Travel Guide: Argentina

Things to know in general

Argentina is enormously huge and hugely diverse, of the half dozen countries I've spent/lived significant time in, this is the one I consistently enjoy the most. In terms of photography subjects there are the obvious and well documented themes like dance, music, food, southern atlantic coastline, decaying former opulence and the divinely inspired religion of "Futbol". In this write-up I will highlight some other aspects a bit more that tend to be less prominently illustrated in the travel guides.



English is not spoken widely, argentinean spanish comes in its own distinctive regional flavors and dialects, so if you're not reasonably fluent a local friend or contact will be very useful and most likely he/she will be eager to help arrange things or even come along. Argentineans love wine, beef, dancing, music, stimulating conversation and enjoying life. Planning is at best considered an abstract mental exercise, sticking to schedules and simple procedures is NOT part of life's equation. Expect everything to work out fine & be negotiable, but never quick or punctual. Internet cafes are fairly easy to find in larger town and city centers, bring an unlocked tri- or quad-band cellphone and buy a local SIM chip.



Cost of living is high. Burglary & pickpocketing is common in large cities but guns & violent crime are rare. Don't worry too much about walking around with photo gear (except in a few districts of Buenos Aires) but make sure your gear is always safely stored well out of sight when not carried with you. Always lock doors, trunks & windows behind you. If you're bringing cash to change currency there then you'll often get good rates in "Cambio" offices, but take note that those apply for the spotlessly cleanest bills only. If you need any bank services then be prepared for one or several hours of administrative tango and red tape. A recent government dictate imposes strict limits on argentinean nationals' currency exchanges; as a tourist those rules won't apply directly to you but they do entail more paperwork than before (bring your passport when you go use a Cambio or bank) and they mean that you're better off changing at least a few $100s upon arrival in the airport. ATM/Debit card withdrawals work in some local machines but not in others.



Did I mention Argentina is huge?



35mm film is still easy to buy and get developed in most cities, digital cams and accessories are expensive.







Leave driving to the locals - unless you like to try your own hand at some exciting dodging, weaving and very close bumper-sticking action. Cars with automatic transmissions are very rare, driver's body language is animated and creatively expressive. Outside city centers tell your driver to watch the road and keep your own eye on fences, shrubs, trees and signposts along the sides of the roads. Wildlife diversity is high (1000 bird species!) and includes many transequatorial migrants as well as invaders from other continents, but also an abundance of uniquely south american species. Barbed wire fences are common around big cities and in many open areas, further away from big population centers you can still find large unfenced tracts and sweeping landscapes.





Transportation



Long distance transportation consists mainly of well furnished, affordable and almost punctual buses. Medium and larger sized cities have substantial to enormous bus terminals with dozens of companies plying different combinations of all the main routes. Crossing over by bus from the Atlantic to the Andes (or vice versa) takes 48 hours or so at the latitude of Buenos, north to south and back is something you'd want to set aside at least a week or two for.



Airlines fly between the major cities but Buenos is the one and only hub so many routes involve a boomerang trajectory. Be careful not to book "domestic" flights that happen to include landings across international borders (especially with Brazil) unless you have all the necessary visa. Your luggage may well make the trip in its own good time, so pack a change of clothes in your carry-on and don't even think of checking in any photo gear. I'm not aware of checked in suitcases routinely getting rifled for valuables, but don't take your chances anyway.



As noted above - city traffic is nowhere near as enjoyable nor as graceful as a tango, mix in at your own risk. Country driving is fine, expect some colorful requests for donations to police widows & orphans at provincial border crossing checkpoints. Larger cities have car rentals, manual shift is the norm although automatics may actually be available in some places. There are plenty of classic cars (especially french and italian but also a lot of american made) in all stages from complete tip-top working order to totally corroded decomposition so it's paradise for international auto-photophiles.






Taxis are abundant in the cities only, they come in two flavors. Regular taxis have clear signs and bright colors and are abundant in cities; they will usually run the meter on shorter drives but can be convinced to drive you longer hours/distances for a fixed price (may or may not be negotiable). Remises look like regular cars except for special window tags, they have fixed rates and you would normally arrange for them at the hotel front desk etc. If you travel with a lot of luggage then check whether a taxi's trunk space will suffice for your stuff before you jump in, built-in LPG tanks are not uncommon and most car models used as taxis are on the compact to positively small side.

Nearly all taxi drivers are seriously nuts when it comes to traffic rules and laws of physics (apparently there are none of either) though many drivers are nuts in pleasantly helpful ways. "You need to get to the airport quick? OK no problem let's go. Traffic lights - What traffic lights? Oh wait watch how I'm gonna pass these two cars by slipping through right between them. So how's your national soccer team been doing?"







There is quite a bit of information on the web and in travel guides about Buenos Aires, Iguazú, Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and other southern provinces. I have actually spent most of my time in the less well advertised northwest so will focus on that here, hopefully other dyxumers can do justice to the rest of the country.



