Trip Talk: Up close picture of one of the penguins we got to see

Dec 1 Thanks to our guides Lisu and Florencia we get very close, originally uploaded by datacom_man.

As my earlier blog on Argentina/Patagonia points out, thanks to Lisu and Florencia, we got real up-close views of the penguins at the Mont Leon National Park. Here is a shot of one of the wonderful creatures we saw on our trip to Patagonia.

TripTalk: an idyllic view at the El Calafate estancia

Dec 4 Idyllic seeting on the El Calafate estancia,
originally uploaded by datacom_man.

As my earlier blog on Argentina/Patagonia points out, some of the most splendid views that we got on our trip to Argentina were at the estancia that we stayed at in El Calafate. Here is a snap from the hotel/estancia property.

TripTalk: Snapshot from Mont Leon National Park

Dec 1 Dramatic landscpae at the Mont LEon National PArk, originally uploaded by datacom_man.

As my earlier blog on Argentina/Patagonia points out, the splendid isolation of the Marine Park in Patagonia mesmerized us and so am posting one of my shots form there to share the stark beauty of the land. I am hoping that this picture entices you to view the full album on my Flickr.com photo site.

TripTalk: Perito Moreno Glacier - a snap

Dec 3 View from the boat of the glacier, originally uploaded by datacom_man.

As my earlier blog on Argentina points out, we were overwhelmed by the sights of the glacier we climbed in Patagonia and I simply cannot describe the beauty and the joy of the view so I have posted a shot of it here on my blog. I am hoping that it entices you to view the full album on my Flickr.com photo site.

TripTalk: Photos for all trips now at Flickr

All our trip photos are now available at. If you already don't have access to my photos, please let me know.

TripTalk - Argentina Trip: Part 3 of 3: A brief Passage through Southern Patagonia

4 days at Ushuaia in Tierra Del Fuego, Patagonia

The mountain chain that started in Alaska as the Northern Rockies and became the Andes in South America is now ending and our hearts are pounding … we are about to see Ushuaia, the last major town in the Southern Hemisphere, at the “End of the World”. Then the deep blue waters of the Beagle Channel come into view, we see land-forms floating in the sea and slowly a city cradled by snow-capped mountains emerges. I wish time had frozen just then and we could keep looking at this dramatic setting of mountains, hills, water, small islets and a city poised at the edge of the sea.

The pilot did some fine maneuvering and we landed on an air-strip beautifully located next to the water - we were in Ushuaia (population 60,000 plus), stretched along the north shore of the Beagle Channel, a full 3194 kms away from Buenos Aires. Only since the beginning of the 1980s did it get discovered as a tourist destination though Ushuaia dates back to 1870, when the Anglican South American Missionary Society decided to place the archipelago’s first permanent European settlement here.

While walking around Ushuaia and during side-trips around the city, we realized how the city has taken off in recent times. It has become the “Gateway to Antarctica” where tourists from all over the world gather to embark on cruises heading to the icy continent. Its general acceptance as the city at the “End of the world” has brought in curious tourists who then get to enjoy its natural bounties in summer and it is growing as a ski destination and dog-sledding too. The tourist boom, Ushuaia’s status as a duty-free manufacturing location and fishing transformed this one-time penal colony and naval base into a booming city. Unfortunately, walking around the city, we saw evidence of uncontrolled growth and sprawl. Our hotel luckily was on the edge of the town where we got unhindered views of the sea and got to see some exquisite sun-sets - late at 10 PM in the night (Do check our snaps of the sunsets on my page at Flickr.com).

We discovered the natural wonders of Tierra Del Fuego thanks to the excellent group of guides from Canal Tours. Laura (pronounced Lauda), accompanied us on a trek up a hill in Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego, Argentina's first coastal national park all the time getting newere and more interesting views of the Beagle Channel and snow-capped mountains. Along the trail, she explained to us all about the beaver issues in the park, told us all about the trees and plants - deciduous beech, evergreen beech, firebrush, calafate etc – but interestingly gave us personal insights including on how she left Buenos Aires busy ways and settled in this area drawn by the natural charms of the Andes and Patagonia.

Earlier in the day, Laura and the energetic & fun-loving gang from Canal Tours of Facu, Juan etc accompanied us in inflatable canoes to paddle to the Ovando River and cooked us a fabulous meal out in the park close to the crystal-clear water of Laguna Verde. While paddling in our boats, we saw more birds than we could keep track of - petrels, albatross, steamer ducks etc and all surrounded by laughter, jokes and much merriment. It was interesting to see the purposefulness of the big city born (and raised) Laura in contrast to her locally raised totally “chilled-out” team members.

