Travels4Yourself

In Argentina, there is one of the seven recognized wonders of nature - the incredible Iguazu Falls on the border with Brazil. But, in fact, there are many more miracles here: natural, cultural, and gastronomic.

Do you know at least one person who saw Argentina and was left disappointed? Me not. From the bustling Buenos Aires to the harsh Patagonia, from the penguins at the end of the world to three hundred waterfalls on the northern border of Argentina - this is one big bag with wonders. And if suddenly it’s not enough, you can always look to the neighbors: they also have something to surprise and please.

Buenos Aires Rhythms and Montevideo Calm

The scale of Buenos Aires will catch your eye when a metropolis sparkling with lights appears in the porthole. “The city of good winds” is like a wind: in perpetual motion, always different, and sometimes it takes your breath away. The rhythm of the capital is especially acute during the daytime on the streets of the historical center, along which a crowd of “portenos” rushing off somewhere (“port dwellers”, as locals proudly call themselves), constantly plying. In this case, everything is done leisurely and thoroughly.

Buenos Aires - as several cities in one. The capital is divided into 48 districts, and each of them has its own face: bohemian Palermo, creative San Telmo, fashionable Puerto Madero, elegant Recoleta ... And sometimes there are even several faces, like La Boca: the bright, hospitable, touristy Piglet Caminito adjoins with dilapidated, gloomy quarters, where the ragged boys are chasing the ball, and where the prudent traveler should not meddle. But how not to meddle if here the luxurious La Bomboneroa is the stadium of the Boca Juniors team, the delight of which even a traveler far from football will experience.


These contradictions are the whole “Bayres": the city of immigrants, the port city where prestigious neighborhoods border on slums, skyscrapers on unpretentious buildings, boutiques on flea markets. As Istanbul combines Europe and Asia, Buenos Aires is both Europe and Latin America. Advanced and backward, rich and poor, passionate and slow, dangerous and benevolent - controversial, but very charming.

And quite nearby, on the other side of La Plata, is Uruguay. An hour of travel by ferry - and you are in the cozy colonial town of Colonia del Sacramento, founded by the Portuguese in the 17th century and repeatedly passing from them to the Spaniards and back (for several decades it even went to the Brazilians). From here it is a stone's throw to Montevideo. The capital of Uruguay is also a metropolis, where most of the country's population lives. But the rhythm here is not at all the same as in Buenos Aires. Montevideo will charm with old buildings and cars, cozy retro bars, calm, relaxed atmosphere. Go to the port in the late afternoon and see for yourself: people walk slowly, fish on the pier, enjoy the sunset and sip a mate (and every first one drinks it).

Uruguayans are funny, cute and simple: they talk to the first person they come across, sing all the way and do not lock the doors (it’s so safe here), and their former presidents lose their immunity, go unguarded and live a normal human life. By the way, in Montevideo souvenirs are still very popular with Jose Mukhika, nicknamed the “poorest president in the world” for modesty: while still being the head of state, Mukhika gave almost all his salary to charity, lived on a farm with his wife and three-legged dog, and rode an old one Volkswagen Beetle 1987.

"Big water"

But not only and not so many cities are rich in the region. In the north, divided between Argentina and Brazil, Iguazu Falls are noisy: not one, not ten, but as many as 275 powerful streams up to 80 meters high amid raging tropical greenery. Huge colorful butterflies flutter in the humid air, in one of the ponds an alligator froze warily, and cunning little animals scurry under their feet: they fight, dig the ground and brazenly rob gapeous tourists. Water falls down with tremendous force, and you stand wet through the spray, trying to shout down the roar and once again tell the world that you do not believe in the reality of what is happening. Because this reality is strikingly reminiscent of the scenery for the movie "Avatar". Iguazu (“big water” in the language of the Guarani Indians) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the seven natural wonders of the world and a place where you especially acutely feel how beautiful our world is and how lucky you are to see this part of it.

Perito Moreno (and all of Patagonia)

Well, lovers of the north - to the south, in the harsh and beautiful Patagonia. Like Buenos Aires, you appreciate it even from the air, looking at the endless pampas floating under the wing interspersed with unnaturally blue lakes. Patagonia is surprised even after Iguazu: take at least the Perito Moreno Glacier - a giant ice field the height of a skyscraper and an area larger than Buenos Aires. The giant lives its own life: it shimmers with the colors of the Argentine flag and constantly makes noise - sometimes lulling, like on the sea coast, then frightening with a deafening roar when huge boulders crack off from the blue-white mass and fall into the water.

Patagonia is Mount Fitzroy, whose capricious weather shows only to the most successful travelers, and the turquoise Lake Argentino, and the granite “towers” ​​of the Torres del Paine National Park on the Chilean side. These are fjords, lagoons, icebergs, mountains and timid guanacos on the sidelines of endless, empty Patagonian roads.

Gateway to Antarctica

Someone considers Ushuaia a well-advertised tourist destination, where they go for a show: they say, I was in the southernmost city on earth. But how can one remain indifferent when there are cozy village houses in the city, snowy mountains around, and ships sailing from the port to Antarctica?

If the white continent is not yet in your plans, be sure to go on a six-hour voyage along the Beagle Channel: to get acquainted in the natural environment with cormorants, cormorants, dolphins, lazy sea lions and hilarious penguins that settled on local islands. And to think - that you, indeed, are on the edge of the earth, what’s next - only Antarctica, from which a little more than 1000 kilometers separate you.

By the way, you can still do something for show (or rather, for fun): go to the city department of tourism and put a penguin stamp on your passport stating that you visited Ushuaia, the gateway to Antarctica. Checked: more than one border guard smiles at such a label.

People talking

A distinctive feature of the locals is the ease with which they get to know and start a conversation. Here is an elderly tango dancer in Patagonia discussing with you about Russian classical literature and its impact on Argentine authors. A young musician waiter retells the story of his wanderings while you sample wine. The owner of the bar draws for you a map of the trekking routes of El Chalten. The grandfather-driver flies free of charge from a broken bus to Paraguay to talk about the good and future of the Guarani language. A bookstore employee treats the Paraguayan terere infusion, a cold mate counterpart. The landlord in Ushuaia teaches you to drink Fernet liquor while making a fire for a barbecue. Each will bring his list of new friends from the trip, but he will definitely be, do not hesitate.

Football passions

And also - nowhere so passionately, madly do not like football. Diego Maradona, who made the Argentines world champions in 1986, and now for the locals is a living god, and the current star Lionel Messi will have to sweat solidly to share the Olympus with him. T-shirts with idols and talk about your favorite sport are everywhere here, and the ball is chased even at the end of the world, in Ushuaia. Go to the match of the Libertadores Cup - an analogue of the European Champions League - and you will get to the holiday. At the stadium - dancing and music, something fried, laughing, getting to know each other. At the stadium - they sing in a loud voice an hour before the match and do not fall silent until the final whistle.

Food and wine

Those who think that calling food a miracle is inappropriate just did not try the juicy Argentinean steak “Bifé de Choriso”. They didn’t crawl out of the restaurant after a good portion of asado fried meat. They did not drink the tender Patagonian lamb with a glass of Malbec. Argentina is a place where you regret not to eat ten times a day; where you promise yourself not to take so much more - and you do it again, and you remember a few more years a sandwich with a piece of meat in a street stall.

Hot as coals under asado, like tango, as the first big sip of wine. Cold as the glaciers of Patagonia, like crazy spray of Iguazu waterfalls. Argentina is a country where your head is spinning: from a whirlpool of faces in the crowd of Buenos Aires, from the colors of La Boca, from the cry of fans, from the contrasts of nature. From miracles.