The Best of Two Worlds

Do not dare shed a tear for Argentina. If you decide to travel there, you will shed plenty of tears--most before you arrive.

I'm not saying that Argentina--one of the most prosperous nations in South America--isn't worth visiting. It is. The country offers the traveler the best of two words: the cosmopolitan splendor of downtown Buenos Aires and the folksy charm of the nation's interior.

But getting where you want in a country the approaches the United States in size but not in infrastructure may test even the most patient visitor.

Few airlines service Argentina and those that do rarely make the trip comfortable. A round trip ticket on Air Paraguay cost $745 during the summer of 1990, and that was at a substantial discount.

The service on board wasn't much better than the price. The flight was a seven-hour test of strength from Miami to Buenos Aires with a stop in Asuncion, Paraguay, and the plane was packed.

Forty-two rows of seats had been squeezed into an airplane that surely would have contained fewer than 30 rows if it were owned by a U.S. carrier. The result: Many passengers assumed a variation of the lotus position in their seats.

The traveler that survives the flight and the airplane food faces an important choice on arrival: stay in the city of Buenos Aires or head for the heart of the country of 30 million, the interior.

Buenos Aires is probably the best choice if you have money to spend.

First class hotels abound, and it's a shopping paradise, with air-conditioned department stores as well as lively street vendors.

Getting around town isn't very difficult, although bus drivers do drive with a reckless abandon that would awe even a Boston native.

Most of the theaters, shopping plazas and historic sites-including monuments to revolutionary hero Jose de San Martin and writer-president Domingo Sarmiento--are within walking distance of the city's center.

Buenos Aires is nice, but only the bold traveler who journeys to the country's interior and explores its small villages--where meat-packing is often the primary pastime--will gain a real understanding of daily life in Argentina.

Indeed, touring the heart of Argentina can be a pleasant experience if you go by bus. Passenger trains are virtually non-existent, and planes are rarely on time, but Argentinian buses are cheap, clean and comfortable.

The equivalent of about 15 bucks will buy a bus trip to many of the hamlets--and wheat fields and cows--scattered across the Argentinian pampas.

When you arrive at one of these towns, avoid the efficient stores with the modern looking merchandise. Instead, search out the family bakery with the dirtiest floor and buy a few loaves of fresh bread. The people are friendly; they may even invite you into their living quarters, invariably located behind the store.

These small towns are the best places to truly find Argentina. You will find children who still play "futbol" in the fields (that's soccer to you gringos), families that still attend Mass and, if you're lucky, people who still eat only what they grow.