On the Argentine side of the Patagonian Andes is lake country. Surrounded by dense temperate forest, each lake’s cool, pristine waters flow - depending on geographical specifics - either to Pacific or Atlantic basins. The picturesque San Carlos de Bariloche is on the shores of Nahuel Huapi, the largest of the lakes in the region.
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Further east, the landscape of the Patagonian steppe has an epic and gothic beauty, an ominous and eerie quality just beneath the surface. I can feel it in the stillness and silence, between my horse’s semi regular snorting and the sound of my own breathing, both of us billowing a fog of condensation from our lungs in the morning chill, and in the metallic clinking of bit, buckles and stirrups.
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This is gaucho country. A vast land of isolated ranches and the occasional lone-standing, whitewashed Spanish-colonial chapel, where a cowboy can recant his many sins.
One of the ranch dogs proudly shows me a sheep’s skull, still red with the remnants of flesh, which he carries around with him like a toy, until he sits and licks at it lovingly under a bush.
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If I was a location scout this place would be high on my list. I would find a movie that could do it justice.
Iguazú in the far north of the country is notable only as a gateway to the Falls of the same name.
On the Argentine side you walk through the waterways on raised man made structures and the water tends to be moving away from you. (On the Brazilian side the water tends to flow toward you). Iguazú Falls are truly magnificent. I was lucky to see them in full flow after overnight rain. I can only imagine the emotional impact on the first humans to emerge from the jungle and stumble upon this wonder.
There is high end accommodation in the national park here. And junk food outlets to avoid.
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Buenos Aires, on the coast, is altogether a different cup of tea. Built on the shores of the Rio del Plata where it widens into a broad estuary, it is a large multicultural mixing pot with French neoclassical and other European influenced architecture.
Buenos Aires grew rich on trade and attracted many migrants as Argentina became a major supplier of soy, corn and wheat to the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Despite its more recent economic doldrums, it remains a cultural powerhouse in theatre, cinema, literature, art museums, music and fashion. It would take several weeks to explore its institutions properly.
You can’t get much more ‘buenosaireian’ than tango. El Querendi in Montserrat has been putting on a tango show with a live band and dinner since 1929. If you are in Buenos Aires it is essential that you go, no ifs or buts.
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Watching the hypnotic sensuous dance it occurred to me ‘strange, I’ve heard that tune before …’ - a little research and, yes, Grace Jones borrowed this; it is Astor Piazzolla’s composition Libertango.
As with Chile and Torres del Paine National Park, if I had my time in Argentina again I would incorporate a visit to Tiera del Fuego. Then again, both of those could be incorporated into a visit to Antartica …now that sounds like a plan!