While we missed the gang from Canal Tour on our next day’s boat trip through the Beagle Canal and to the historic Harberton Estancia (or ranch), we enjoyed every moment of our day trip as we got to see some beautiful sights, aquatic creatures (island colonies teeming with penguins, sea-lions and cormorants) and exchange interesting life & travel stories with fellow travelers from France, Austria, Australia and the UK.

The weather cooperated perfectly with us while we sailed the Beagle Channel and we got to see the opening out to the route that took ships to Antarctica and got a glimpse of the town of Puerto Willams across the Chilean border. While admiring the funny antics of the penguins on Martillo Island, I bumped into a French couple and was left amazed by how they had sold off their home and decided to take a “round the world” trip for 6 months. They had booked flights from key cities to jump to certain points in Latin America, Asia and finally Europe but had not decided on the precise routes between these points. That story of meandering left me mesmerized.

Equally interesting were the tales of their lives and travel that a couple of British ladies shared with me. Their narration took me to different parts of the world and points in history. Interestingly, we met quite few British travelers mostly ladies who were enjoying their lives after their retirements seeing the world. But the most energetic of all these women was a lady who was more than 75 (let me call her Ms Maple for the sake of this note ;)). Ms Maple despite her advanced years was very sprightly and moved more quickly than most other younger tourists, was the most inquisitive visitor and often reminded the guides that she “needed detailed answers to her questions” as she had not travelled “ to the end of the world” to get “half-answers and miss out on nuances”. I am sure she will make lives of more tourist all over the world more interesting ;) for a very long time. Power to her!

Having visited the islands full of penguins, sea-lions and the cormorants, the boat dropped us off at Harberton Estancia (or ranch). The oldest Estancia on Tierra del Fuego and the oldest house on the Argentine part of the island, it was built in 1886 on a narrow peninsula overlooking the Beagle Channel overlooking a perfectly sheltered cove. Here we met Amy, a student from Boston doing post graduation in marine biology under the guidance of the wife of one of the descendants of Tommy Bridges. (You bet , I was envious of Amy’s good fortune of doing her post-graduation in this idyllic setting). Amy was asked to be our English speaking guide and told us about the fascinating life on the estancia and its long history. She explained how its founder, the missionary Thomas (Tommy) Bridges, was given the land by the Argentine Congress under President Roca for his work among the local tribes and for his help in rescuing the victims of the numerous shipwrecks in the channel.

We wrapped our visit to Ushuaia by walking through the city one last time, soaking in the view of the sun set for one last time and reflecting on the visit. What we didn’t know was that another exciting part of Patagonia was just waiting to be discovered and we were about to meet some great people - in the province of Santa Cruz.

2 days at Puerto Santa Cruz and Mont Leon National Park in Santa Cruz, Patagonia (landed at Rio Gallegos airport)

Thankfully, the town of Puerto Santa Cruz is just getting used to receiving English speaking tourists and so instead of a regular guide, we had the grand fortune of having Lisu (Alice) as our principal guide on this part of our trip. Lisu teaches English in Puerto Santa Cruz and just a few weeks prior to our trip, was drafted for the first time to guide English speaking visitors to the area. She along with Leo, Marta, Susana, Hernando and Florencia (all from the town of Puerto Santa Cruz) made our trip to this un-hyped and less known part of Argentina extremely memorable.

Puerto Santa Cruz is a small town of approximately 3,000 inhabitants situated on the southern margin of the estuary of river Santa Cruz where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is located in an area whose dramatic landscape had fascinated the likes of Juan Serrano (part of the explorer Ferdinand’s Magellan´s team) and the legendary British scientist/explorer Charles Darwin. The winds in the area are very strong and the terrain bereft of significant vegetation, both of which probably have prevented a population explosion here, despite its long history and past as a capital of the Santa Cruz province. The Government and military establishments along with fishing and some estancias seem to be the main backbone of the economy here at present. However, I am sensing that the tourism wave is about to hit this town when Mont Leon National Park finally gets “fully” discovered (more about that later in this posting).

After the initial hesitation between strangers meeting for the first time, Lisu opened up and we were able to gain a much more meaningful appreciation of the people and the land than we normally could have imagined. Her passion for the region is infectious and automatically transfers to the people listening to her. Over the next 2 days, she infused in us a deep fondness for the strip of Patagonia that we were visiting and a respect for the natural wonders of the area. Lisu moved to the region from Buenos Aires more than 3 decades back and fell in love with the open vast lands instantly. Her narration of the personal events and stories in the different parts of the area made the entire experience of visiting Puerto Santa Cruz and Mont Leon National Park more intimate for us and left an indelible imprint on our minds.

