OK, change of plans... We have decided that we can't go to New Zealand with only 2 weeks to spend, so now we are looking at Argentina. Anyone out there with suggestions?
you have the city bustle of Buenos Aires, the countryside (great wines and beef) of Cordoba, and the San Juan Valley, Mendoza. or the wild side of Patagonia. perhaps you can be more specific and i am sure you will get some great tips.
Welcome to Slow Travel! There have been some posts on this country in the past -- if you look here you will find several threads about Argentina, including a couple of trip reports, and photos posted by another member.
Judy
Posts: 1902 | Location: Berkeley, CA | Registered: 22 March 2005
I'm not sure I understand the thinking. Argentina is a much bigger place than New Zealand, and not easy to see under time constraints.
When I think of New Zealand, I think of wine, and when I think of Latin American wine, I think of Chile -- although I've nothing against Argentinian wine! But have you thought about Chile instead of New Zealand?
Argentinian food is some of the best in the world. The wines are wonderful as well. I happen to be a Trapiche fan and always get a glass or two when I dine out at my favorite Argentinean restaurants here in LA.
I think choosing to go to Argentina is a great idea. My brother lives in Buenos Aries for half the year and he simply loves it. I can't wait to visit myself!
OK, I guess I didn't make much sense, so to clarify... We were a little overwhelmed when we discovered how expensive it would be to fly to NZ from VA, and how expensive it would be to get around when we got there. Also, the guys are not fans of white wine, which is what NZ does best. Argentina will give us a much bigger bang for our buck, so to speak, and it only takes 11 hours to fly there. And the biggest plus, they have incredible big red wines.
SO... after a careful study of the Lonely Planet guide book, I am looking for an estancia in the Salta region in the north west, and another closer to the Mendoza region. We plan to fly into BA of course, spend a couple of nights there, then fly to Salta, spend 4-5 nights there, then back to BA to find a flight to Mendoza/Cordoba/San Luis for another 4-5 night stay. My biggest concern is transportation. We are not willing to take advantage of the bus system, and the flights to the outlying areas appear to be limited. Any insights? Also, we need some input on the best area to stay in BA.
I'm so put off by the high Euro that we will probably pass on our annual visit to Italy so, in looking elsewhere, Argentina sounds better and better and I'll follow these threads closely. Thanks for the travel site. Jim
Recoleta/Barrio Norte or Palermo. Those areas are where the best hotels, B&B and boutique hotels are located.
But I not the one that should be giving out advice as I only been to BA once.
Suggest you visit the Trip Advisor Argentina Forum. There are plenty of Portenos on the forum to give better advice than I can. I meet some of them in person on last trip and will again this upcoming trip too.
One person for Salta/Northen Argentina you should look for is Giena. She know what she talking about because she live in region and gives tours.
agree about argentina's red wines, but i'm not much of meat eater, so argentina's cuisine doesn't do much for me. (and yes, I've tried their non-meat offerings)
Yes Argentina is cheap and you can find yourself spending more if you not careful or doing thing that could make it not a fun trip as you thought.
Like taxis, they are cheap to use. I use the taxis when I had to be somewhere at a certain time. But I still used the subway and walked to my destinations. I did not want to see BA from a taxi window and enjoyed walking the streets.
I did have dinner as some of BAs best restaurants and other days I went to some inexpensive places were I am the only foreigner, because a Portenos recommended it. I still enjoyed the meals.
Buying leather goods is also inexpensive. But if you are not careful you could find yourself buying an inexpensive leather jacket that is poorly made.
I even found myself, because it was inexpensive (cheap) taxi ride or meal doing some bad tourist behavior. I was over tipping the taxi drivers and waiters. I know better what I should tip and it is within guideline what Portenos tip on my next trip.
I think if you go to Buenos Aires only because it is cheap you are going to miss out much what Buenos Aires and Portenos are all about. I can honestly say the fun on my last trip was not dependant on the favorable exchange rate.
I recently came back from my second, two week long trip to Buenos Aires. On my last visit I discover this event and it has become one of the hightlights of my BA visits.
Enjoy and if you are in Buenos Aires make the time to go!
Sunday I went off the Buenos Aires tourist path. Really off, did not have to leave Buenos Aires to do it and it only took a thirty minute bus ride to get there. I found another of those important things to do in Buenos Aires that is not for the tourists, but for the people that live there and you are welcome to join them.
I finally visited the La Feria De Mataderos.
At the Mataderos there was music and dancing but not tango dancing. The music and dancing was for the locals. It was a real joy standing in the crowd watching a performer on stage singing and turn around to see some of the old guys in the crowd, much older than the singer on stage, singing along with the singer. The dancing on stage was incredible to watch and listen to the beat as the gaucho dressed dancer’s shoes would hit the wooden floor. Like tap dancing but not tap dancing, it was much stronger.
