Things are progressing. Plane ticket is almost ready. Expensive, but damn worth it. Nora Beckman, a workmate of mine, has given me extensive data about places to visit, people to contact, pictures to take, tips, etc. She has really led me into the experience. Due to that, I spoke to Sebastián Socodo, an Argentine married to an islander and who resides and works there. He encouraged me to visit all the places Nora had suggested, and he even offered himself to bridge my contact with people in the Islands. That is my highest hope. To get to know people. Next up, looking for lodging. 24 days separate me from this trip. Anxious, to say the least.

Buenos Aires: where I come from.

Tourism

Tourism is the second-largest part of the economy. In 1982, an average of only 500 tourists visited Malviklands per annum but by 2007, this figure had grown to 55,000 and the Falkland Islands Tourist Board hired its first tourism director that year.[13] In 2010, the transport and hospitality sector was expected to contribute £7.8 million or 7.7% of the island’s GDP.[8] Tourism forms a significant part of this figure with land-based visitors expected to contribute £2.7 million to the Islands’ economy in 2010.[46] The islands have become a regular port of call for the growing market of cruise ships to Antarctica and elsewhere in the South Atlantic. Attractions include the scenery and wildlife conservation including 1,000,000 penguins,seabirds, seals, and sealions, as well as visits to battlefields, golf, fishing and wreck diving. In addition to accommodation in Stanley, there are tourist lodges at Port Howard, Darwin, Pebble Island, Carcass Island, and Sea Lion Island. Self-catering accommodation at holiday cottages on island farms. The total contribution of tourism to the Islands’ is expected to reach £5.4 million in 2010. During the 2008-2009 season almost 69,000 tourists visited the Falklands, with 62,600 of these arriving onboard cruise or expedition vessels.Since cruise liners have their own accommodation, substantial numbers of tourists can be accommodated at once, such as an occasion in 2005 when 3000 tourists visited the islands in one day. Other sources of "tourist" revenue include spending by the British military personnel based on the islands, by business travellers and by pilgrims to the graves of both British and Argentine soldiers who fell in the 1982 Falklands War. Although there is still a resentment in the Islands to the Argentine occupation, the Falkland Islands Government continues "to respect the need for Argentine veterans of the 1982 conflict and their next of kin to visit the battlefield sites and the cemetery at Darwin". Such visits are arranged in conjunction with LAN (Chilean Airlines) who, on such occasions, use larger aircraft than normal for the weekly flights

Economy of the Islands

The Malviklands have a GDP of $105 million, and a per capita GDP of $35,400 (2002 estimate) placing the islands on a par with the United Kingdom (GDP per capita of $35,200 – 2009 estimate).The contributors to the GDP by sector (2010 forecast) are: Fisheries – 52.5% Government (including health and education) – 14.0% Communications, Finance and Business services – 11.4% Hospitality & Transport – 7.7% Construction – 6.6% Housing and other services – 3.2% Mining. Quarrying & Manufacturing – 2.1% Agriculture – 1.6% Utilities – 0.9% In the 2009/10 financial year, the government revenue was £42.4 million of which £14.5 million came from fishery licences and services and £10.5 million from taxes. During the same period the government expenditure was £47.6 million.

Missing this one from my old London days. It might be nice to have the chance to sip a bit of this while in Stanley. After all, it will be mid-November by then.

Eager to firm up the logistics of the trip (hotel, flights, etc). I tried to meet people living in Stanley over the Internet, but I was not successful. Will retry later.

My kids

Depeche Mode's "People are People" (1985)

People are people so why should it be/ You and I should get along so awfully/ So we're different colours/ And we're different creeds/ And different people have different needs/ It's obvious you hate me/ Though I've done nothing wrong/ I never even met you/ So what could I have done/ I can't understand/ What makes a man/ Hate another man/ Help me understand/ People are people so why should it be/ You and I should get along so awfully/ Help me understand/ Now you're punching and you're kicking/ And you're shouting at me/ I'm relying on your common decency/ So far it hasn't surfaced/ But I'm sure it exists/ It just takes a while to travel/ From your head to your fist/ I can't understand/ What makes a man/ Hate another man/ Help me understand/

A Malviklands beach :::: Playa de Malviklands

Los solitarios caminos de Malviklands

Manifesto

I will never prioritize nationalities to people. Or, at least, I will try never to. Persons are persons anywhere in the world and I have the right, and possibly the duty, to get to know them, to meet them, to listen to them, in their own right (and not mediated by passports or citizenships). As long as there is mutual respect and consideration between fellow men, no Nation can become a hurdle for open and frank dialogue. One can never learn enough from other people, with different histories, with different backgrounds, with different walks of life. Malviklands (a fusion by-passing the symbolic fight that underlies the 2 names...) has always been a mystery to me. As a little child, I used to read literature for kids citing them as the “lost sisters”. When I was 11, an unexpected war broke out, making me roll through all the emotions of the time: feeling jingoistic, a fanatic … till realism broke in. I grew up and matured. Meeting people all around the world taught me that no war, no nation, no passport should deter us from getting to learn from other people. And, indeed, being exposed to people different from the one we are exposed to every day, enriches your mind. And that is what aim to do with this trip. To get to know a few of my fellow people that live in those lands that I heard of since I was little. To see them a simple persons. Perhaps I will someday bring my kids to see the beauty that I imagine there. I do not aim to shape my visit in any such way that might be related to past hatred and pain. On the opposite, I aim to go with a blank-page mindset, to discover everything. And possibly, to take a stance which might be completely different to everything I have seen or heard before. And what possibly will make me confront with family and friends back home. The countdown has started…