Southern Cone Under the British

Lifestyles

     In Auchmuty-Whitelocke World (AWW), people in Argentina and Uruguay (in general) live the same way as in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, and to some extent, the rest of Latin America.  City people dress the same way as those in Western cities all over the world, while those in rural areas wear similar clothes for everyday life and dress in their distinctive garb for special occasions (though the gauchos and Aboriginals tend to dress differently in general).  There is a large middle class in both of these countries, with a smaller upper class and lower class; some of the poor live in substandard dwellings but never in shantytowns like in our world. 

 
Sports and Food

     The top spectator sports in both Argentina and Uruguay are rugby, cricket, and soccer (there called football or fútbol).  Among angloparlants (English-speakers), rugby and cricket are preferred, while hispanoparlants (Spanish-speakers) love football.  However, there are angloparlants who like football, and vice versa, though the hispanoparlants like rugby more than cricket.  In fact, in parts of Tucuman Province (a hispanoparlant province), rugby is more popular than football!  Argentina’s favourite football player is James Maradona; the country has performed very well in football, winning several times in the World Cup.  Argentina hosted the 1978 World Cup, just like in our world.  

     They also excel in cricket and rugby.  Argentina and Uruguay jointly hosted the Cricket World Cup in 1999, and the Rugby Union World Cup in 1991.  Each year, the Argentine and Uruguayan rugby union teams (nicknamed the Pumas and the Lapwings, respectively) play in the Five Nations Series along with the South African, Australian, and New Zealand teams.  Those five countries also belong to AUSANZAR, which is a joint group of the five national rugby unions; Argentina and Uruguay each have 5 teams to contribute to the Super 24.  The national rugby league teams are the Horneros of Argentina and the Rheas of Uruguay.  Rugby and football are Argentina’s very favourite sports, while cricket has that honour in Uruguay.  In the countries surrounding Argentina and Uruguay, like Chile, Brazil, and Bolivia, football is by far the number one sport.

     Other sports include polo, an indigenous sport kind of like horseback basketball called pato, netball (followed mostly by angloparlants) and rink hockey (especially popular among hispanoparlants).  Basketball is also growing in popularity.  Among individualized sports, the most popular in Argentina and Uruguay are boating, tennis, golf, and skiing (the latter in the Andes).  Among these, golf is more widely played in AWW than in our world.  Along with Australia and South Africa, Argentina is a golf powerhouse of the Southern Hemisphere, and participates a lot in the Presidents Cup tournament.  The Presidents Cup took place in the Buenos Aires area in 2003 and in South Africa in 2007.  Big names in Argentine golf have included Angel Cabrera and Robert Vincent.  

     Olympic Games took place in 1948 in Buenos Aires and in 1984 in Montevideo (both Summer Games).  The Argentine Grand Prix for auto racing has taken place more continously in AWW than in our world due to fewer financial (and political) difficulties.  There were Commonwealth Games in 1934 in Buenos Aires, in 1970 in White Bay, and in 1994 in Rosario.  Just like in our world, the Pan American Games took place in Buenos Aires in 1951 and in Platesea in 1995; the South American Games took place in Rosario in 1982, and in Buenos Aires in 2006.  Some other international sports competitions have also taken place in the region.

     The favourite food in both Argentina and Uruguay is the parrilla (a big slab of meat from a barbeque called an asado, which is similar to the South African braai).  Eaten at social occasions, they are even more liked in Uruguay than in Argentina; both countries, however, are among the world’s foremost meat-eaters.  The parrilla is eaten with chimichurri sauce, a uniquely River Plate sauce that perhaps derives its name from “Jimmy Curry” or some similar British colonial story.  At the beginning of the asado, especially among hispanoparlants, they eat empanadas (meat-filled pastries).  The asado is enjoyed by both angloparlants and hispanoparlants.  Empanadas are also enjoyed at tea time, again especially among hispanoparlants.  Foods that are most popular among angloparlants are fish-and-chips and meat pies, though the latter is more Spanish in flavour than meat pies in Australia or Great Britain.  

     Other popular foods in Argentina and Uruguay are pizza and Italian food, Chinese food, and Brazilian, Peruvian, Paraguayan, and Bolivian food more and more.  Common condiments in the region are a caramelized blend of sugar and boiled milk called dulce de leche and calafate jam, the latter from the calafate bush (aka the Magellan barberry) of Patagonia.  Marmite from Great Britain is also widely available.  Both Argentines and Uruguayans (of both language groups) have retained the British custom of afternoon tea.

     Dinner in Argentina and Uruguay is much earlier in AWW than in our world, more along the lines of North America or Britain.  Restaurants and nightclubs are not open as late as in our world.

Back to Top 

Media

     In the River Plate region in AWW, there is plenty of media in English or Spanish, as well as ethnic and Aboriginal media that might be in other languages, like Chinese, Italian, or Mapuche.  The leading English-speaking newspapers in Argentina are the Argentine Free Press (based in Wilsonton), the Buenos Aires Herald, the Buenos Aires Press, and the Buenos Aires Clarion; their Spanish-speaking counterpart, based in Buenos Aires, is La Nación.  The pre-eminent angloparlant financial newspaper is the Financial Review, and the corresponding Spanish one is Ámbito Financiero; they are both based in Buenos Aires.  Uruguay’s leading newspaper is the Star and Country; its financial newspaper is the Economic Observer, which also has a Spanish edition.

