Get a few people free-associating on the word ‘Argentina, ’ and it’s quickly apparent why the country has long held travelers in awe: tango, Patagonia, beef, soccer, Tierra del Fuego, passion, the Andes. The classics alone make a formidable wanderlust cocktail.
Just wait till you get here. Arriving in Buenos Aires is like jumping aboard a moving train. Outside the taxi window, a blurred mosaic of drab apartment blocks and haphazard architecture whizzes by as you shoot along the freeway toward the center of the city. The driver – probably driving way too fast while chain-smoking and talking incessantly about government corruption – finally merges off the freeway. Then the people appear, the cafés, the purple jacaranda flowers draped over the sidewalks, porteños (residents of Buenos Aires) in stylish clothing walking purposefully past the newspaper stands and candy kiosks and handsome early-20th-century stone facades.
Despite the enormity of the capital city – which is home to a whopping 30% of the country’s population – visitors seem to find its groove with surprising ease. The real shocker, after experiencing the art, music, cafés, shopping and all-night revelry of Buenos Aires, comes when you leave it. Aside from a handful of cities such as Rosario, Córdoba, Mendoza and La Plata, Argentina is pretty darn empty. Population centers are small, and even provincial capitals can have the feel of a friendly town. While these places can be worthy destinations in themselves, their real purpose is usually to springboard people into Argentina’s greatest attraction: the natural world.
From the mighty Iguazú Falls in the subtropical north, to the thunderous, crackling advance of the Perito Moreno Glacier in the south, Argentina is a vast natural wonderland. The country beholds some of the Andes’ highest peaks, several of which top 6000m near Mendoza and San Juan. It’s home to wetlands that rival Brazil’s famous Pantanal, massive ice fields in Patagonia, a vast, sweltering, thorn-riddled wilderness known as the Impenetrable, cool lichen-clad Valdivian forests, glacial lakes, deserts, Andean salt flats, a spectacular Lake District, penguins, flamingos, caimans, capybaras and more.
But Argentina’s cosmopolitan and natural marvels are only part of the equation. Visitors will also experience a country at a crossroads – an Argentina emerging from its worst economic crisis ever with a renewed, forward-looking sense of self. Cristina Kirchner, the country’s first elected female president, took office in 2007, following in the footsteps of her husband, Nestor Kirchner, who enjoyed higher approval ratings than any other president in recent years. There’s a palpable optimism in the air. Yet there’s also a real sense of urgency, one that’s fueled by skepticism, by daily reminders of government corruption and by signs that economic recovery has been far from universal.
No one wants to make a wrong turn.
Travelers who dig beneath the tourist-office version of Argentina will find a cultural climate electrified by discussion, argument and creative fervor. Argentina is in the throes of reinvention, and many people have a lot at stake. More than ever, Argentines have a lot to argue about. Spend any amount of time here, and you’ll find yourself wrapped up in the discussion too, hopefully with a couple of locals. Argentines are, after all, some of the most amicable, seductive, engaging folks on the planet.
Last updated: Sep 23, 2008
