For a quick Cliff Notes background on Argentina, I will shamelessly extract information here and there from the wonderful Overseas Adventure Travel guidebook Andrea gave us during our briefing: “Following independence from Spain in 1816, Argentina experienced periods of internal political conflict between conservatives and liberals and between civilian and military factions.”

Sound familiar? What country is not experiencing political conflict between conservatives and liberals?  Like the U.S.A., their country is very divided, and that division played out while we were in Argentina.

Fortunately, none of the numerous strikes and protests had a detrimental affect on our group or travels, but a lot was going on while we were in Argentina.  Javier Milei, the current president, has made a lot of people quite angry since being elected last December– especially those who don’t subscribe to his far-right point of views.  It made for some interesting discussions with Andrea, our trip leader, and her insight and passion added so much to our experience in her country.  As she explained, Argentinians are just as passionate about talking politics as they are soccer! 

More about Argentinian culture will be revealed throughout my blog posts, but if I had to sum up my impressions in just a few words, I would describe it as passionate, eclectic, and European.  Settled by the Spaniards and Italians, their influences permeate all aspects of Argentiniann culture.  There is also a large Jewish community—one of the largest in the world.

Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, is known as the “Paris of South America” or the “Cultural Capital of South America.”  It has a population of approximately three million people, but adding in the populated suburbs brings that total to ten million, ranking it in the top ten most populated cities in the world.

The safest area of this massive city was where our hotel was located, so Bruce and I focused on exploring the Recoleta neighborhood, since our feet were our mode of transportation during our first full day in the city.  One of our 16 group members, Diane, needed to get pesos, so we offered to show her where she could exchange her dollars and asked if she wanted to join us on our walk.  Andrea had given us a map with suggestions on what to see, so we set out on what proved to be the first of many beautiful days to come.  (As cliché as it is to talk about the weather, our group couldn’t help ourselves, because the weather was amazing throughout our three weeks in Argentina and Chile—even in Patagonia!)

Here are some scenes of the Recoleta district:

(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view. Desktop computer monitors are best!)

Before our group set out for dinner, we met with Andrea for our welcome briefing.  We learned that throughout our trip, we would be traveling 5,000 total miles, crossing the Andes at an elevation of 4,000 feet, seeing 7 destinations, 1 capital city, 4 national parks, 1 UNESCO site, and 1 natural wonder.  We also enjoyed our first “discovery” of many—a sampling of one of Argentina’s “adult” beverages, a glass of Argentinian wine.  (We soon learned when Andrea announced a “discovery” that a local liqueur, wine, or food was soon to follow.  I love discoveries!)

Speaking of discoveries, we all discovered that Andrea was not wrong when she said there was great pizza (and gelato!) in Buenos Aires, thanks to the Italians! Pizzeria Guerrin was muy bueno!

Next up:  ARGENTINA & CHILE #3: MORE OF BUSTLING BUENOS AIRES