If it was my country...

I found out about this site from a friends blog and was so intruigued by her comparison between Argentina (her current country of residence) with Russia (the country she is from)  that I wanted to do it for myself.

I did it for the United States and Argentina and these were the results-very interesting!


If Argentina were your home instead of The United States you would...

have 80.94% more chance of dying in infancy The number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in Argentina is 11.11 while in The United States it is 6.14.

use 80.78% less electricity
The per capita consumption of electricity in Argentina is 2,400kWh while in The United States it is 12,484kWh.

consume 76.53% less oil
Argentina consumes 0.6197 gallons of oil per day per capita while The United States consumes 2.6400

make 70.26% less money The GDP per capita in Argentina is $13,800 while in The United States it is $46,400

spend 82.07% less money on health care
Per capita public and private health expenditures combined in Argentina are $1,205 USD while The United States spends $6,719 USD

have 28.34% more babies The annual number of births per 1,000 people in Argentina is 17.75 while in The United States it is 13.83.

die 1.48 years sooner The life expectancy at birth in Argentina is 76.76 while in The United States it is 78.24.

3.23% more chance of being unemployed
Argentina has an unemployment rate of 9.60% while The United States has 9.30%

16.67% less likely to have HIV/AIDS
The number of adults living with HIV/AIDS in Argentina is 0.50% while in The United States it is 0.60%.

experience 1.56% more of a class divide
The GINI index measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income. In Argentina is 45.70 while in The United States it is 45.00.

Lujan

We had been told that there's a great church about an hour or so outside Buenos Aires in a town called Lujan.  We decided a Saturday would be a perfect time to go visit the church and get outside the city for a day.  So, we gathered our (currently our only roomate) and a friend of Johns from work and took the bus to Lujan.  We didnt really know what to expect, but it honestly blew my mind!  It was a giant, beautiful church...kind of in the middle of nowhere! 

All around the church were relics and offerings (of very high quality as you can see).

Lujan is supposed to be full of parillas (grills) so we decided to stay for lunch and enjoy a parilla.  It was an all you can eat-literally translated to "free fork."  We had empanadas, salad, bread, potato salad, meat, meat, meat and ice cream.  I dont know if we ended up choosing the right one, nobody else was really there...

It was a great day all the same.  Getting out of Buenos Aires for a day was nice and seeing a new part of Argentina was lovely!

Welcome 2011!

Even though John and I both grew up in the midwest, we've got some Southern influences that I think just might be stuck.

Todays the 1st of January, the first day of 2011, so as our southern "roots" dictate we ate Hoppin Johns, cabbage and cornbread.  We were a little nervous about finding all the ingredients and things necessary to make it all, but alas, my mom brought black eyed peas with her from the states when she came to visit.  So, we were able to find everything.

Cornbread, black eyed peas and cabbage

Sitting on the balcony to eat our good luck! 

Beautiful day, maybe not the most beautiful view though...