Impressions of Argentina
With visits in 2009, 2012 and 2014, I have covered a good deal of Argentina. To the extent this is possible, of course, because the country is enormous, in Latin America second only to neighbouring Brazil. No surprise then that Argentina is so diverse: from the stylish capital of Buenos Aires, where Astor Piazzolla lifted tango to another level of culture and where the Ateneo Library set quite a new standard for book selling, to the rural simplicity of dusty pueblos in the arid land where Argentina, Bolivia and Chile share the Andean ranges; from the tropical setting of the world's greatest waterfalls at Iguazú to the South Atlantic marine life around Valdés and to Patagonia’s majestic glaciers of millennium old ice, which feed lakes of turquoise, milky waters.
And all over the country, the legendary parrillas, where giant chunks of asado, grilled beef, go over the counter at a near to surreal pace. Apart from all those locations, unequalled in beauty, it is above all my all too regular dish of asado and the spontaneous hospitality of Ernesto, whose family owns the Santa Catalina mission, near Córdoba, since many generations, that come back to my mind when my ear catches the entrancing accordion sound of Piazzolla's Libertango.
Please be welcome to scroll through the images, for the good order split over seven (7) headings:
1. Buenos Aires, the elegant Argentinian capital, sparkling city of Piazzolla, Evita, Maradona, stylish porteños, Boca Juniors and other legends,
2. Río de la Plata, the river that by its sheer width looks more like a sea, with interesting provincial cities on its shores,
3. Península de Valdés, where we settled for exciting encounters with the South Atlantic marine life of penguins, seals and sea lions, while we were patiently and hopefully on the look-out to witness the beaching of a couple of seal hunting orcas ... Too bad the orcas stubbornly chose to remain elusive, but we had all the rest,
4. Salta and its surroundings of Andean pueblos hidden in the semi-desert land near the borders with Bolivia and Chile,
5. Iguazú, by all conceivable standards the greatest waterfalls of the globe, shared by Argentina and Brazil,
6. Córdoba, and the surrounding areas known for their exquisite Malbec wine and their kind of a rebellious son called Guevara,
7. Patagonia, the land of majestic glaciers, icy lakes and barren plateaus, where life is easy only for penguins.
Before visiting the place of your choice:
The North side of the 5 kilometres long Perito Moreno Glacier can be reached by boat. The particularity of the 60 metres high wall of the Perito Moreno is that the glacier does not at all retreat. The glacier advances between June and December and obviously also recedes between December and April. Overall, though, while most other glaciers worldwide are retreating, the Perito Moreno is actually growing and regularly increasing pressure on Lake Argentino.
