In all honesty, I wasn’t really looking forward to my Ride The Ducks special press tour yesterday. I thought it was going to be another dumb, touristy ride and really thought I knew most everything about San Francisco. WRONG…and on so many levels.It turned out to be the most fun I’ve had on dry land in some time, and the wet part wasn’t too shabby either.

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Sergio Batista, who coached Argentine soccer to Olympic Gold at this year’s Beijing Olympics, is temporarily taking over the squad for their upcoming friendly match against Scotland in November.Ever since Argentina’s head coach, Alfio Basile, announced that he was leaving the job for “personal reasons” the search has been on for a replacement.According to Sporting Life, Batista is only temporary and the Argentine Football Association (AFA) will announce Basile’s successor on Monday.Currently, Carlos Bianchi, winner of various national and continental titles with the Argentine teams Boca Juniors and Velez Sarsfield is the front runner.No one thinks that Maradona will get the job, even though he has offered, because there are many candidates with more experience coaching.

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Crédit Suisse has evaluated the net worth of Aerolineas Argentinas and partner airline Austral and come up with a sum, 350 million dollars, that Argentina is arguing is massively inflated. According to MercoPress, Secretary Ricardo Jaime says that the airlines’ actual value is a negative net worth of 600 million dollars because the airline has been consistently losing money for a long time now.As the Argentine government, which has agreed to buy their ailing flagship airline, sits down with the Spanish company Marsans to discuss the status of their takeover, the price may be a sensitive topic.Marsans, with such a high estimate from Crédit Suisse, may wish to make a demand against Argentina for re-nationalizing the airline, even though the government has, in some people’s eyes, saved Marsans from owning a failing airline.

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David Nalbandian, one of Argentina’s best tennis players, says that he is prepared to miss the Masters Cup at the end of the year in Shanghai to come play for Argentina in the Davis Cup.According to AFP, Nalbandian is the number seven player in the world and playing strong—he has every reason to expect that he could qualify for the Masters Cup.However, he says that he is not even thinking about qualifying for Shanghai and instead wants to focus on helping Argentina win its first ever Davis Cup.Now that the stadium in Cordoba has been approved for the tournament, Nalbandian knows that he will have a chance to play in his home town, in front of friends and family, for his country. It is a chance he is not even thinking about missing.

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The long protest between the 1.2 billion dollar pulp mill belonging to Finland’s Botnia and the people in Argentina who live across the river from it may be drawing to a conclusion.The mill is in Uruguay on the Paraná River and the Argentines who live across from it have argued that it is polluting their river and their lives.According to MercoPress, Foreign Affairs minister Gonzalo Fernandez of Uruguay said that he had had a meeting with President Cristina Kirchner in which she said that they would begin taking action to remove the picketers and road bocks.However, it is not clear if the Argentine environmental groups in the region agree with Kirchner’s statement.As it is, this issue continues to be a wedge between Uruguay and Argentina.

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There was no love lost between the Barcelona soccer club and the Argentina Olympic team over the past month, as each side fought to have super-star Lionel Messi on its team.Now, the Olympics are over and Messi has returned to Barcelona with a gold medal around his neck.According to Goal, the Barcelona team is not actually in Spain right now, but has traveled to Poland to face Wisla Krakow in the second part of the Champions League Qualifier.It was these very qualifying games that Barcelona was so reluctant to have Messi miss.Still, instead of rushing him out to play, they are giving him some time to train and recover from the Olympics before the La Liga begins.

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In an Olympic match watched by thousands of Argentines over their breakfasts, Argentina defeated Serbia in soccer 2-0.Their two goals came from a penalty kick by Lavezzi and a shot by Buonanotte off of a free throw. According to the Clarín,Argentina seemed in control most of the game, allowing them to give some of their players on the bench a chance to get in the game.Their victory makes them the winners of Group A, ahead of the Ivory Coast and Australia.Their next opponent will be Holland and, as the tournament is now instant elimination, they must win to continue in search of the gold medal.

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The Argentine population now counts among its members nearly one million people over the age of 80, a testament to advances in science and technology available to Argentines in their public and private medical systems.According to the Clarín,improved health and longevity is also attributed to the fact that this generation smoked less than previous generations, received better nutrition, played more sports, and had more members in the middle class.The increase in the elderly in Argentina reflects a global trend; there are currently over 800 million elderly people living on the planet.Today, Argentine women can expect to live 88 years and men can expect to live from 86.

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In a new global happiness survey, Argentines have moved from the 36th to the 32nd happiest country on the planet.According to The Argentine Post, this rise can perhaps be attributed to the improving economy, more gender equality, social tolerance, and increased personal opportunities.Argentina is not alone in getting happier, though.Apparently happiness levels are rising all over the world; in the last 17 years happiness levels increased in 40 countries and declined in 12.This rise in happiness is unusual, as basic happiness levels are usually constant. The United States ranked 16th on the survey, and Denmark reigned as happy number one.

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