Destination : ARGENTINA

Argentina forms the eastern half of South America's long, tapering tail. It's a big country - the eighth-largest in the world (with 0,6% of the world's population).The population is estimated at approximately 37.000.000 people. Argentina is the second largest country in South America in terms of land area (approx.1,000,000 sq. miles). The country is bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, Chile to the west, and Brazil, Uruguay, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. It also shares the offshore island territory of Tierra del Fuego with Chile, and continues to dispute the ownership of the Islas Malvinas (the Falklands to the Brits), which Great Britain invaded in the last century.
There are 5 distinct sections to Argentina, the coast and beaches in the east, the snow-capped Andes mountains to the west, humid jungles up north, Patagonia down south, and the Pampas (fertile plains), in the center of the country. Argentina's 33 million inhabitants are of Spanish, German, Italian, and English decent. 

In 1776 Spain created the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata, spurring a population and wealth explosion in Buenos Aires. May 25, 1810, celebrated as Revolution Day, is the date a rebel government replaced Spanish administration. It took six more years to oust Spanish troops. Following independence from Spain in 1816, Argentina experienced periods of internal political conflict between conservatives and liberals and between civilian and military factions. After World War II, a long period of Peronist dictatorship  took place. Italy led Juan Peron to favor a state-run economy and worker rights. His power base developed within the laboring class. The Peronista party still rules. Inflation is currently under control but dictators continue to alter the constitution to suit their personal ambitions. The Peronist era was followed by a military junta that took power in 1976. Democracy returned in 1983, and four free elections since then have underscored Argentina's progress in democratic consolidation.

The city of Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina and contains almost a third of the country's people. This capital of 10 million inhabitants is one of the worlds cosmopolitan cities and the center of culture and commerce in the southern cone of America. The city reflects French, Italian and Spanish architecture styles at the turn of the century. Old mansions can be seen next to high rise buildings. Of particular interest are the famous Colon opera house, the Congress palace, the government house, "Casa Rosada"; the "Cabildo" a municipal government house during the colonial period, the Obelisk a symbol of Buenos Aires, as well as the luxurious neoclassic and French Renaissance style of the "Palacio San Martin" and Museo de Arte Decorativo. Other attractions include "San Telmo's" flea market, "La Boca" a brightly painted neighborhood, "La Recoleta" a fashionable area of the city and more than one hundred and fifty art galleries and museums There are in Buenos Aires numerous hotels, restaurants with a wide choice of cuisine, parks, golf courses and soccer stadiums in the heart of the city. Florida pedestrian street, shopping centers, cinemas and cafe-bar are bustling day and night. Buenos Aires is the city were the Tango was born and raised and today shares the excitement of the city night. From Buenos Aires one day trips are possible to the "Tigre" at the Delta of Parana River, a watersport and fishing center.

One of the major attractions in Argentina are the Iguazu Falls. Situated in the Parque Nacional Iguazú near Puerto Iguazú, and bordering both Brazil and Paraguay) these spectacular falls lie just east of the confluence of the Iguazu and Paraná rivers. At least 5000 cubic m of water per second plunge the 70m into the abyss below

The country can be divided into four major physiographic provinces : the Andes to the north and west: arid basins, grape-filled foothills, fruits, mint; humid and arid highlands; skiing, glaciers, flyfishing, thermals, near-7000m peaks (Aconcagua), hiking and climbing, trainride into the clouds, Indio festivals, active volcanos, salt lakes and mountain deserts, settlements from colonial and pre-colonial times, mountain roads up to 10,000 ft, sandstone canyons the fertile Lowland North : subtropical rainforests, the most visited natural wonder of South America: the Iguazú Falls, hiking, horseback riding, biking, fishing, birdwatching; swamps and lagoons, alligators, monkeys, boas, toucans, butterflies, Jesuit ruins the central Pampas and Sierras : luxurious estancias (ranches) of the cattle barons, Polo country, solitary atlantic beaches, mountain villages in the Cordoba mountains, a flat mix of humid and dry expanses the size of Poland, the corn belt of South America; further south, Argentinians go to their vacation fortresses: Mar del Plata, Pinamar and Villa Gesell during the 3 month summer vacation (december to march) Patagonia, a combination of pastoral steppes and glacial regions twice the size of Germany with population less than Hamburg; summer and winter tourism, sheepfarming (Benetton gets 10% of its wool from here), summer resort breezes in "Argentina's little Switzerland" (the Lake Region); mating humpback whales; world-class flyfishing, ski and snowboard, trekking, hiking, rafting, hunting, biking, sailing, windsurfing, skysurfing, paragliding, deltagliding, golfing, climbing and just plain doing nothing.

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