.com.ar
)
offers ocean fishing excursions.
The rocky cliffs by the sea and the hills of Sierra de los Padres make for excellent
3902)
runs a school - it also offers mountain biking, canoeing and overnight active camp-
ing trips.
Horseback riding and skydiving are also possibilities - contact the tourist office for de-
tails.
Tours
Crucero Anamora
BOAT TOUR
( 489-0310;
www.cruceroanamora.com.ar
)
This 30m boat offers harbor tours several times
daily in summer (AR$125) and twice daily on weekends in winter from Dársena B at the
port.
