Hola from Argentina,
Travelling through Northern Argentina is reminiscent of travelling through outback Australia. It’s not just the similarities in the landscapes but also the laconic people, the urban hierarchies and the landuse. The resemblances in the natural and cultural phenomenon keep on coming.
The jagged edges and the red rock – the same iron deposits as in the Australian outback – are offset by the languid exotic rivers on sandy beds, flowing slowly through ancient gorges. And, there are the eucalyptus trees!
The transitions from one stark landscape to the next are gradual, as everywhere, but here in Argentina the distances are not quite so immense.
The vast pampas are the Argentinian plains, useful for broadacre grazing. This is where the Argentinians derive their predilection for great slabs of beef. The unreliable rain, the stunted tussocks and the lack of trees gives rise to a similar urban hierarchy to Australia’s, where the small and declining service centres struggle for existence these days.
Some in Argentina, just as some in Australia have done, have reinvented their raison d’etre to embrace the Sunday drivers, who might like to buy a woodwork item, some local wine or some leather goods, along with their coffee and lunch.
Even the topics of conversation seem to operate in parallel, dominated by weather and commodity prices. The languid approach to time, where slow and steady suits the agricultural lifestyle, is a virtue where there are no bells and no rigid timetables.
Both Australia and Argentina built economies on agriculture, and exports of excess production. The massive re-orientation of Australia’s economy in the mid-eighties saw some of the similarities diminish, but the attitudes and behaviours are still very similar.
Adios from Argentina
Gregorio