Life in South America: what should you expect?

The main country of residence for me was Argentina. The move to Argentina was spontaneous. The company where my husband works needed someone to work in Buenos Aires, which is about the same time zone as New York. We were offered a relocation. The trip was to be in 3 weeks. We thought for only a few hours and agreed. We packed our bags, said goodbye to relatives and friends and headed off to the land of steaks, tango and wine.

Argentina

A former colony of Spain, the most developed country in South America, survived two defaults, and the main exporter of beef, I was pleasantly surprised by nature, but nothing more. I had the impression that Argentina was in the Ukrainian 90s. Supermarkets have huge racks of yupi and kids on the streets playing yo-yo. Prices for food are three times higher than in Ukraine, while their quality is much lower than ours. In supermarkets, if you pay with a bank card, it is obligatory to show your passport, indicate your passport number, date of birth and signature on the receipt. This is done to prevent payment with stolen cards.

You have to be careful in Buenos Aires. In my first week in the city center, a guy on a motorcycle snatched my phone out of my hands. The police shrugged their shoulders and said they couldn't help. As in all tourist cities, foreigners are tried to cheat and scam people out of money.

Also Buenos Aires cannot boast of cleanliness in the city. In the center, it is not uncommon to find mountains of garbage and sleeping homeless people. But the most important thing is to watch your step. Argentines are very fond of dogs, but not so fond of cleaning up after them.

In Argentina, social support for the poor is developed at the state level, there is a lot of advertising about it and appeals to citizens to help the needy. That is why homeless people live quite well here. They are fed once a day with a full three-course meal at the expense of the state, people bring them mattresses, warm blankets, pillows, clothes and food. There is an interesting law in Argentina regarding the rent of housing for the poor: if you rented an apartment to a family, and its breadwinner is unemployed or one of the family members is terminally ill, then this family can live in your apartment until their financial situation improves. You can only evict them through the court. Many people actively use this law and live for free in other people's houses for several years. Therefore, to rent a long term housing in Buenos Aires is a problem. Landlords are simply afraid to rent to strangers.

But apart from the disadvantages, Buenos Aires and Argentina as a whole have many pluses. Nature alone is worth a lot. Here you can wake up to the cry of parrots, and fall asleep to red sunsets. Sunsets here are simply amazing, I have never seen such in any other place. In the north of Argentina there is a unique natural complex of 275 waterfalls, which merge into one whole.

The Iguazu Falls are one of the Seven New Wonders of the World. And I can see exactly why. It's an amazing sight to watch tons of water coming down with a huge roar. At that moment I found myself thinking that I want to jump into the abyss of water, so sucked in by this sight. Besides waterfalls, you can walk through the real jungle and see birds, butterflies, rhinoceros, and monkeys. The complex of waterfalls is located on the two banks of the Parana River, which divides Argentina and Brazil. Many argue about which side of the waterfalls is the best to see. My opinion: you should visit both sides, because from the Brazilian side you can see the waterfalls, and from the Argentine side you can feel them.

Another unique natural place is Patagonia. This is a region of virgin, untouched nature, which Jules Verne and St. Exupery described in their novels. I traveled all over Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego starting from the southernmost point - the city of Ushuaia.

It is the gateway to Antarctica and the last southern city of our planet. Only small islands and glaciers behind. Further on I moved along the Andes mountain range to the north. Went trekking to the two famous mountain systems of Torres del Paine (Chile) and Fitzroy (Argentina). Each trek to the summit lasted about 12 hours and was quite hard. But the views were amazing. Every person should climb these mountains at least once in his life. It is from these places that the photos from Windows screensavers were taken.

Another Windows screensaver location in Patagonia is the Perito Moreno Glacier. It is the third largest fresh water reserve in the world and reaches 80 meters in height. The glacier is constantly in motion and travels a daily distance of 2 kilometers to the shore, causing it to melt and break off at the edge. The blocks of ice fall into the water with a huge cracking sound. And at first you see the glacier breaking off and a few seconds later you only hear the cracking sound.

Patagonia is an amazing place to travel. You can drive 800 kilometers a day, there will be only pampa, guanacos, ostriches, hares and foxes running around. And you will not meet a single town, village or even a hut, there are no people around, and not even once during this time you may not meet a car with other tourists.

