Argentina boasts many separate and distinct regions across its vast territory.   It is a huge distance both geographically and culturally from watching flocks of tropical birds flitting through the spray of Iguazu Falls to trekking through indigenous Andean villages in the northwestern corner of the country.   Cosmopolitan Buenos Aires, the self-styled "Paris of South America", seems a world unto itself with its tango bars and opera house. Tierra del Fuego and the Atlantic coast offer visitors a glimpse of vast shores where penguins gather to breed in million-strong sea-side colonies.

The iconic peaks of the Fitzroy Range, in Los Glaciares National Park, have been a magnet for climbers and dreamers.   Who knew that in the beech forests at the base of the glacial peaks, Austral parrokeets gather for noisy socializing? It seems everywhere you go, you encounter these odd juxtapositions.  The secret of a good Argentina visit is to accept that travel times are significant.  Places are far apart.  Four hours crossing the Patagonian steppe in a bus can be hypnotic and zen-like, on the paved roads.  On unpaved Route 40, the legendary highway to adventure, zen is not the word anybody is likely to use.

Fitzroy Range

Iguazu Falls