Focus on Northwest Argentina: Wine, deserts, fossils & condors



The northwestern provinces have a character all their own and often quite unlike Buenos Aires, the cities are even quite different from each other. True desert provinces (eg San Juan and La Rioja) observe siesta so don't expect to find any open shops or food places between approx 1 and 4pm. Dinner starts at 9 or 10pm and lasts till whenever. Many provinces have identically named capital cities, the four provinces I've traveled through are Mendoza, San Juan, La Rioja and Córdoba.



How to get there



From the east: fly or bus from Buenos Aires to Córdoba

From the west: hop over the Andes from Santiago de Chile to Mendoza (as a bonus you get to take shots of Mt Aconcagua)



Major cities



Mendoza is the country's 4th largest city, it is cleaner and greener than the real desert cities as it receives water year round from the Andes. The city plan is spread over a large area but not as dense as Córdoba or Buenos. It is the main center for argentinean wine growing and now also has large soybean production. The city has both poorer and more upscale parts, but not too much high rise. The main photography location I've spent time in is the enormous Parque General San Martin in the western quarter of the city. This has both more densely forested and more open areas and includes elaborate fountains, a large pond, lots of snacks and drinks vendors, large fountains and wrought iron fences. It includes or lies next to several sports fields including the city's 1978 world cup soccer stadium, as well as the provincial university. Very popular with city folks so an excellent place for street & candid shooting, it's also not bad for bird photography especially in the less frequented parts towards the soccer stadium.



The city of San Juan lies about two hours north of Mendoza, the drive between both is an interesting transition from greener countryside and wineries to desert landscapes quite reminescent in vegetation to northern Mexico, southern California and the american southwest on the one hand and the spiny scrubs of drier parts of Africa on the other hand. San Juan used to be a dirt poor province although it also has fairly substantial wineries. It has recently received a major infusion of money from foreign mining operations, resulting in road improvements around the province and new additions within the formerly sleepy city. One of its main new attractants is Triassic dino-tourism, it has a small but very active museum of natural history displaying skeletons and locally (very well) made lifesize reconstructions of early dinosaurs and other extinct dino-like reptiles that ruled before dinos took over.



Haven't visited the city of La Rioja myself yet!







Córdoba is the old capital fom the days of the spanish empire, flanked by a local mountain range of its own and a lot greener than both San Juan or La Rioja. As the 2nd largest city of the country, it is much denser and crowded than Mendoza and also the best place outside Buenos to go look for specialized services or gear if you need to buy those rather than bring them in. The hart of the city is packed with high rise apartment buildings, but it also has the oldest spanish buildings and city center (now an official world heritage site). There's a very lively crafts market in the evenings (Parque las Heras) and a huge city park called Parque Sarmiento which includes in its grounds both the provincial university and a small but interesting zoo with plenty of wild birds chipping in.



A suggested Route



The main roads loop through San Juan and La Rioja, with connections to Mendoza in the southwest and Córdoba towards the east (=more or less the center of Argentina). That means you can go through three or four provinces in about three or four days driving, either starting in Mendoza and looping first north then east to Cordoba, or vice versa - or start in Mendoza and loop back there without Córdoba, or start in the latter and loop back there without seeing Mendoza. Spend more time along the way if you can, you'll see some great landscapes, geology, vegetation, wildlife as well as people.



To avoid confusing you even more, here's a possible route with highlights along the way:



Start in Mendoza and after a day or two drive north to San Juan, explore the city and make arrangements for the next stages. Head out east of San Juan on the (2 lanes only) highway towards Ischigualasto, but stop along the way at the pilgrimage site of La Difunta Correa. This is dedicated to an unfortunate war bride known by the same name from one of the local civil wars in the 19th century. It has become a site of major religious significance in the southern half of the continent, even though it hasn't formally been recognized by the Catholic Church. You'll see small shrines to La Diffunta Correa all along the way but the site of her tomb is literally an over-the-top amassing of people and all kinds of symbolic, scale model or real offerings, left in thanks for gifts from & healings/personal miracles attributed to the spirit of La Correa. You can't lodge right there AFAIK but you can easily spend a few hours if you're into people/ritual/folk art photography.



From LDC take the highway north past the ghost town of Marayes to San Agustin de Valle Fertil, a small but very friendly town that is the best place to spend a night before/after visiting Ischigualasto and also a great place for bird photography in the early morning or around sunset. Most of the local hotels/motels will not be found easily on the web. There's a small water reservoir you can walk around, a new sports stadium with trails leading into the chaco vegetation, or walk out from the town center in almost any direction and you'll pick up plenty of bird life along the streets in hedges, trees etc as you get closer to the surrounding fields and scrub.