     There are also a lot of television and radio stations in English or Spanish in Argentina and Uruguay.  English-language television stations include the publicly-owned Argentine Broadcasting Corporation (ArBC) along with the private Channel 7 (Argentine Colour TV), Channel 11 (Federal Television), and the All News network.  In Spanish, the television stations include the Empresa de Teledifusión Argentina (ETAR; the Spanish television wing of ArBC) as well as the privately owned Canal 9 (Libertad) and Canal 13 (ArTeAr).  In Uruguay, TV stations include the Uruguayan Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) and Channel 10 (Television Stations and Annexes - TSA) in English, and the Empresa de Difusión, Radiotelevisión, y Espectáculos de Uruguay (EDREU; the Spanish wing of UBC) and Canal 4 (Montecarlo) in Spanish.   

     Argentina has many radio stations in the two official languages; the best known of these are the Argentine Official Radio Service and Argentine National Radio (connected to ArBC) in English, and the Servicio Oficial de Radiodifusión and Radio Nacional de Argentina (connected to ETAR) in Spanish.  Uruguay also has a lot of radio stations; in English, there is UBC Radio, along with The Spectator, River Plate Radio, Eastern Radio, etc.  Spanish-language stations include Radiodifusión Nacional EDREU, Radio Montecarlo, Radio Universal, and Radio Sarandí. 

Back to Top


Public Holidays and Festivals

     Argentina and Uruguay, just like all Western countries, celebrate holidays such as New Year’s Day, Easter, Labour Day, Mother’s Day, and Christmas.  But just as in other countries, they have their own holidays too; in AWW, many of these holidays differ from the ones in our world in the Southern Cone.  The main national days are Argentina Day and Uruguay Day.  The former used to be known as Confederation Day, for it commemorates the day in 1880 when the British colonies except Uruguay formed the Dominion of Argentina, and the latter was once known as Dominion Day, for it commemorates the day in 1903 when Uruguay became its own British dominion.  Secondary national days include Settlers’ Day in Argentina (marking the first large-scale settlement of British people in the country around 1820) and Treaty Day in Uruguay (formerly Colony Day; marking the Treaty of Montevideo in 1828 leading to the formation of the Uruguay Colony).  As well, each of the two countries has its own Republic Day; they became republics in 1956 and 1967, respectively.  The national days are all statutory holidays.

     As for other holidays, Labour Day is a statutory holiday too; in both countries, it falls out on the third Monday of May.  In Argentina, Flag Day (which was created when the current flag was adopted in 1930) is not widely known of a holiday.  Father’s Day occurs on the third Sunday in June in Argentina and on the second Sunday in July in Uruguay, while Mother’s Day is on the third Sunday in October in Argentina and on the second Sunday in May in Uruguay.  July 20 has been set aside as Friend’s Day every year in the two countries since the first landings on the moon on that day in 1969.  Children’s Day also exists in both countries.  None of the holidays except Labour Day are statutory.  Schoolchildren celebrate Teacher’s Day and Student’s Day in both countries too; some students get off from school on each of those days.  Also, Student’s Day in Argentina coincides with Spring Day, and in that country, high-school and university students congregate in places like parks and beaches.  On November 11 in both Argentina and Uruguay, Remembrance Day is commemorated with two minutes of silence, memorial parades, and many people wearing fake poppies then; it is generally not a statutory holiday.

     There are also some holidays which Spanish-speaking people commemorate, mainly Catholic holidays like Maundy Thursday and Immaculate Conception Day.  Día de la Raza (in Uruguay, Día de las  Américas), which commemorates Christopher Columbus’ first voyage to the Americas, is also largely a Hispanic celebration, though angloparlants join in the celebration too.  As well, Uruguay has substituted secular holidays for such Christian holidays as Christmas and Easter; there, they are often known as Family Day and Tourism Days, respectively.  Finally, many provinces, counties/administrative areas, and municipalities have their own holidays.  For more on all the national-level holidays, see the charts below. 

Public Holidays in Argentina

date	holiday
January 1	New Year’s Day
January 6	Epiphany (in hispanoparlant areas)
February 27	Flag Day
movable	Maundy Thursday (in hispanoparlant areas)
movable	Good Friday/Easter/Easter Monday
April 23	Republic Day
third Monday in May	Labour Day
third Sunday in June	Father’s Day
July 20	Friend’s Day
second Sunday in August	Children’s Day
third Monday in August	Settlers’ Day
September 11	Teacher’s Day
September 21	Student’s Day/Spring Day
October 12	Argentina Day/Día de la Raza (the latter mainly in hispanoparlant areas)
third Sunday in October	Mother’s Day
November 2	All Soul’s Day (in hispanoparlant areas)
November 11	Remembrance Day
December 8	Immaculate Conception Day (in hispanoparlant areas)
December 25	Christmas
December 26	Boxing Day