I finished my Patagonia trip in the cute Argentine town of Bariloche. It doesn't look like a typical Latin American town at all. It reminds me very much of a European city because of its architecture. And it is not for nothing that Germans fled to this region after the Second World War. There are even legends that Hitler fled here and here is his tomb. But the locals deny this information. In addition to the Nazis, the town is famous for its ski resort in winter, and in summer for the road along the seven lakes. It's also where chocolate is produced, and Argentina is in trouble with it. They sell chocolates by the piece, not as we are used to kilograms. The most famous chocolate brand in Bariloche is called "Mamushka", and its logo is in the form of a Russian matryoshka doll. And Argentines sincerely believe that matryoshkas are a purely Argentine invention, and they sell them as national souvenirs.

Besides Patagonia, I was impressed with Bolivia and the Altiplano. This is a place I would love to return to several more times. It is here that the largest Uyuni salt marsh in the world is located.

Altiplano itself is a huge plain at an altitude of 4 thousand above sea level and completely surrounded by the Andes. Here you can see an island with giant cacti, visit the desert, climb the crater of an active volcano with a geyser, sleep in hotels built of salt, admire colorful lagoons and watch flocks of flamingos in the natural environment. But, the most fantastic thing here is the stars. I have never seen stars so close and so clearly. This region has a unique climate zone. That's why the most modern Observatory in the world was even built here.

I also climbed Machu Picchu, visited the highest mountainous Lake Titicaca, attended Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, and took a ferry to Uruguay. After so much traveling in that region, I can definitely say why you should go to South America is to see the unique nature and feel the local atmosphere.

But I want to tell you that South Americans are different in mentality from us, but, by the way, they are also different from each other. The representatives of Argentina and Uruguay regard themselves more as Europeans and are proud of their colonialist origins. But at the same time they do not have the restraint, meticulousness, pedantry and thrift peculiar to Europeans. They are quite open, on the second day of acquaintance they invite you to visit them. Sociable - the average conversation lasts at least half an hour, regardless of who it is with. They are very slow and quite lazy, because of this in these countries everywhere huge queues, especially at bus stops and supermarkets. But you can learn from them the ability to relax. Their main way to relax is music and dancing. Even in a government organization like our passport office, women sit at their desks with portable music speakers and work to their favorite music. Sometimes they may even dance. Every party with friends ends with dancing. And far from the classical tango, as we want to believe, but a mixture of salsa, samba, tango and some other African motifs. Tango dance remained more for tourists to attract attention and make money. Modern young people practically do not dance tango.

The inhabitants of Peru and Bolivia in turn differ from the Argentines and Uruguayans. On the contrary, they are proud of their Indian ancestry, cherish and honor the traditions of their ancestors. Their lifestyle has not changed much over the last century. They still farm, grow vegetables and breed llamas and alpacas. In Bolivia, for example, there are 38 different large tribes with their own language, religion and way of life.

It was only in 2009 that a constitution was adopted granting these residents the status of Bolivian citizens. Until then, they were undocumented and had no rights to reside on their territory. In terms of character, Bolivians and Peruvians are calmer than we are and more patient.

If we talk about Chileans, they are temperamental and emotional. It is worth noting that they have taken an orientation on the USA and introduce changes in laws similar to the American ones, which significantly moderates their hot temper and limits freedom, but improves the quality of life. In Brazil, on the contrary, the economic situation is worsening. However, this does not affect the usual image of Brazilians and their love for noisy festivities like Carnival. The dark-skinned population dominates here, and the African heritage is felt in the dances and style of dress. They also speak Portuguese rather than dialects of Spanish like the rest of South America.

As for the language, it is quite difficult to be in South America without knowing Spanish. Almost no one speaks English, so I had to explain everything literally on my fingers. While in Argentina, I tried to learn Spanish, but I encountered a problem: the teaching materials are presented in classical Spanish, which is quite different from Argentinean Spanish. In Argentina they speak an ancient dialect - castichano. So, unfortunately, I never fully mastered the language.

But having visited these countries, having seen the untouched impressive nature, having communicated with the locals and even having found real friends there, having tasted the local cuisine and being imbued with their culture, I realize that this trip has changed me. I had a new experience, changed my views on life, reduced the number of stereotypes and, of course, added emotions, impressions and energy.