With Lisu was Leo, who drove us from the airport at Rio Gallegos to Puerto Santa Cruz on the 1^st day and then across to El Calafate a couple of days later. Leo works in a coal mine (driving trucks) for 7 day stretches and then gets a week off in which he takes on other assignments. He shared with us interesting facts about the benevolent nature of his mining company and their excellent attitude to their workers, the joys of growing up in a town like Puerto Santa Cruz as a youngster and the various encounters with wildlife in the region. In all our interactions with him, we got a glimpse of how keen he was to share the treasures of his land with us. Thanks to him, we never missed the chance to get a look at any flock of flamingos or herd of guanacos that we passed as we drove through the wind carved terrain of Patagonia.

Lisu and Leo, not only did a perfect job of guiding us on different aspects of the area but patiently and cheerfully responded to my various questions on Argentina and Patagonia – politics, sports, business, religion, ethnicity, how the system works – be it the banks, the Government et al. On arriving in the town of Puerto Santa Cruz, Lisu introduced me to Marta, the owner of the travel agency, KAT, responsible for our hotel & travel arrangements while we were here.

Marta has an undeniable “presence” about her – one of being in command and in charge. I got a sense that nothing can escape her though her experienced eyes would betray nothing and her response to a situation would always be very measured and deliberate. Her efficient arrangements made our trip to Puerto Santa Cruz and the area extremely pleasant. Though we interacted with her very briefly, we discovered a very interesting aspect of her – her passion for animals. Over the several decades that she had spent here, she had reared many wild animals including a guanaco (kind of llama) that among other funny things squirted liquid on passers-by and kids loved dodging the liquid projectile from the funny animal. But even more fascinating was that upon a request from her then young son, she had reared for more than a dozen years, a puma (a mountain lion for those readers who have not read or seen a visual of the big cat of the Americas)! She shared with us - like an indulging Mum does about her child – how she walking every day with the big cat unchained on her property, the puma’s love for being fed “dulce de leche” (see my 1^st of my 3 postings on Argentina about the milk product) from Marta’s hands.

For the 2 nights that in Puerto Santa Cruz, we stayed at the Kawo Hotel-apartment, the perfect stop-over for us in this quiet town. Run with the warmth of a bed and break-fast, everything is managed efficiently by the highly energetic and enthusiastic Senora Susana (we will forever remember Susana’s booming laughter that can light up a room) and her extremely polite and attentive husband, Horacio. The couple have grown the hotel in a systematic manner over the years all the while paying a lot of attention to details. While Horacio was very relaxed and used to the current slow pace of the town, I could sense the underlying eagerness to increase the pace. I felt that no one in this town is better prepared than Susana and Horacio to scale up their operations (daily provisions, consumer goods and hotel) when the tourist wave hits this quiet town. Our best wishes are with them.

While walking the streets of the town on the 1^st day in Puerto Santa Cruz, we inadvertently dropped into a meeting of the local citizens with park ranger, Mariana. From what we gathered, a discussion was underway on how tourism would impact the town. I had the feeling that this is a hot topic in town as the town braces for an expected influx of tourists to the area due to the growing popularity of the nearby Monte Leon Park. We too had come to the area primarily to visit the park.

Monte León is a 243-square-mile former sheep ranch next to Puerto Santa Cruz. In my perspective, the park defines the phrase “splendid isolation” – it is Patagonia at its most barren, exotic and mystical. Monte Leon covers 60,000 hectares of Patagonian steppes and stretches approximately 25 miles along the Atlantic coast. Its name means Lion Mountain and is derived from a coastal wind carved mountain that resembles the profile of a Big Cat. The park was very recently created thanks to the efforts of the Patagonia Land Trust, a non-profit organization started by the US millionaire and conservationist Douglas Tompkins who donated this land to the Argentine Government with the condition that they establish it as a National Park. Given its very recently endowed status as a national park, it has not yet hit the tourist route as strongly as other parks in Argentina and that was a blessing to us. We got to see this exquisite park before most tourists flock to this destination and probably change it in some way.

Lisu and Florencia (tourist official from the town of Puerto Santa Cruz) accompanied us on the trip to the National Park. The park is home to tens of thousands of Magellanic penguins, hundreds of sea lions, plenty of cormorant and herds of guanacos and we got to leisurely admire all of these (check out our pictures from the park at Flickr.com inside the penguin colony) and even got to walk through the penguin colony and peer into their rocky nests. The birds and animals are the major part of the attraction of the park but the real breath-taking part is the dramatic landscape of the wind shaped hills, the stark beauty of the terrain and the beach caves shaped by the elements of nature. The play of the sunlight on the hills and the howling winds added an extra dose of romance to this wonderful marine park. And of course Lisu made the trip very personal – sharing stories from the past of bringing her kids to the park and times spent on the beach with her family and friends.

