ARGENTINA

Hi, I'm an Australian living in Buenos Aires and I wanted all the Aussies out there to know that a visa is no longer required for Australian citizens to travel to Argentina, just a valid passport.
Marc Peake - Australia (April 98)

The Brazilian Vice Consulate in Puerto Iguazu, Missiones has moved to Avenida Juarani 70.
Katrine Helsing Andersen - Denmark (March 98)

The US embassy number is 777-4533
Shannon Orton - US (March 98)

Regarding Australian visas in Argentina which may be wanting an extension: Australian entering Argentina are not given a tourist card like visitors from England, for example. It is however, possible to extend the visa for a further 3 months in the same manner as one of these tourist cards. Unfortunately for me, I did not discover this until I traveled to Uruguay, thinking that was where I needed to go in order to obtain a "consecutive visa" (which Uruguay will give only on the discretion of the Director of individual offices- a matter of luck, really, and virtually impossible if you do not speak good Spanish!) Perhaps the distinction between the Australian visa and US/West European tourist card may be a useful one to make for other Australian visitors to save them believing they must travel outside of Argentina every 3 months in order to "renew" or "replace" an existing visa.
Lindsay Humphries - Australia (Jan 98)

Currently US dollars and the peso are discharged from ATMs. I found the ATMs more commonly out of dollars than pesos. An annoyance: no one EVER has change, or if they claim not to, even for 20 peso bills. Get tough, and say that is the ONLY bill you have and they will give you the change or run and get change. If you are using dollars, make sure you only receive CLEAN dollars from anyone, meaning no rips, no writing, nothing. I had a hard time changing or using some bills that had writing on them.
You might want to mention the "caja" concept. For example, let's take the LAPA office. You make your reservations, give the person your credit card, this person runs your card through, you sign, gives you back your credit card. You then expect your tickets to be given to you, right? Wrong! You have to walk over to the CAJA where another person will stamp some papers and do some stuff and then that person gives you your tickets. I found this all very inefficient, but was the norm all over the place, restaurants, banks, etc.
Shannon Orton - US (March 98)

Do's:
Try and use Spanish even it its not good. The appreciate it.
Have all vehicle documentation quickly on hand. Ensure before you leave that the car is insured and registered and that it will not run out before the end of the trip.
Understand what the documentation is and says as some police will try and tell you that it is wrong.
Offer to call the embassy if you have problems with the police.
Don'ts:
Turn on your headlights too early, particularly in the South, as it is deemed to be wasteful!
Bribe police if you intend to be in an area for any length of time or you will pay every time you pass a police control in that area (you will be identified as a "payer:)
Steve Kennedy - Australia (March 98)

A tip for backpackers: Wait around in Ushuaia for a few days and you may be able to board one of the tour ships for Antarctica at a very good price. Travel agents in Ushuaia will coordinate this for you.
John Lilley - Canada (March 98)

In Jujuy and Salta provinces, road checks are more and more common in order to fight against drug trafficking. It is not unusual that all the passengers have to get off the bus with their baggage. Experience has taught me that spontaneously presenting your passport and open bags before the police ask, always makes a good impression. In my case, my bags were never searched. Only my passport was checked to see if it was in order. For that matter, in Argentina, I've always found the police extremely polite.
The telephone cards issued by "Telecom" and "Telefonica" systems can be used interchangeable in either network.
Patrick Sterckx - Belgium (Jan 98)

I spoke to a travel agent in Trelew who said that in early 1998 LAPA and Aerolíneas Argentinas had reached and "agreement". Since then LAPA's fares had leapt to be only marginally less than Aerolíneas '. In fact, this margin is almost exactly the cost of the airport taxes, which Aerolíneas includes in its price but LAPA doesn't! this certainly seemed to be the case when I was shopping around in Argentina, so I ended up buying Aerolíneas tickets. My LAPA flights had been booked by my travel agent in Australia in late 1997, when they were still genuinely cheaper than Aerolíneas '.
Richard Manasseh - Australia (April 98)

There's a new train service from Buenos Aires to Tucuman it takes about 16 hours and the cheapest ticket costs between 25 and 30 pesos, but there's also Pullman and first of course. I think its daily on high season and it has a few stops on the way. In Tucuman there are several carriages to take to Bolivia. For more info go to Retiro Station, where the train departs.
Federico Lifsichtz (Feb 98)

