Just got back from Argentina...ask me anything...

[Superfly]

But, before you do, here are a few tidbits:

1) Argentina is AMAZING. The country is beautiful. The people are beautiful. The wine is tremendous. The food is...well, meaty.

2) Very lax vehicle emission laws. Most of the vehicles over there are belching black smoke all the time. Besides heavy emissions from vehicles, the country is heavily littered with trash, particularly along highways and roads.

2) The poverty level is in-your-face. From beggars who approach you when you sit to dine outside to the armies of kids equipped with squeegies and buckets, ready to clean your windscreen.

3) The Andes are HUGE! Even the foothils make the Rockies seem puny.

4) Argentine drivers have to be the absolute most absent-minded drivers in the world. I never thought I would see a person driving a beater truck (with up to 10 people in the bed), fixing a cup of mate (tea), and talking on a cell phone....

All in all, I really truly love Argentina. Oh yeah, they can really dance, too...

B

[bigwillq]

1. Any hot Argentian guys? n/t

[Kamika]

2. Did you get worms in your brain?

hmm?

[Superfly]

3. Not that I am aware....

I'll let you know in 6 months.

[kalian]

4. Cool. Argentina is an awesome country.

I lived in Uruguay for over 10 years. Visited Argentina on numerous
occasions. Bs. As., Mendoza, Cordoba, Bariloche and even travelled
way down south to the Tierra del Fuego...awesome place.
Unfortunately, Argentina and the other countries of the "southern
cone" (El Cono Sur) are products of the massive fraud that the
"World Bank" and the IMF... Argentina should be a very powerful
economic country...but the US can't have that south of its borders.
Same thing can be said about Brasil.

Welcome back!

[Vogon_Glory]

5. Thanks For Your Travelogue

Seriously, thanks for your travelogue. I'm saddened that Argentina, which once seemed on the cusp of transitioning from the Third to the First World, is sliding back into the poverty of many other South American countries. Yet another reason I vehemently oppose Republican spending patterns that so resemble those of Juan Peron.

Did you see if the Argentines are doing anything about renewable energy? The Argentines have the potential of using at least as much solar and wind energy as we Yanquis. When I visited Buenos Aires and Patagonia back in 2000, I saw nothing in the way of so much as a solar water heater, and nary a windmill in that part of the world whose seas are called the Roaring Forties for their powerful winds. All that potential going to waste...

[Superfly]

10. To answer your question...yes...

We visited the Estancia Rama in La Carolina, near San Luis. Here is a ranch that is being subsidized by the government and by companies that must abide by the Kyoto Protocol. Check out their website...(just google "estancia rama" half the business is making jams and the other half is planting a green belt in the Sierras de San Luis)

It was really refreshing to see a ranch with their philosophy.

[Cleita]

6. Well, I used to live on the other side of the Andes and yes

they are HUGE. Argentina is a microcosm of what we could become if we don't send the crooks from both parties packing and out of our government.

[Cleita]

7. As an afterthought, the free market unregulated economy

that the conservatives want here is what brought Argentina down.

[HEyHEY]

8. Oh my dream!

I want to live there for a while..but I've never been. What is the climate like?

[kalian]

9. Depends on what region of Argentina you live in

The weather as a whole is temperate. Given the high humidity levels, especially near the coast, you can expect very cold winters although snow is very rare.
Summers are awesome. You're looking at 32c to 38C in January.
Winters can get quite cold, 0-5C but usually nearer 10C. The further
down south you go the colder it gets and much more unsettled weather.
Obviously, living in the mountainous regions you can expect
mountainous weather. ;)

[Superfly]

11. It was perfect...

95 degrees F and very dry. You really have to watch your water intake as you can become seriously dehydrated with all the Quilmes (beer) and vino....