For completeness, I thought it important to jot down some reflections on Argentina even though we left her behind a couple of weeks ago. It was, after all, one of the highlight countries of the trip and an incredibly fun place to travel around. It is a country with so much to offer. It is geologically diverse, in equal parts wild deserts, ice-capped mountains and fertile plains, not to mention the rainforests and wetlands of the north that I only touched on when visiting Iguazú Falls. The hiking in Patagonia is unparalleled, the wine tasting in Mendoza world class, horseriding through the Andes is magical, and places like Salta are simply made for road-tripping. They have tangos and gauchos, malbecs and great steaks. And then, of course, you have Buenos Aires, which is hands-down the pick of the cities that I have visited on this continent. As a tourist, Argentina felt like a series of adventures where natural wonders were matched with a unique culture of nostalgia leaning fun-loving, like the tango of a downtown cafeteria come dance hall, an Andino folk performance over dinner, or the retro music of even the hippest warehouse bar. It's an easy place to enjoy.
But for all its natural wealth, proud traditions and cosmopolitan aspirations, it is also a frustrating place. I had a palpable sense of promise unfulfilled - a country that is glamorous and buzzing, bountiful and decadent, but that somehow exists in a different age, as though at some point the world just turned away. What was, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the seventh wealthiest country in the world is struggling to find its way out of more than a century of political turmoil and economic mismanagement. The locals have become used to three-digit annual inflation where the price of goods changes from day to day. It's why we didn't see many printed menus or advertised prices - they change too frequently. But as a tourist you won't know when the prices are going up and won't be prepared - like one day when the supermarkets were full of bottled water and the very next there was not a drop to be found anywhere and new price tags were being put in place. Everyone else seemed to know to stock up before the price rise! Perhaps because of this economic chaos, it is not a cheap place to visit - prices in Buenos Aires are comparable to those in Sydney, though you can still save some pesos outside the cities. I'm not sure that the Argentine people have a clear view to a solution to all of this mess either. In an effort to raise money and alleviate the nation's debt, their new, extreme right president has sacked pretty much all public servants, privatised the nation's rivers (sold off as shipping routes), introduced fees for accessing national parks, and has started charging foreigners to access hospitals or go to university here (previously free!). Some of these measures don't seem unreasonable to me for a nation in need of income, but they have received fierce opposition from the locals and it was fascinating hearing from people like our estancia host family what they made of it all. Sure, something must be done, but surely not at the cost of the rights and privileges that people have had access to for decades. It is an attitude that just doesn't seem sustainable to me.
Still, none of this inner turmoil had any impact on me as a tourist. I had read about it being a cash economy because of the inflation and that accessing cash was also a problem, so US dollars were needed in order to exchange through an underground cash market. But all of this turned out to be unnecessary - credit cards were accepted almost everywhere without any hassle and at the best exchange rates, and I hardly used cash at all. In one very remote town in the wild west, cash was still king, but it was not difficult to get from the ATM when it was needed (even if the withdrawal fees were astronomical). So while a little inconvenient at the time, it was not a barrier and I imagine that in a few years even these places will have caught up with the rest of the country and travelling by card will be the norm everywhere. All of this is to say, do not be put off visiting this remarkable country because of things you may have read about it - it is a safe, modern, progressive place where it is impossible not to enjoy yourself.
Comments