Page 25 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Argentina

A POR TR AIT OF ARGENTINA  23

People and society
A nation of immigrants since the 19th
century, Argentina is today a cultural
melting pot comprising people of Italian,
Spanish, Jewish, and French ancestry.
Buenos Aires’s flamboyant, confident
residents, the porteños, enjoy many of
the same luxuries and suffer the same
stresses as the residents of any major
world city. Their city also has certain
unique charac teristics of its own, such as
the enduring melodrama of tango, the
booming gastronomic scene, and the
insom niac nightlife. Porteños often refer
to their ring road, Avenida General Paz,
as if it were some kind of frontier, and
the less-traveled city dwellers are wont
to imagine the provincial heartland as A brightly painted café in Caminito, La Boca
a some what untamed, impenetrable,
and exotic periphery. native residents and mestizos (people of
However, those who do venture out of mixed European and indigenous ancestry)
the city limits are often charmed by the still playing the panpipes and flutes and
myriad pleasures of the interior. In the wearing ponchos. Far south in Patagonia,
small towns of Misiones, Chaco, and visi tors will be surprised to meet des-
Corrientes, village life goes on much as it cendants of Welsh and German settlers.
has done for 200 years, with locals gather- An essential bonhomie and zest for life
ing at the bar in the plaza, and the year- have always endured in the Argentinian
round rhythms of work and family life soul. For the visitor, it is easy to enjoy the
broken only by major fiestas. In the endearing qualities of this colorful and
Andean plains of the Northwest, vestiges thrilling nation, its abundant wildlife, vast
of pre-Columbian life still remain, with landscapes, and friendly people.

An indigenous ceremony taking place in the Neuquén province

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