I've just flown from Ushaia, Argentina to Punta Arenas, Chile on LanChile. Can you believe it, I had to pa y a bloody departure tax of US$20. What a bloody con. Ushaia may be a nice airport, but I don't think they can justify a tax of US$20 just for a half hour flight costing US$100, US$5 of which was tax. That's US$25 out of US$120 going in bloody taxes. What a rip off.
Malcolm Reid (Jan 98)

In La Boca in Buenos Aires, we visited the Caminito and then decided to follow the guide's advice to go and see the street full of old bordellos and pizzerias (can't remember it's exact name, but it sounded OK in the guide)- a VERY bad move. We found the road, and immediately felt that a hundred pairs of eyes were watching us-the houses are boarded with corrugated iron and the roads reek of sewage. After a few minutes we decided that this was not a good idea, and the policeman who stopped in his car to warn us obviously thought so too. We got out of the area as quickly as possible, without looking too terrified, and we thought we should warn you that this area is not safe. The police thought we were mad, and the locals were surprised we'd got out with our belongings. It is a scary area, and should be avoided.
Anne Cook (March 98)

I'd like to put in a plug for a little known town in Argentina named Cosquin, located an hour from Cordoba, It's the site of the national Folklore-music festival for Argentina in the last 2 weeks of January every year. It offers brilliant folklore music including tango, chacarera, sambas, chamame from all provinces of the country featuring guitar and bandonenon, and colorful dance groups. Performances last from 10 pm to 6 am at the outdoor amphitheater. In addition, there are smaller venues, called Penas, offering live music and dancing, food and drinking in a convivial atmosphere. Ticket prices were very reasonable, from 5-25$ last January.
There are several large hotels in town, but for our money we preferred staying on the outskirts of the town, about a 10 minute walk from the center, at the Hosteria El Remanso. It was a peaceful whitewashed, red tiled roofed hacienda styled building, about 100 years old, with 13 rooms, on a bluff overlooking the Cosquin river. Large clean rooms for 2 were about $20 a night, $25 with breakfast. The large dining room has a beautiful view overlooking the river and sierras. It is a nice place to stay after the festivities die down, offering the chance to sunbath and swim in the river below, go walking or horseback riding in the nearby hills etc. and the owners were very hospitible. tel/fax is 54-541-52-681.
Joe Pace (Sept 98)

I was particularly glad to see that you mention that Argentine ice-cream is world class. However, I was sorely disappointed that you did not mention the best ice-cream store in Buenos Aires, and in my opinion, the world. The name is Chungo and they have 4 locations throughout Buenos Aires. About 10 years ago it was a small neighborhood store in a Buenos Aires suburb, known by few. I used to swear by Freddo ( and "Crema Freddo" is still a great flavor) but nothing like Chungo. Let me just say that I go to Buenos Aires once a year and each time bring back 4 kilos or so of the stuff on the plane back to NYC.
Sebastian Cwilich (Jan 98)

A huge part of the Argentine culture is futbol and one of my best experiences in Buenos Aires was going to a La Boca match. I would like to encourage readers to go, but maybe with a few guidelines. 1) find out which matches are the largest rivalries and DON'T go to one of those games. 2) find out the colors of the opposition and DO NOT wear those colors. You may also want to avoid the blue and yellow of La Boca. Something neutral. How about black. 3) experience the entradas populares. You can experience all the Argentinean bad words and insults only in a few hours and for us, two women, the ticket was worth the price. 4) go with a friend. If you don't want to go to a game, I would even suggest taking a bus (I was on 152) 30 minutes or so before the game into La Boca just to experience the fans. I was on a bus that filled up with La Boca fans singing and chanting all the way to the barrio. It was incredible.
Shannon Orton - US (March 98)

The city of Tucoman is loaded with character and similar in feel to Cordoba being very European. Just out of Tucoman is Tafi-Del-Valle. This is a spectacular drive. This is a good base to visit the surrounding mountain range. A good drive is through the range to Amachi-Del Valle and Santa Maria in Catamarca. Santa Maria is a mining area and local tourist place. I was in Santa Maria on a Sunday and was probably the only person not at church. I sat at the top of a small valley with a view of the Andes and the sounds of two churches singing and the atmosphere was amazing. Amachi Del Valle is pretty ordinary but has some good stores for souvenirs. On the way to Amachi from Tafi is a tourist farm with Llamas.
Steve Kennedy - Australia (March 98)