We could have spent days visiting this park but we had to move on to the next leg of our journey the next day – El Calafate and Perito Moreno Glacier. Saying “Hasta Luego” to the folks in Puerto Santa Cruz was sad but then we have to always move on if we need to see, learn and experience more.

El Calafate and Perito Moreno Glacier (3 days)

From Puerto Santa Cruz, Leo (who joined us after a day’s hiatus) and Lisu whisked us across the Southern Patagonia roads on a 7 hour journey to our hotel/estancia - El Galpon del Glaciar - at El Calafate.

El Calafate is a hot tourist destination (attracting glacier lovers, hikers, mountaineers and anyone who wants to enjoy nature at its pristine best) and has the trappings of a well developed tourist destination. Situated next to the sparkling blue waters of the largest lake in Argentina, Lago Argentino (catchment area of 17,000 km²), this is a beautiful town where the former Kirchners (the current and last Presidents of Argentina) have their own private home too.

Our hotel was on the working sheep ranch of El Galpon del Glaciar in the lap of nature. I will never be able to forget the majestic view from this property of the lake, the uninhabited shores, the beautiful hills, skies full of birds of different kinds and the rolling pastures with horses and sheep. The place serves delicious food and one can get an amazing glimpse of life on a ranch here (hard working farm hands, sheep shearing, sheep-dogs expertly commanding flock of sheep, horse-riding, and barbecues). The service here was warm and handled expertly by youngsters (Denise, Barbara, Facu …) most of who had come down from Buenos Aires to take advantage of the tourist season and enjoy Patagonia while working here.

From the estancia, we took a bus ride to get to the Perito Moreno Glacier Park. On the way, we had an uninterrupted view of the beautiful lake and even got to see a whole flock of condors, the legendary big bird of the Andes. A 15 minute ride through waters full of floating ice on a boat and we were at the base of the Glacier. Perito Moreno Glacier is a 250 km² ice formation, 30 km in length and one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field located in the Andes system shared with Chile. This ice-field is the world's third largest reserve of fresh water.

While glaciers anywhere in the world are very fascinating, what makes this mass of blue ice particularly attractive is the easy accessibility to get to its base and witnessing huge chunks of its walls fall constantly into the lake. Coby and Charlie from the Glacier Park made the climb on the 60 metre high glacier seem much easier than it normally would have been. The glacier climb definitely will rank amongst the most fascinating “active” experiences till date and the views on and from the glacier were amazing, breath-taking and mind-blowing in the superlative. (Side note - Please check out my Flickr.com site for pictures of the blue waters, the ice walls, the mass of ice floes through the hills as the pictures do more justice than any words that I use can).

End note

Having climbed the glacier, we returned to the estancia and enjoyed every moment there taking in as much of the beauty as we could till we finally had to leave for the airport on the 3^rd day in El Calafate and fly back to Buenos Aires ending our 9 day vacation in Patagonia. This brief but memorable passage through Patagonia and the wonderful people we met in Patagonia will always be part of our memories and our best wishes are with this wonderful part of our world as it becomes even more popular and draws in more people to visit it and share its joys.

TripTalk - Argentina Trip: Part 2 of 3: Buzz of Buenos Aires

In Buenos Aires, we walked endlessly checking out prominent tourist areas, driving to neighbourhoods beyond the tourist areas to glance at the daily lives of the citizens, checking out the prominent local dishes, walking through resplendent malls and kicking back to observe the people go about their daily lives on the 1^st 3 days in the city and then upon return from Patagonia, too a trip to the adjacent areas to check a BsAs area estancia (ranch) and the industrial heartland of the country.

Reflecting back on Buenos Aires (BsAs), the city, the top 10 impressions that linger are:

1. It’s a big and busy city full of buzz – that seems to never sleep – people shop till late in the night and party till early morning - even on week-days and still get to office at decent time

2. I saw some of the most strikingly good-looking crowd striding down the streets, dressed and perfume-sprayed as well as they could afford – clearly the spend on fashion (clothes, fragrances and accessories) must be a large part of the monthly budget in the city

3. The streets were lined with cafes and eating out is clearly quite common – and similar to mainland Europe, people use these cafes to linger on, meet and watch others go by – a few are known hangout joints for the intelligentsia

4. The traffic moved very fast on the many broadest avenues that I have seen in any downtown anywhere in the world ( 6 to 10 lanes in many places) and the small mini-buses tore through these roads reminding me of the sounds of Calcutta

5. The architecture of several of its older buildings, the aerial view of the city layout, its broad avenues and tree lined streets were very reminiscent of Paris; sadly quite a few of the extremely beautiful buildings (prominent archs, doors, elegant entrances and decorated ceilings) had graffiti on them, some had fallen into disuse and many had ugly modern buildings built next to them thus diminishing their allure

