Remarkable Argentina - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 330

23. Remarkable Argentina
Yes! Please Cry for Me, Argentina
By any measure, Argentina is a remarkable country. With a population of more than 41 mil-
lion, it is the largest Spanish-speaking country in South America. More than 97 percent of
its adult population is literate, and more than 97 percent is of European descent. The highest
peak on the continent, Aconcagua, rises on its western border, and in Tierra del Fuego is
Ushuia, the southernmost city in South America. Argentina's capital city, Buenos Aires, is
often described as the Paris of South America: a city of wide boulevards, lively sidewalks
and café life, elegant shops, and smartly dressed strollers. Tree-lined streets and a wide vari-
ety of neighborhoods (from shabby, working-class warrens to elegant apartment houses) re-
inforce the idea that Buenos Aires is the Paris of South America. Its opera house, the Teatro
Colon, begun in 1895 and finished in 1898, reflects France's Belle Epoch : six balconies dec-
orated in gold leaf and a lobby that calls to mind the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. The city's
pedestrian street, Calle Florida, overflows with shoppers, business people, sidewalk enter-
tainers, gypsy mothers soliciting coins on behalf of their infants, and store clerks standing in
front of their shops, competing for tourist attention. (A useful strategy for those seeking to
avoid solicitation is to carry a folded local newspaper in hand and in plain sight.) Self-ref-
erential is the term often used to describe Portenos , the people of Buenos Aires. More psy-
chiatrists and plastic surgeons practice here than in all the rest of South America combined.
And the country's icons are famous around the world: tango, gaucho , Juan and Evita Peron.