Cristina Kirchner

"SHE romped to an easy victory in last year's presidential election by promising to maintain Argentina's impressive economic performance while easing its social tensions and rebuilding its foreign relations. Yet just five months after Cristina Fernández succeeded her husband, Néstor Kirchner, in the Casa Rosada, Argentina is worse off on all three counts. Already, her government looks in disarray. It has provoked a tax revolt by farmers. On April 24th, it lost its most important new face when Martín Lousteau resigned as economy minister over a policy disagreement. The price of Argentina's bonds has plunged as investors show little confidence in the government.

With the economy having grown at over 8% a year since 2003, when it began a vigorous recovery from an earlier financial collapse, Mr Kirchner basked in popularity. He was helped by record prices for Argentina's farm exports but pumped up the economy further, with dollops of public spending and an undervalued currency. He brushed off worries about inflation, strong-arming businesses into freezing prices and ordering an underling to doctor the consumer-price index.

During her campaign, Ms Fernández led some analysts to believe that she would be more moderate than her combative husband. But any such hopes have been quickly dashed. She has kept most of his ministers, his policies and his rhetoric. According to unofficial calculations, inflation has reached 25% (officially, it is 9%)." - The Economist

Oh, Cristina, what have you gotten yourself into? Everyone said you would be like Evita. But as former presidential hopeful Elisa Carrió put it: "Eva Perón fue una reina de verdad, y no una reina del botox."

In other news:
Jenny has bailed on the Machu Picchu trip, leaving me to figure it out on my own. Blondie here doesn't feel safe bussing through Peru or Bolivia solo (not so much worried about falling off a cliff; more concerned about getting robbed,) so I'm looking into direct flights into Cusco, and boy are they pricey! I'll let you know how things work out. Wish me luck. Suerte.