Public Holidays in Uruguay

date	holiday
January 1	New Year’s Day
January 6	Children’s Day (substitution for Epiphany)
February 4-5	Carnaval
February 15	Republic Day
March 1	Uruguay Day
movable	Tourism Days (substitution for Easter weekend – Maundy Thursday to Easter Monday)
second Sunday in May	Mother’s Day
third Monday in May	Labour Day
second Sunday in July	Father’s Day
July 20	Friend’s Day
August 27	Treaty Day
September 21	Student’s Day
September 22	Teacher’s Day
October 12	Día de las Américas (mainly in hispanoparlant areas)
November 2	All Soul’s Day (in hispanoparlant areas)
November 11	Remembrance Day (aka Poppy Day)
December 25	Family Day (substitution for Christmas)
December 26	Boxing Day

     Throughout Argentina and Uruguay, there are a lot of festivals that take place.  In the major cities and resort areas, there are plenty of film festivals, jazz and other music festivals, and so on; the biggest number of festivals can be found in Buenos Aires, Platesea, and East Point.  Furthermore, in AWW, there are many more fringe and Shakespeare festivals in the two countries than in our world.  Outside the major centres, a major festival is the Shakespeare Festival in Blue Creek, in Plate Province (reputed to be one of the best of its kind in Argentina).  Moreover, the gay population of Argentina has hosted the International Gay/Lesbian/Trans Film Festival of Argentina (aka Diversa), taking place in various cities, since 1989.  Uruguay’s gays, for their part, have had the Montevideo Lesbian and Gay Film Festival since 1990.

Back to Top

Miscellaneous 

      There is more of a diversity of time zones these days in the AWW Southern Cone than in that of our world.  For example, Argentina has always had a standard time of 4 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), and a daylight savings time (DST) of 3 hours behind GMT.  This corresponds roughly with the time zone in, say, Nova Scotia in eastern Canada.  However, two areas in Argentina have opted out of DST after having tried it - Missions Province (staying at 3 hours behind GMT) and the eastern part of Cuyo Province (at 4 hours behind GMT).  Uruguay has been 3.5 hours behind GMT for standard time, with a DST of 2.5 hours behind GMT; this is pretty much the same as Newfoundland.  For Chile, it has been 5 hours and 4 hours behind GMT, respectively; that is roughly aligned with places like New York or Montreal.  Other countries such as Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil have the same time zones as in our world.

     Argentines and Uruguayans still drive on the left, though Brazil and Paraguay switched to the right in 1945, and Chile did so in 1950.  Speaking of driving, the primary automobile club in Argentina is the Argentine Motoring Association (Asociación Automovilista de Argentina in Spanish), with the secondary one being the Automobile Club of Argentina (Automóvil Club Argentino).  Uruguay’s automobile club is the Uruguayan Automobile Association (Asociación Automovilista de Uruguay).  The stop signs read either STOP, PARE (the Spanish equivalent), or both (e.g. PARE STOP), depending on what each place speaks.  Besides cars, Argentines and Uruguayans like to travel by bus the best, just like in our world, although train service is much better than in our world (about as good as in Canada or Australia).

 
     In AWW, drivers in Argentina and Uruguay do not speed as much as in our world, and the traffic accident rates are much lower.  Also, serious crimes are not nearly as much an issue as have been in our world since 2001, with fewer muggings, express kidnappings, and so on.

     As well, Argentina and Uruguay are major centres of scientific innovation, research, and technology.  Their universities, such as Gibson in Buenos Aires, perform just as well as those in North America and Europe, and lead the way in Latin America in most respects.  One example of this prowess is René Favaloro, who played a great part in pioneering heart bypass surgery.  Founder of the Favaloro Foundation, and later also the Favaloro University (for medicine), he did not commit suicide in 2000 like in our world. (There were not as many debts on the foundation in AWW to push Favaloro to commit suicide, and so, he is still living.)  One can also cite Ernest Rutherford, the New Zealand-born physicist who came up with the nuclear model of the atom.  Rutherford was a professor at the Physics Department of Gibson University (as opposed to McGill University in Montreal in our world) as well as at universities in England. 

     Moreover, 19 Argentines and 5 Uruguayans have won Nobel Prizes (vs. 5 and none, respectively, in our world), including one in Literature for George L. Borges.  Luis Federico Leloir, who won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1970, was based in Chile (instead of Argentina like in our world).

     Gay rights have been entrenched in Argentina and Uruguay for at least the past two decades, probably more, though there are no laws yet recognizing same-sex marriage.  On the plus side, though, Plate and Black River Provinces have recognized same-sex civil unions since 2001, as has New Lancashire province since 2003; Uruguay followed suit in 2005.  As well, more and more jurisdictions, including but not limited to the cities of Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Rosario, have put in place anti-discrimination laws to protect gay and lesbian people in those places.  To top it all off, in 2007, Argentina became the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriages.

     Some of the sports information on this page is partly derived from the Lonely Planet Guide - Argentina,