6. The high density of shops (average of 1 every 50 meters in some parts of the town) selling flowers and those that that sold magazines – mostly the naughty kinds, but also on sports and fashion

7. The friendly police that genuinely seemed to be helping locals and tourists alike – I do think twice before approaching a cop in Mexico but out here, they were very courteous, definitely approachable and seemed to be looking out for the people

8. The prominent parks at the edge of the down-town where on the weekend, families descended in large numbers to exercise, chill out, eat and chat; on working days, we saw lots of runners sweating it out in these same areas

9. The aggression of male waiters in reminding (sometimes not too subtly) that they expected generous tips while the lady waiters were way more relaxed about the level of tipping (and probably secured more with their better attitude)

10. Many trivial observations such as – lots of smokers in the city with women greatly outnumbering the men, lots of people with dogs and staff from different banks hanging out together (including in union gyms that overlook the streets of the bank district)

TripTalk - Argentina Trip: Part 1 of 3: Journey to the End of the World and Back

Overview of the visit to Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, Puerto Santa Cruz and El Calafate

Our 14 day tour of Argentina (Nov 23 to Dec 6, 2007) was the result of the continued fascination with the people, the land and the life in Latin America and our penchant for more unique experiences.

And the Journey to the End of the World and Back delivered! Argentina was full of breath-taking landscape, accessible wild-life, exciting things to do and very nice & warm people. The visit confirmed several known facts about Argentina and revealed many fascinating new aspects of this vast country. But the most unique aspect of this trip was that compared to our previous 5 visits to Latin America, this time I got into more personal conversations with the locals and fellow travellers which made the experience in Argentina even more unforgettable, meaningful and enriching. Our journey started in Toronto from where we flew more than 12 hours to Buenos Aires (BsAs) on our Air Canada flight with a stop-over in Santiago, Chile included. As is our approach to exploring any big city, we spent the next few days and nights savouring BsAs – its tourist spots, landmarks and glitzy markets as well as walking/driving up and down at least 60 streets to get a “flavour” of how BsAs citizens go about their daily lives - doing their grocery, getting to/from work & school, socializing in their local neighbourhoods and spending their leisure time. After the initial 3 nights in BsAs, we spent the next 9 days in the Patagonia region of Argentina. We began our Patagonia part of the journey by flying to Ushuaia (in Tierra Del Fuego), the southernmost city in the world where we got our first taste of what makes Patagonia a wonderful gift from Mother Nature. After cruising, rowing, checking out aquatic wildlife and doing some trekking in Ushuaia for 3 days, we then made our way up to Puerto Santa Cruz (a quiet Patagonia town) and Mont Leon National Park, a marine national park with a dramatic landscape and thousands of penguins, sea-lions, guanacos (in the llama family) and more.

After 2 days in Puerto Santa Cruz and Mont Leon Park, we drove across to El Calafate, our last stop in Patagonia. There we stayed on an estancia (or a ranch) to get a “tourist” quick view of life on the famous ranches of Argentina and admire the perfectly blue waters of Lago Argentina. El Calafate also served as the base to do the memorable walk on the Poreto Moreno Glacier.

Nine amazing days in Patagonia over, we flew back to Buenos Aires and took day trips in the adjacent areas of BsAs for a couple of days before returning to Toronto with wonderful memories of a fascinating country and its people.

[side -information for those planning a trip to Argentina : Hotels we used on the trip

1. Buenos Aires – Sheraton Convention Centre, Marriott Plaza, NY Housten
2. Ushuaia - Hosteria Los Nires
3. Puerto Santa Cruz – Kawo Hotel
4. El Calafate - El Galpon Del Glaciar estancia

Tour companies used:

1. Overall co-ordination for trip including contacting and co-ordinating local agencies and booking tickets – Adventure Life
2. Ushuaia – Canal Tours
3. Puerto Santa Cruz, Mont Leon and drop off at El Calafate – Kimirik Aike Tour
4. Poreto Moreno Glacier - Hielos & Aventura.
5. Tigre and estancia near BsAs – Skyline Tours

]

Before I launch off on the details of our experience in Buenos Aires and Patagonia (in 2 separate postings on my blog), I wanted to share some observations and realizations about Argentina in this posting.

