Postcard from: Argentina

Postcard from

ARGENTINA

Fancy Arg nti n e a ? Visit us at charitabl e .t r avel

BY SARAH KIDDLE Fine wine time

We arrived by bus from Chile, over the Andes and into the heart of wine country, Mendoza. A boozy tour ensued (hic!) as we wandered straight lines of leafy vines beneath snowcapped peaks.

In Buenos Aires we admired grand Europeanstyle architecture and visited a milonga to see the passionate, sultry tango. Everywhere was full of Latin fervour - and flavour, in the form of more robust red wine (‘we keep the best here’, a waiter boasted), juicy steaks and indulgent dulce de leche for breakfast.

Heading south to El Calafate, we stood in the shadow of Glaciar Perito Moreno, a remarkable hunk of ice which advances up to two metres a day. Besides the stunning icy vistas, the explosions, as housesized chunks of ice peeled away and hit the water below, made for a thrilling afternoon!

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Carolina Marinell/Unsplash

Splash out on an Antarctic cruise via the infamous Cape Horn from Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world In Buenos Aires, don’t miss the iconic ‘Evita balcony’ of Casa Rosada and grand Recoleta cemetery where she is buried

Wildlife hotspots

On a cruise from Puerto Madryn we observed a southern right whale and her calf riding regally alongside our boat and it was strangely humbling. Visiting South America’s largest colony of Magellan’s penguins at Punta Tombo was less majestic, but no

less impressive. Watching the dapper little creatures waddling about, before sliding into the sea and becoming aquatic acrobats, was a comic delight.

Our wildlife odyssey continued at Iberá National Park, but what a different scene - marshy wetlands with ‘floating’ reed islands, home to the world’s largest rodent, the capybara. The trees were full of birdsong and cackling monkeys and on a canoe ride I had a caiman’s open jaws just inches from my elbow!

Our tour ended in foaming fury of Iguazú Falls, the largest waterfall system on the planet - and correspondingly spectacular.

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Eduardo Sanchez/Unsplash