A sexy country (Argentina)

Member Name: assmonkey

Product:	Argentina
Date:	23/01/02 (291 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: friendly, beautiful, sexy

Disadvantages: democracy

I have visited and in fact lived in Argentina although only for three months. Argentina still has a strong draw for me as I find myself visiting about every three years. The people are as friendly as you will ever find anywhere in the world and the landscape is breath taking at time.

My first experience was back in 1986 just after the little Falklands battle. Everywhere the Argentines were flying banners that read "las malvinas son argentinos" which roughly means the falklands are argentina's. Of course we all know they were quite thouroughly defeated by the advanced high tech navy of Great Brittian. I mean how did they even think they stood a chance with thier propellar plans against harriers and other jets. I believe argentina had about 10 mirage jets but I dont think they had any qualified pilots so the government didnt want to waste those planes. So here were these brave souls in twin prop WWII fighter planes trying to attack the British fleet. The only success they had was with the surface to ship missles they bought from France via Cuba. I love how the french played dumb and said we didnt know where the missles were going and how they were going to be used. And all of this over a few frigid rocks with alot of sheep and very few people. I guess Argentina didnt think the UK really cared about these little colonial throw backs, and the Argentine military government didnt something to boost the horrible economy. What they didnt fiqure on was The iron lady herself just itching to get her approval ratings up even higher at thier expense.

So this was the environment I entered into Argentina under. They were in hyper inflation, they had just been beaten black and blue by the UK and they knew the US had helped with logistics. But despite all of this they were still very friendly to me. Especialy after I acknowledged thier dominance in world futbol.

I began my adventure in Buenas Aires. After nearly 48 hours of travelling I wa
s exhuasted and was a little confused. I had never been outside of the united states before so this was all new to me. Right outside of the international airport were shanty towns everywhere. These were makeshift tin villages. It looked like a scene from Africa not what was the 2nd largest producing nation immediately after WWII. My first thought was "oh my god what have I gotten myself into" but soon the metropolis of BA was on the horizon and I began to feel at ease. A hot shower later and some great steak and I felt great.

BA is a great city with many distinct districts. I went to great resturants and night clubs and with thier economy in the dumps my american dollar made me feel like a king. I was literally buying dinner for 10 people for less than $1. Of course I exchanged my money on the black market which seemed to be operating out of the back of every shop and even in the national sponsered banks. I visited many of the great beaches via a sail boat and was literally amazed at how beautiful the BA coastline was to be such a large urban center.

I later went to visit the northern provinces as my host was from that part of the country. We first went to his father's family's land in Salta which is an arid like province with extremely simple and nice people. They even made fun of how rude the BA people were. I guess it is the same everywhere, country people always make fun of city people and vice versa. One thing I do remember is how funny they thought it was that we americans put meat on our pizza.

From Salta we went to stay with his aunt in Cafeyate, which is an incredible valley in the mountains covered with vinyards most of which his aunt happened to own. SO yes I was staring at the largest nicest hacienda around. Oh and drinking great wine. We took some of his aunts horses and went riding up into the mountains through several indian villages. It was all just beautiful. This being even closer to the equator I fou
nd the people even nicer. I have this theory the closer you live to the equator the nicer you are and the more lazy you are. I mean it gets just too damn hot to be anything else.

From Cafeyate we took a car ride all the way to the wealthy province of TUCUMAN. The ride itself was awesome. We left this arrid desert like valley with cactuses and everyting and went up into the andes snow covered peaks only to drive back down through tropical rain forrest to end up in a lush plain....and all within about 5 hours of driving. I had alot more fun in Tucuman watching futbol matches and rugby matches and drinking lots of local beer. But finally I had to go back to BA to get back to the US.

Back in BA a few riots broke out, a few banks were blown up for show. It was really funny to see how the international media made it seem like a horrible revolution and the locals just laughed and told me it was all for show. Evidently whenever they are tired on a particular president or government they just blow up stuff and stage riots and strikes until he quits which usually lasts about a week or so. Which is what has just happened recently they inform me. Anyway I was delayed a few weeks from my departure as all the pilots, airtraffic controllers, everybody was on strike. The whole country took a two week holiday until the new president took over.

Once back in the states I had to get right to the university as I was already a week late. All of my professors knew where I was and they were worried about my safety. I should have used that worry to my advantage but I really never felt like I was ever in any danger.

Crime there now has increased with the rise of democracy. It really was much safer under military control. So if you go dont carry alot of cash and dont carry any bank cards. And always eyeball people as if you are taking note of them and you should be fine.

if any of you have any questions feel free to ask me. There is so much mo
re that I cant possibly do it all justice without just writing a travel guide.

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