Argentina and Patagonia are booming

In late 2001, Argentina defaulted on part of its foreign debt, causing a political and economic disaster. The country lost some 20 percent of its GDP in a year and the poverty rate increased by more than half in one year, reaching nearly 60 percent of the population. While this economic challenge greatly disrupted the lives of the locals and caused them massive hardships and deep embarrassment (that still lingers), the Argentine economic set-back revived the lagging wool industry, as the new exchange rate made Argentine wool more competitive internationally. But importantly, devaluation also made tourism to Argentina attractive just in time when the international tourist companies were looking for new places to discover. Once Argentina was discovered by the international tourist circuit, there has been no stopping (nearly 4 million tourists came in 2005). The tourist boom has impacted every place throughout the country, but has had the biggest positive impact on Patagonia.

The past four years has been a period of remarkable recovery. Strong economic growth, job creation and a substantial reduction in poverty are helping Argentines put the economic crisis behind them. Effective macroeconomic management, focused on the generation of primary fiscal surpluses, has played a key role in the recovery and led to pro-poor growth. Growth averaged 9 percent during 2003-2005 and around 8 percent in 2006.

Four years of fast growth (averaging approximately 8.5% during 2003-06), has enabled Argentina to recover, and in fact surpass, the pre-crisis GDP peak of 1998. The pattern of economic recovery has resulted in growth that has been pro-poor in that incomes of the poor have generally grown faster during the upturn than the average for the population as a whole. As the sectors leading the recovery have employed more workers, unemployment rates have declined. Significantly, unemployment at 9.8%, down from 33.8%, is now close on par with the level observed in 1998. The urban poverty rate dropped to 26.9% by 2007, down from 48 percent observed in 2003, but is still above the level prior to the recession. Today, it is again an upper-middle income country in comparison to the world, though you wouldn’t believe it if you spoke to the locals ;). Also, unlike Mexico, Cuba and Peru, I did not see any evidence of dire poverty and background reading also suggests that the difference in income between rich and poor here is not as acute as in other Latin American countries.

Click on the indicator to view a definition	2000	2005	2006
Population, total	36.9 million	38.7 million	39.1 million
Population growth (annual %)	1.1	1.0	1.0
Life expectancy at birth, total (years)	73.8	74.8	..
Fertility rate, total (births per woman)	2.5	2.3	..
Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births)	17.2	15.0	..
Mortality rate, under-5 (per 1,000)	19.4	18.0	..
School enrollment, primary (% gross)	117.8	..	..
School enrollment, secondary (% gross)	96.7	..	..
School enrollment, tertiary (% gross)	53.1	..	..
Surface area (sq. km)	2.8 million	2.8 million	2.8 million
Forest area (sq. km)	337.7 thousand	330.2 thousand	..
Agricultural land (% of land area)	47.0	..	..
Improved water source (% of population with access)	96.0	..	..
Improved sanitation facilities, urban (% of urban population with access)	91.0	..	..
GDP (current US$)	284.2 billion	183.2 billion	214.1 billion
GDP growth (annual %)	-0.8	9.2	8.5
Inflation, GDP deflator (annual %)	1.0	8.8	13.4
Agriculture, value added (% of GDP)	5.0	9.4	9.0
Industry, value added (% of GDP)	27.6	35.6	35.4
Services, etc., value added (% of GDP)	67.4	55.0	55.6
Exports of goods and services (% of GDP)	10.9	24.6	23.3
Imports of goods and services (% of GDP)	11.5	19.0	18.8
Fixed line and mobile phone subscribers (per 1,000 people)	389.8	797.5	..
Internet users (per 1,000 people)	70.5	177.1	..

In summary, Argentina is booming! Just like in tourism, economically Patagonia has seen the most significant up-tick in its fortunes. Today, thanks to fishing, industry and tourism, Argentine Patagonia is the country’s fastest-growing region and the positive impact can be felt across the various provinces in the region. Since 1980, Tierra del Fuego’s population has nearly quadrupled, while Neuquen’s has nearly doubled. Santa Cruz has grown 70 percent and Chubut 57 percent. Patagonia has Argentina’s highest employment rates outside of Buenos Aires, the highest mean monthly income at US$245, the lowest poverty rates at 18.5 percent, lowest mortality rate at 4.7 per thousand (compared to the nationwide figure of 7.4), the lowest rate of death by heart disease and infection and the lowest infant mortality. It has the highest percentage rate of potable water and sewer service, and the highest literacy rates.

Of course, for the international tourist to Argentina, it means is that it is no longer cheap (a popular myth amongst some tourists and a very prominent notions amongst locals) to travel through Argentina, be it in Buenos Aires or Patagonia especially if you want to travel comfortably through the vast country. Hotels at the higher end are more expensive compared to that of the US and Canada, the restaurant food is at par on price with that on the streets of a big city in the US or Canada. But the experience of being in and travelling through Argentina is way more worth than any Dollar or Euro or Peso or Rupee or Dinar that you can possibly spend.