Once a year in August on the weekend preceding El Día del Libertador José de San Martín (around Aug 17) the whole district organizes a gaucho parade known locally as El Día de Las Amazonas, in honor of the small number of female riders taking part and providing quite a photo feast of horse(wo)manship:





From SAdVF go north to Ischigualasto aka Valle de le Luna which is one of several valleys in the region comparable in importance to California's Death Valley as far as landscape, geology and natural history are concerned. What is unique about it is that it's one of very few places in the world where a complete chronological series of Triassic rock layers has been preserved, hence its paleontology status as a Mecca for research on the earliest dinosaurs. As you get close keep your eyes out for Nandu crossing the road or dashing into the scrub (especially near the tiny village of Los Baldecitos) as well as Mara and Guanaco nibbling away at whatever bits of green they can find. There's a ranger station, cafeteria and Dino museum at the entrance of Ischigualasto itself. Go talk to the rangers to request a tour through the valley. They will sign you up on a tour list for all the cars that show up in each half or one hour slot. Hang around for a bit while you're waiting for the tour to start, get some empanadas in the cafetaria and/or go check the Dino display and/or go look for some of the foxes prowling around the buildings & parking lots.







Then at the appointed time the ranger will get in one of those cars and everyone else follows in caravan style. The tour takes about 2-3 hours and there are four or five major stops along the way, the last ones include some very unusual rock formations. While the valley is no Bryce or Grand Canyon it is actually quite beautiful on clear days and you'll see quite a palette of shapes and colors. You may also spot Guanaco along the trail and/or condor overhead.







From Ischigualasto go back to Los Baldecitos then cross over into La Rioja. If you have time, go see more spectacular geology in Talampaya or head east towards the small town of Patquia. Spend the night there or go north to check out the city of La Rioja, then head further east to cross over into Córdoba (or alternatively loop south to return to San Juan via another small desert town called Chepes).



On the way to the city of Córdoba you can stop over after the bridge in the edge-of-the-desert town of in Cruz del Eje and walk there along the grassy riverbed, which is a good birding area and picnic spot (keep an eye out for male vermillion flycatchers = flying specks of glowing lava). Depending on your choice of time and road, after Cruz del Eje you have the option to go straight to the big city, or pass first through Villa Carlos Paz which is an important resort town by the side of a lake among the foothills of Sierra Grande and the Pampa de Achala. It's a good place to organize more local tourism (there are plenty of travel agents and hotels). A riverbed runs right through the town and is an even better spot for walks and/or bird photography than the one in Cruz del Eje.



If you are a nature photographer then you are honor bound to go up the road to Pampa de Achala and into the Sierras de Córdoba, to spend one or two days at Quebrada del Condorito, a national park and major birdwatching site at 1500m altitude. It's one of the best places to see various eagle species, petite lower class vultures and majestically oversized andean condors riding the wind. See here for a sampler of shots from my most recent visit. Bird diversity is not so high up on the plateau as lower down along the way there/back, but the birds inside QdlC are relatively to very tame. There is no hotel-style lodging right at the Quebrada and you can easily spend a day hiking or driving in and out, so inquire and plan ahead for transportation etc. There is a hostel-style parador "El Condor" a few miles from the entrance where you can eat and sleep in cabins with only basic amenities. It can get pretty cold at night so I wouldn't really recommend it unless you can bring a good sleeping bag. Another major birding location in Cordóba province is the Mar Chiquita, a large salt lake that's still on my own to do list.

Edited by pdeley - 30 December 2015 at 19:13

Buenos Aires



This is the city I live in. It's a really big and busy city with a population around 3 million people. It has some very nice neighborhoods and also some pretty bad ones.

Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina and has been the main city in the region since the spanish colonization times.
In Buenos Aires you'll find plenty of historical buildings and some very modern ones.





Buenos Aires is the birth place of Tango and there are very good shows. In several places you'll even find tango dancers on the street (like San Telmo, La Boca and Florida St.)





The city is also rich in cultural life. You'll find a lot of theater plays all year long, and you'll probably find some free event in the city.





Some key places to visit are San Telmo, where you'll find an open antiques fair and a lot of street artists; La Boca, home of the Tango and an iconic soccer location where you'll find La Bombonera, the stadium where Boca Juniors plays; Recoleta, a very nice part of town, home to many high society families in the country; Puerto Madero, a new riverside development with plenty of pubs and restaurants and Palermo, the meca of the designers in Argentina.



At current times it's also very likely that you'll find a public demonstration going on, almost everyday. Generally, there's nothing to fear about that, only some traffic disturbance.



All in all, Buenos Aires is a city worth visiting, spending a few days there before venturing into the country, to visit some of the stunning locations to be found in Argentina.

More pictures of Buenos Aires in this album.

Edited by Skoropada - 28 December 2011 at 20:10

A very different part of Argentina further northwest are the otherworldly landscapes of the Alta Puna in the province Catamarca. See landscape sample images here and this thread has wildlife sample shots.

As is true for many other Andean locations, getting up into the Altiplano to see some of the lakes at elevations above 4000m requires more planning than the average sightseeing vacation.

Creeks and drips freeze up every night, making driving up the slopes a risky or even impossible undertaking in all seasons except the summer months (November through February). The drive itself requires 4x4 vehicles with high clearance and takes two hours or more each way. Up on top the oxygen concentrations are low enough that it is quite common for a third or more of all the travelers in a team to get hit by mountain sickness, known locally as Puñamiento. A good stopover and staging ground for such a trip is the small town of Fiambalá, at "only" 1500m elevation, which has several basic but decent hotels.