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