Though Services dominate the GDP, Agriculture stills hold sway over exports

Like several developed and near developed countries, Argentina’s services share of the GDP overshadows that of it agriculture and manufacturing (see chart above). However, agriculture is the most discussed sector of the Argentine economy given its dominant share of exports from the country and the traditions and myths around ranch and farming lives that capture the popular imagination.

Extensive export of livestock commodities in the 1870s marked the beginning of the greatest economic period in Argentina’s history. By 1913, the country's per capita income had reached those levels held by France and Germany. World Wars and the associated collapse of export markets devastated the Argentine economy. Foreign investment disappeared and failed to return after the peace. The US 1929 stock market crash sealed the end of Argentine hopes for a return to the export-led growth model.

Argentina after World War 2 adopted an Import Substitution (ISI) policy in contrast to its more liberal outlook previously. These Government-induced economic measures like the nationalization of domestic industry were aimed at encouraging a more internal, self-sustaining development but the results were mixed. Argentina underwent development but did not become fully "developed" and lost most of its late 19^th century economic prowess. Political instability and populist measures that followed ensured that the manufacturing sector never took off while the rich countries thrived on the growth of their industries thus leaving Argentina relatively far behind in manufacturing.

With the recovery after the 2001-02 economic troubles, things are looking up and the vibrancy is back in the agriculture sector and the services sector (for meeting daily needs of the locals, to sustain infrastructure and serve international tourists).

Today, agriculture dominates the exports form the country. Soya products account for more than one quarter of the total exports form the country. Cereals (maize and wheat primarily) make up almost one tenth. Beef, leather and milk each account for 6% of total exports. Apart from agriculture, petro and auto products along with steel are prominent exports. Although Argentina has a variety of minerals, they are of local importance and are not completely adequate to support the country's industries or to be a prominent part of exports.

Though manufacturing is not its core strength, the country does have a sufficient and diversified industrial base. Food processing (in particular meatpacking, flour milling, and canning) is the chief manufacturing industry; motor vehicles assembly, textiles, chemicals, petrochemicals, and steel are also major products. Driving out of Buenos Aires in the Tigre region and beyond, we saw several factory sheds of companies engaged in food processing and vehicles.

Domestic oil and gas production has made the nation self-sufficient in energy; pipelines connect the oil and gas fields with Buenos Aires and other major refining centers. Argentina also is energy sufficient as it exploits its ample hydroelectric resources and mines the large coal fields (largely low grade though) of S Patagonia.

Services sector (Tourism - 7% of economic output, energy production & distribution, infrastructure, construction & transport, telecommunication, trading and the supporting financial services) dominate the economy. The most beautiful buildings in Buenos Aires were occupied by banks and financial institutions. Foreign banks also seem to be back after fleeing the country in 2002. The retail sector seems to be thriving too in the cities. Buenos Aires was full of shoppers busy in grand malls and boutique shops. Even tiny Ushuaia surprisingly had a prominent collection of outlets hawking high end boutique goods.

Travelling through Argentina clearly showed that recently there has been substantial investment in specific infrastructure services. Domestic airports (that largely seemed to be catering to tourists, atleast in the season that we were there) in every location were very well maintained, modern and most impressive – be it in Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, El Calafate or Rio Gallegos. Thought here were very few big roads in Patagonia, they were well maintained and allowed us to zip through the countryside.

I am a personal fan of rail transport as an easier way to travel, a more efficient way of transporting goods over long distance and equally importantly as a unifier of a nation. Argentina clearly dropped the idea of sustaining a rail infrastructure (I am told that at one time, Argentina had over 40,000 kilometres of tracks but after decades of neglect, most of the tracks are now in disrepair). I am not sure of the economic realities of reviving or building a rail project in current times but I got a sense that a good rail-link could have made parts of the country way more accessible and encouraged more people to live and visit the more remote regions of the Patagonia (by some accounts, the bus trip from BsAs to southern Patagonia takes well over 2 days). While the province of Buenos Aires is home to 12.4 million people (population density of 13 habitants per km²) of Argentina’s total of 39 million people, the tougher conditions (strong winds, sparse vegetation) and lack of quick transport links have kept the population provinces in Patagonia, such as that of Santa Cruz at less than 200,000 (population density of 0.81/km²).

Given my passion for telecom infrastructure and belief in its positive impact on future growth of a country, I was delighted to see the easy access to telecom voice infrastructure across this vast country (8^th largest with a land size of 2.8 million km²). While use of personal mobile phones is becoming pervasive (current penetration rate of greater than 65%) everywhere, in Buenos Aires, I saw one of the highest concentrations of fixed line public booths that I have seen anywhere in the world – there was a phone to call from every 50 metres in BsAs downtown. Though, in Patagonia, the Internet and broadband infrastructure is still catching up, BsAs has no shortage of ability to connect to the net and often at good speeds.

