Buenos Aires is the country’s largest city and is frequently compared to Paris, Rome and Madrid. The population makeup of Argentina is quite similar to that of the United States. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries huge numbers of immigrants left Europe bound for the New World. About 2/3 of these Italians, Irish, and Germans came straight across the Atlantic Ocean and arrived at Ellis Island in New York; the other 1/3 turned left and landed in Buenos Aires. To this day the Spanish spoken by Argentines has a unique Italian lilt.

Argentina is famous for her gauchos who herd the cattle on the grasslands around Buenos Aires (called the pampas), for her estancias, the large farms that extend farther than the eye can see, for tango which was invented in Buenos Aires around the turn of the last century, for the towering Andes Mountains which form the country’s western border, for the lush vineyards of the nation’s central provinces, for the empty windswept stretches of Patagonia which makes up the southern 1/3 of the country, for torrential Iguazu Falls located at the border with Brazil and Paraguay near the ruins of the old Jesuit missions, for the perfectly preserved colonial towns in the provinces which remain today just as the Spaniards left them 3 centuries ago, and for the still vibrant Andean culture in the north reminiscent of the Incas who once ruled there.

But above all, Argentina is known for its food. It is truly the “Land of Food” of all types. Grains, beans, fruits, vegetables, sugar cane, yerba mate tea and its famous grass fed cattle and wonderful Patagonian lamb. Plus, with one of the longest coastlines in the world, Argentine fish is a must for any visitor. And, the wine, cheeses and specialty items will make a person think that they have landed in Italy or France.