The dancing was not only on stage and the best was dancing was done by the people themselves in the crowd. There was many times I would see a singer or a band play music on stage, turn around and there was a small crowd of people dancing to the music. There were times I had to decide which to watch, the performance on stage or the people dancing to the music from the stage, because both were entertaining to watch.
But the dancing in the street, was more elegant. The people dancing had a scarf in their hands. If you wanted to dance you need a scarf and certain type too. It was from watching these people I understood the purpose of La Feria De Mataderos was for them. Most were ordinary dressed and you could passed them on the street. There were others dressed as Argentina cowboys who were dancing too.
It might be me, but I found all the crafts in the various booths seem to be to original and of higher quality than I seen at the street fairs of Recoleta and San Telmo. Anyone who has been to them has to admit there is too much tacky and/or same stuff being sold over and over again. But not here. Besides the crafts, food was also sold which gave me a chance to try some wines, cheeses, meats and jams for free. To be able to sample the food and wines made it feel like a country fair to me and you do not find that at Recoleta and San Telmo.
I did find hardly anyone speaking English and if they did they were a guest to this party like me. But that did not stop me from enjoying myself because everyone I met was extremely helpful, tolerate of my lack of Spanish and was always greeted with a warm smile.
I was planning to go to dinner after Mataderos. I skipped that option and went local and ate some excellent street food. Steak sandwiches, empandas and something that was a juice with all this fruit mixed in. All of it was good.
Beside the dancing there were the Argentina cowboys, gauchos but they where not there for the dancing. They closed a street, two or three blocks long. Then gauchos one by one on horseback racing in full gallop would try to capture a small ring hanging from a string with a “short” stick. I was standing three or four feet away when the gaucho and his horse would come whizzing by me as I was shooting photos of this exciting event that was like over in three of four seconds.
But If you every stand close to a train as it whizzing then you know how I felt. Thrilling to watch and feel the power of the horse’s full gallop as it was pounding the street. When the gaucho managed to capture the ring, a loud roar went through the crowd. The gaucho would slowly ride back holding in the air the short stick with the ring on it. For a few minutes it was the gaucho’s trophy.
They also had two young gauchos, around ten years old doing this to. When they made on capture with the stick you could see it in their faces they felt proud and knew they did something special.
I stay for six hours and I have to say it is now one of the highlights of my Buenos Aires trip. So if you are visiting Buenos Aires on a Sunday and want to do a non tourist thing this has to be one of them.
I know my next visit to Buenos Aires I will visit it again too!
Bill - thanks for posting about the Feria! We will be in Buenos Aires next May, and I've added it to the Must See list! And in the effort to find out more about it I started googling, and found this great website for Buenos Aires. It includes a video about the Feria, and many more informative videos as well!
Judy
Fixed link - marta
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Marta,
Posts: 1902 | Location: Berkeley, CA | Registered: 22 March 2005
Originally posted by BarbJim / KateMike: ...only 2 weeks to spend
Well Argentina is a huge country with loads to see so if you're going for only two weeks it would be best to concentrate on just one or two areas, plus the capital Buenos Aires. You'll want at least two or three days in Buenos Aires and will lose a couple of days in travel so that leaves 10 days max for visiting other areas of the country.
Basically, choose north or choose south.
The northeast offers Iguazú falls which are really spectacular and it's well worth spending a couple of days there, or more if you want to visit the surrounding national park and nearby Jesuit Missions. The northwest offers lots of interesting landscape and more hints at Argentina's pre-columbian culture than in other parts of the country.
The south offers Patagonia with it's sparse natural beauty, wild animals and some amazing sites like Perito Moreno glaciar.
Thanks so much for all of the suggestions and information. We found a great tour agency which is planning our itinerary for a 5-6 day stay in Mendoza, including a day trip into the mountains and a tour of a couple of wineries. If anyone knows of a "Can't miss" activity in the Mendoza area, please let me know. We are still flexible.
We have found an estancia in Merlo where we plan to stay for the first week of the trip. I am still not quite sure how to get from Buenos Aires to Merlo and back. I have been looking at the sleeper buses, which look pretty cool, but I haven't been able to figure out how to download a schedule. Anybody out there ever travel this way?
I appreciate all of the links you have suggested. They have been very helpful. And to Bill - thanks for the "La Feria" suggestion. It sounds like something we would really enjoy, and I am going to try to schedule a Sunday in BA so we can take a look.
I love this exchange of info... What an excellent use of internet tech.
