Pampas
These are the plains to the west and south of Buenos Aires. This is an important agricultural area.
Gran Chaco
This is the northern part of Argentina with sections of forest scrubland and some wetlands. Cotton and livestock are important to this area.
Mesopotamia
A flatland area between the Parana and Uruguay rivers used for grazing and crops.
Patagonia
A region with steppes which is largely semiarid, but dotted with lakes.
Cuyo
An area in western Argentina on the slopes of the Andes. This is an important fruit growing and wine making region.
Northwest
A mountainous area with several mountain ranges with peaks higher than 20,000 feet.
Mostly, Argentina has a temperate climate, but conditions do vary from the subtropical north to the sub polar south.
Argentina as a fairly wealthy country blessed with natural resources and a very literate population. It has a strong agricultural sector and diversified industry. Argentina also has a strong middle class especially compared to other S. American countries. Argentina did experience an economic crisis early in this decade, but has since recovered well. The economy has been growing at between 8-10% for the last few years.
Argentina is highly urbanized with about 12 million people living in the Greater Buenos Aires area. The cities in Argentina have a strong European feel which is indicative of the origin of much of its population. Many cities are built in a grid pattern with a main square or plaza at the center.
Football (soccer) is the most popular sport followed by other sports like volleyball, basketball and rugby union. Argentineans are very sporty people and take pride in their physical appearance.
Spanish is the official language of Argentina and is referred to as ‘Castellano’. Italian, English and German are also spoken and there are a few communities where the descendants of immigrants still speak their mother tongue like Welsh and German. Japanese, Chinese and Korean are also spoken in the bigger cities.
The cost of living in Argentina is extremely low. The cost of living in Buenos Aires is similar to cities like Bangalore in India. The biggest difference though is that the lifestyle in Argentina is very European making it a very affordable and amenable place to live. However, wages are low in Argentina so the only way to take advantage of this situation is if you are earning a foreign currency. Here is a breakdown of costs in US$: