[familyop]

"Fascinating. It seems to be almost too late to get started if you aren’t prepared for what’s coming."

If you don't already have a place in a remote area, try to get a cheap lot with enough space for a house, to grow a large garden (or greenhouses) and raise a few animals. There are 35-acre lots for $19,000 in the West that didn't sell all last winter, but they are way off of the power grid and away from phone lines.

Having an attentive conversation with one of the government or business people of countries with squalor to the south of us can be an eye-opener. Ask them about the peasants, and watch their facial expression (or lack of) closely.

[chpmass]

I’ve been to Argentina twice now. My wife and I visited Mendoza and the wine country last year. The wineries were absolutely gorgeous with the Andes as a backdrop (and Argentinean Malbec is fantastic as well).

Buenos Aires is a phenomenal city with great museums and shopping at third world prices. Parts of Palermo and Recoleta remind me of areas of Paris or New York at half the price. And the steaks are incredible.

Argentina is one of my favorite places I’ve visited in the world. I’ve made some friends with Argentineans over the years, and I really feel sorry for what their leadership has given them. Their country has so much promise but keeps screwing it up (it seems to me to be light years ahead of Brazil and Mexico in infrastructure, etcetera). It’s the only country I’ve been to, for example, in Latin America where it’s totally safe to drink the tap water.