It’s obvious I love talking about Argentina and its fabulous capital Buenos Aires.  From advice to travelers on where to go for leather shopping, to what I love about the country based on my own personal experiences, you know I can go on forever, often with a deep passion.

Recently I have had a chance to bring that passion to many different audiences.

I had the wonderful pleasure of being interviewed by travel great Arthur Frommer on his Travel Show for WOR radio, which he does in conjunction with his daughter Pauline Frommer.


  As you know, Arthur and I go way back, from my article on traveling inexpensively in Buenos Aires in 2003 for his magazine Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel, to my several years writing books on Buenos Aires and Argentina for Frommer’s, one of America’s favorite sources for travel book material when planning out trips domestically and abroad.

Arthur had me on to talk about many things, but mostly, we focused on the Blue Dollar, or the black market dollar and peso exchanges.  You have already seen one of my articles about it here in our two part series.  Article One is here, and this is the second article on the topic.

Here is the link to hour one of Arthur Frommer’s Show from Sunday September 28, 2014. 

Hour 1 http://www.wor710.com/media/podcast-the-travel-show-travelshow/travel-show-92814-hour-1-25352899/

I was on Hour 2, which is linked here:

http://www.wor710.com/media/podcast-the-travel-show-travelshow/travel-show-92814-hour-2-25352900/

My interview begins at about the 12:29 mark, and continues for about 15 minutes.

I was also on the Rudy Maxa radio show recently, again speaking on how to exchange money safely in Buenos Aires, using the Blue Dollar black market exchanges.  It was a fun few minutes, and my first time on Rudy’s show.  You’ll catch me on this link for Hour 2 of the program:

http://rudymaxa.com/2014/10/october-4-2014-hour-2/

My talk begins at about the 12:20 mark, just after the Go-Go’s Vacation is played.

And if you want to catch me live, I will present a slideshow lecture on tourism in Argentina at the New York Public Library’s Mid-Manhattan branch, also known as the Annex, across the street from the main library with the lions.  The slideshow looks at Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Salta, the carnival in Gualeguaychu and also explores African heritage of the tango, based on my recent New York Times article detailing the topic.

The slideshow is called Visiting Argentina: Where Glamour and Chaos Collideand will be Wednesday October 15, 2014, 6:30pm on the 6^th floor of the Mid-Manhattan Library, which is at 455 Fifth Avenue at 40^th Street, New York, New York 10015, 212-340-0837. The lecture is free and there is no need to RSVP but there is limited seating.

Here is the link:

http://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2014/10/15/visiting-argentina-where-glamour-and-chaos-collide-michael-t-luongo

Here is the writeup from the library flyer detailing the lecture, “This photo lecture highlights the sultry capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, and its unique mix of glamour and chaos. A city of beautiful people, it is also at times alarmingly chaotic, from anti-government street protests to crowds celebrating World Cup victories. Often called the Paris of South America, the truth behind the cliché is its European style bookstore and café culture and the city’s Beaux-Arts lined streets full of turn-of-the-last-century architecture when Argentina was at its wealthy peak, burgeoning with money and immigrants. It is a city of mystery, from underground tunnels which transported soldiers, smugglers and slaves, to buildings from between the wars created by panicked architects predicting Buenos Aires would be the last refuge for civilization. Nocturnal Buenos Aires is sensual and sophisticated, from steakhouses and nightclubs, to tango salons. Buenos Aires has birthed a Pope and a Queen, and welcomes millions of visitors every year to see why. The beauty, mystery and sensuality of Buenos Aires, as well as the Pampas, the vast grasslands where gauchos reign; Mendoza, the country’s wine region where beauty queens vie for titles in pageants celebrating agricultural bounty; Gualeguaychu and its skin-embracing Carnival; along with Patagonia, where glaciers and mountains rise majestically and other regions down Argentina way, are highlighted.”

And here is my Bio also from the flyer, “Michael T. Luongo is a New York City based freelance writer, editor and photographer. He has traveled to all seven continents, specializing in Latin America and the Middle East. He was the author of the Frommer’s Buenos Aires guidebooks and co-Author of Frommer’s Argentina, and is the About.com Argentina Travel Expert. His writing on Argentina has appeared in publications as diverse as Bloomberg News, The New York Times, the New York Post, American Way, National Geographic Traveler, The Forward, Gay City News, and many other publications. In 2009 the United States Embassy in Buenos Aires declared his travel writing on Argentina of importance in promoting friendship between Argentina and the United States. He is the North American Travel Journalist Association’s (NATJA) 2010 Grand Prize Winner and 2013 National Lesbian and Gay Journalist Association (NLGJA) Journalist of the Year. He also teaches travel writing at New York University in his workshop The Global Traveler. Website: www.michaelluongo.com.”

Hope to see some of you in New York, and in Argentina too!