Of meat, cheese, wine, matte, “Dulce de leche” and café

The country loves its meat. Argentina is not only a world leader in exports of beef and sheep meat products, the people all over the country consume their meat in different forms with passion (empanadas or stuffed pastry; locro, a mixture of corn, beans, meat, bacon, onion, and gourd; and chorizo, a meat-based spicy sausage; asados or barbecues include various types of meats, prominent among them being chorizos, and blood sausage). Grass-fed, the cattle produces meat that is distinctly superior to most meat that would be served in Western countries. In the coastal areas, the fresh catch from the sea is a nice alternative for moderate meat eaters such as me.

Fresh milk is plentiful and cheese (apart from bread) is the only non-meat ingredient we saw on most dishes that were available. Having such great meat and plenty of cheese also means that the menu lacks real vegetarian options and on the occasions that we wanted a change in our food consumption, we had to really search hard – and had to often settle for the only option without meat and cheese –a mixed salad of lettuce and tomatoes. The other surprisingly sad personal discovery was lack of availability of fruits in the local markets. While I have eaten a lot of fruits (Blueberry especially) in Canada labelled “Produce of Argentina”, local shelves in BsAs or elsewhere rarely had anything attractive to sell.

The country sure has a sweet tooth. With its huge European influence, Buenos Aires not surprisingly is full of bakeries but more interestingly, I saw a lot of shops dedicated exclusively to chocolates, something that I had not seen before. Sonika took a liking to Dulce de Leche, a milk-based syrup that is served as both a sauce and a caramel-like candy (also tastes somewhat similar to “khoyaa”, the Indian ingredient for many sweets). Prepared by slowly heating sweetened milk, it tastes like caramel and can be found in cakes, on ice-creams or served directly as a spread.

My personal favourite taste from Argentina was the coffee. Every cup of coffee consumed in Argentina (be it in a Café or in a joint off the road) was simply delicious. Much like in Europe, there is definitely a prominent Café culture in the cities in Argentina and people linger for hours chatting, reading and watching the world go by while sipping their hot cup of Java.

Another favourite beverage of Argentina is the Matte with strong tradition associated with it. Prepared by steeping dried leaves of yerba mate (Spanish) in hot water, it is the national drink in Argentina and Uruguay and I am told that it is consumed as part of social practice in places close to the Andes but surprisingly even outside South America in Lebanon and Syria. The drink is shared amongst friends and with visitors who drop in using a metal straw that traditionally was made of silver from a special container often made of a pumpkin shell covered with an outer leather coating. To me, it tasted like a slightly bitter form of herbal or green tea. Some folks we met actually sweetened it to suit their taste buds. In the more relaxed parts of Argentina, it was quite common to see people carry a flask with hot water throughout the day so that they could consume the drink constantly.

Wine is yet another widely consumed drink in the country and Argentina has developed its own prominent brands. We were amazed at the access to wine across the country especially in BsAs. We walked into some groceries in BsAs to find 30% of the shelf space captured by wines from all over Argentina and further away.

Diego es Dios

Diego Maradona is a God (Dios in Spanish) in Argentina. Though he retired from professional football (“futbol” in Argentina) more than 10 years ago and he last led Argentina to a World Cup win in 1986 (runners-up in 1990), it is very easy to see that the people across this country venerate him more than any other individual. Throw the name of Maradona into your conversation and you can draw out the quietest guy in Argentina form his shell.

Diego played for Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires but even fans of arch-rival River Plate across town take Maradona’s name in revering whispering tones. Go down to Tierra Del Fuego or speak to someone in Santa Cruz and you can notice the respect the great footballer commands. As a test, I tried checking the appetite of the locals for their other prominent footballers- Caniggia, Batistuta etc – but drew no significant response. Despite all his personal flaws, clearly there can never be anyone who can fit the shoes of Maradona in the minds of Argentines.

Post Script: Though Maradona is long gone, there is no reduction in the obsession with football in Argentina. The first sight that you see on leaving the international airport at Buenos Aires is a series of football fields next to the expressway, walk into a shopping mall and eyes are transfixed on TV sets showing “The Game” (could be a match in Argentina, Europe or anywhere eels in Latin America) and when you open the local newspaper, expect to see the news of the latest game dominate the head-lines. Even at night, in small or big fields, we saw the game in action and football jerseys almost seemed to be a national dress.

In the next two postings on this blog, I will complete my reflections on the trip to Argentina titled:

a) Argentina Trip: Part 2 of 3: 5 days in Buenos Aires

b) Argentina Trip: Part 3 of 3: 9 days in Southern Patagonia