Home » Argentina » Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, Calafate, Chalten, Iguazu

Latin America - part VII

Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, Calafate, Chalten, Iguazu

Hector Yague
2005-10-12 18:34:10

Displayed times (last time: )

Buenos Aires

On the 26th of february 2005 I crossed the Bolivian/Argentinean border at the frontier town of Villazon, and thus I so entered in the country of my second nationality. Indeed, my father was born and grown in Buenos Aires and I am myself a double passport holder, despite the fact that I have never used my Argentinean passport. Moreover, a number of my best friends back home are of Argentinean roots, so you could say that I have been quite linked to the Argentinean community all throughout my youth.

I was to meet my best mate from Spain, Pancho, and his sister Cecilia (half Argentinean themselves) in Buenos Aires the 1st of March. They were here on holidays for three weeks so the plan was to explore this country together. Since I just had two days to reach Buenos Aires from the Bolivian border line up north and the distance in between gaps up to 2000'ish kms, I could barely have a brief glance to the northern regions. However, I did spend a night in Jujuy, a mid-size town few hours drive south from the border. I could notice that the majority of the population still belongs to the Andean sort as opposed to the rest of Argentinean, where European-caucasian genes dominate the society; at the end of the day, Argentina is a result of a continuous immigration process by Europeans, specially in the first half of the last century. So yeah, like I was saying, the northern areas must be experiencing human-floods from Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay and north Chile.

Anyway, after 24 hours straight in a bus, I eventually got to Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina... My goodness, what a city! broad avenues, posh street cafes, beautiful women smartly dressed talking to their mobile phones, young crowds populating the parks, etc. This is nothing like the rest of South America. In fact, this could perfectly be an European capital. I was soon to discover that Argentina is decades ahead the ...