Argentina A Diversity of Landscapes

Argentina is about 7,000 miles wine country. Add to that the soul-stirring Parque Nacional Iguazú in from the Lake of the Ozarks, give or take a few hundred miles. To most of us, it’s an enigma; it’s a country we learned about in junior high geography, but hear little about on the news. Certainly, it’s rarely on a list of vacation destinations.

Yet, it’s a burgeoning country in South America. Argentina is one of the G-20 major economies with the world’s 30th largest nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the 23rd largest when purchasing power is taken into account. The country is classified as upper-middle income or a secondary emerging market by the World Bank. Travelers in the know are well aware of Argentina’s intrigue with tango, Patagonia, beef, soccer, Tierra del Fuego, passion and the Mendoza the country’s subtropical north, to the thunderous, crackling advance of the Perito Moreno Glacier in the south and Argentina has a host of natural attractions. Argentina is the second largest country in South America, and is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico, Colombia and Spain are more populous. The country has some of the Andes Mountains highest peaks. It’s home to wetlands that rival Brazil’s famous Pantanal, massive ice fields in Patagonia, a vast 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.

Argentina’s wide variety of ecosystems is reflected on the great number of activities available. Each location offers a range of opportunities for visitors. Trekking, mountain-biking, mountaineering, white-water rafting, canoeing, hydro-speeding, rides in 4WD vehicles, hang gliding, paragliding, cart-sailing, and windsurfing, are some of the most popular recreational and sport activities.

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. 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.

When to Go? Argentina’s seasons are reversed from the northern hemisphere’s since it is below the equator. The best time to visit Buenos Aires is in the spring (September through November) when the jacarandas are in bloom and temperatures are cool, and in the fall (March through May). Summer (December through February) in the capital is hot and humid. Mendoza, Córdoba and the Lake District are all spectacular in fall; the leaves are on display, temperatures are comfortable and the crowds are thin.

Summer is the best time to hit Patagonia, when the weather’s milder and more services are available. In other seasons, public trans- port becomes trickier as services thin out. Northern Argentina can be brutally hot in summer and is best visited in spring. Winter (June through August) and fall in this region are also pleasant. The most expensive times to travel are the Argentine vacation months of January, February and July.

First explored in 1516 by Juan Diaz de Solis, Argentina developed slowly under Spanish colonial rule. Buenos Aires was settled in 1580; the cattle industry was thriving as early as 1600. Invading British forces were expelled in 1806–1807, and after Napoleon conquered Spain (1808), the Argentinians set up their own government in 1810. On July 9, 1816, independence was formally declared.

As it had in World War I, Argentina proclaimed neutrality at the outbreak of World War II, but in the closing phase declared war on the Axis powers on March 27, 1945. Juan D. Peron, an army colonel, emerged as the strongman of the postwar era, winning the presidential elections of 1946 and 1951. Peron’s political strength was reinforced by his second wife — Eva Duarte de Peron (Evita) — and her popularity with the working classes. Although she never held a government post, Evita acted as de facto minister of health and labor, establishing a national charitable organization, and awarding generous wage increases to the unions, who responded with political support for Peron. Opposition to Peron’s increasing authoritarianism led to a coup by the armed forces, which sent Peron into exile in 1955, three years after Evita’s death. Argentina entered a long period of military dictatorships with brief intervals of constitutional government. The former dictator returned to power in 1973 and his third wife, Isabel Martinez de Peron, was elected vice president. After her husband’s death in 1974, Peron became the hemisphere’s first woman chief of state, assuming control of a nation teetering on economic and political collapse. In 1975, terrorist acts by left- and right-wing groups killed some 700 people. The cost of living rose 355%, and strikes and demonstrations were constant. On March 24, 1976, a mili- tary junta led by army commander Lt. Gen. Jorge Rafael Videla seized power and imposed martial law.
Source: www.infoplease.com

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