ARGENTINA – Who is there ?

It is tucked away so far – and it is so big !  While I have been to Argentina, I should confess that, quite unfortunately, I really did not get to know it all that much. It is a big and very varied country that seems to have everything.  I have been curious about Argentina ever since a friend mentioned the best steaks in the world, overflowing a plate. So when, all of a sudden, an email arrived inviting me to give a course there, I did not hesitate much at all.  To give a professional “Water Pollution Control” course at the National University of Rosario – and I scurried to google where is Rosario ? 

Rosario   >>

It is the largest city in the province of Santa Fe, in central Argentina. It is located 300 km (186 mi) northwest of Buenos Aires, on the western shore of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third most populous city in the country, and is also the most populous city in Argentina that is not a province capital. With a growing and important metropolitan area, Greater Rosario has an estimated population of 1,276,000 as of 2012. It grew as an inland port city on a huge river that lazily flows to join the Uruguay and form the gulf of Rio de la Plata of the Atlantic.

And that’s how I found myself in Argentina, landing in Buenos Aires. I was greeted by a University car there and whisked directly to Rosario through a flat, uninteresting green countryside.  Of course that I noticed my “steaks” peacefully grazing in the fields – and this was not even the main region of their mass production.  That is in the vast pampas (prairies) farther inland.

In Rosario, I was right away and totally immersed in giving the course – roughly 7 hours of lecturing every day for what was a well organized, very busy and strenuous week. About 25 advanced course students made for a marvelous group to work with  >>

We had a lot of opportunity to interface and chat during our breaks from the “business”. I learned a great deal about different regions of Argentina – only did not have enough time to explore them. However, in Rosario I became a “member of the family” headed by my host Professor, the colleague who happened to be quite a gourmet. That way I gladly even suffered some indigestion because the Argentinos eat a very late and a BIG supper.
Steaks of all kinds dominate, of course. 
Following what I jokingly called my “song-and-dance” course performance, I had an opportunity to also participate in the Argentinian Environmental Engineering Conference that happened to have been organized in Rosario that year.

Tango in the streets of Buenos Aires

Yielding to an impromptu request by one courageous grad-student all the way from Buenos Aires (“Prof, would you consider giving a seminar to us at the University of Buenos Aires ?”), I had an opportunity to get more acquainted also with the Argentine capital which is a throbbing metropolis, with impressive architecture all around.  And tango  also all around.  I was shocked encountering this passionate dance performed in the streets – attracting crowds of onlookers, even participants.
 

Argentina has it all

Argentina, with the population of 44 million, is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second-largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. The maximum north–south distance is 3,694 km (2,295 mi), while the maximum east–west one is 1,423 km (884 mi), and its varied geography makes it a challenge for travelling throughout it all.  Bounded by the Andes all along its West, it dips its East coast into the South Atlantic in quite variable sceneries.
The earliest recorded human presence in the area of modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period.   The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century.  Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776.  The declaration and fight for independence (1810–1818) was followed by an extended civil war that lasted until 1861, culminating in the country's reorganization as a federation of provinces with Buenos Aires as its capital city. Despite "those few guys who still have not been presidents", this incredibly rich country will hopefully put its act together and live happily ever after. 

Argentina's highest point is Aconcagua in the Mendoza province (6,959 m (22,831 ft) above sea level), also the highest point in the Southern and Western Hemispheres.  <<
The opposite extreme, the lowest point (−105 m = −344 ft) below sea level is Laguna del Carbón in the San Julián Great Depression in Santa Cruz province, also the lowest point in the Southern and Western Hemispheres, and the seventh lowest point on Earth.  

Regions

Argentina is a megadiverse country hosting one of the greatest ecosystem varieties in the world : 15 continental zones, 3 oceanic zones, and the Antarctic region are all represented in its territory.  Argentina is divided into seven geographical regions :

●  Northwest, a continuation of the high Puna with even higher, more rugged topography to the far-west; the arid precordillera, filled with narrow valleys or quebradas to the mid-west; and an extension of the mountainous Yungas jungles to the east  >> 

   

●  Mesopotamia, a subtropical wedge covering the western Paraná Plateau and neighbouring lowlands enclosed by the Paraná and Uruguay rivers.

 

 

●  Gran Chaco, a large, subtropical and tropical low-lying, gently sloping alluvial plain between Mesopotamia and the Andes  >>

●  Sierras Pampeanas, a series
of medium-height mountain
chains located in the center  <<

●  Cuyo, a basin and range area in the central Andes piedmont, to the west  >> 

●  Pampas, a massive and hugely fertile alluvial plain located in the center east  <<

●   Patagonia, a large southern plateau of  mostly arid, rocky steppes to the east  <<  with moister cold grasslands to the south >>
and dense subantarctic forests to the west.


 

Czech Legend

Looking at the last region above (Patagonia), a strange idea comes to my mind. Apparently during World War 2, one of the Czech-origin billionaire brothers by the name of Bata (shoes) supposedly came up with a unique idea to just move the whole and historically beaten up nation of Czechs – and resettle it in then virtually ‘empty’ pampas and Patagonia.  Peace forever, he would contribute to buying the land.  A kind of a dream, this idea was never elaborated upon, maybe it is just another legend.  Apart from Argentina, maybe even Europe would likely look somewhat different if this materialized, can you imagine ?

And What Does Argentina Eat ?

Besides many of the pasta, sausage and dessert dishes common to continental Europe, Argentines enjoy a wide variety of Indigenous and Criollo creations, including empanadas (a small stuffed pastry), locro (a mixture of corn, beans, meat, bacon, onion, and gourd), humita and mate.
The country has the highest consumption of red meat in the world, traditionally prepared as asado, the Argentine barbecue. It is made with various types of meats, often including chorizo, sweetbread, chitterlings, and blood sausage.
Common desserts include facturas (Viennese-style pastry), cakes and pancakes filled with dulce de leche (a sort of milk caramel jam), alfajores (shortbread cookies sandwiched together with chocolate, dulce de leche or a fruit paste), and tortas fritas (fried cakes).
Argentine wine, one of the world's finest, is an integral part of the local menu. Malbec, Torrontés, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Chardonnay are some of the most sought-after varieties.