Country topics
Geography
The major characteristic of the Argentine geography is the vast diversity offered by the Eastern plains and the magnificent Andes Mountains on the west. The latter host Mount Aconcagua reaching a 6.959 meter-height, and being regarded as the highest peak in the Western hemisphere.
The Andes Mountains extending alongside Jujuy up to Tierra del Fuego offer an amazing variety in terms of landscape: from the desertic Northwest high plateaus where valleys, quebradas and colorful hills can be found, up to the Patagonia lakes, woods and glaciers region.
The following are some of the most beautiful places in Argentina: the snow-capped mountains in San Carlos de Bariloche, the Atlantic Coast beaches, the Iguazú Falls, the Perito Moreno Glacier, the Quebrada de Humahuaca and a wide range of National Parks, all of them being regarded as some of the beauties that can be enjoyed while visiting Argentina, a country that offers diversity and triggers breathtaking sensations.
Climate
In Argentina there exists a wide spectrum of climates ranging from temperate and wet in the Pampeana plains region, cold and humid in Patagonia´s western area, subtropical in the Mesopotamia Northern region to warm climate in the Northwest area. The mean temperature from November to March is 23° C, and the one recorded from June to September is that of 12° C.
Language
Spanish is the official language spoken in the Argentine Republic. In Buenos Aires it may adopt a slang type, which is the jargon spoken in the Porteño environment.
The country´s vast areas, the existence of several linguistic substrata resulting from the variety of Amerindian languages and the manifold contributions of Vernacular languages spoken by the European immigrants at the end of the XIX century and beginning of the XX have given rise to various dialectal forms.
The one acknowledged abroad as being typically Argentine is the Rioplatense Spanish having been strongly influenced by the Italian language. The above mentioned dialect adopts the "Vos" form for the personal pronoun"You", which is translated as "Tu" in the other Latin American countries. The usage of the "vos" form is very common, even in the most formal language registers.
The guarani language (avañe'ë) is spoken in the Northeast provinces of Chaco, Formosa, Misiones and particularly in Corrientes. The quechua language is spoken by a large number of speakers in the province of Santiago del Estero. Guarani, Quechua and Aymara speaking communities may be found in the outskirts of the largest urban conglomerates, arising from the ongoing migration waves coming from the Argentine Northeast region, Paraguay, Bolivia and Perú.
Population
Argentina has a current population recording a slightly more than 36 million inhabitants, almost half of them living in Capital Federal and in the province of Buenos Aires. These figures reveal a 13 inhabitant-per square km density. With the advent of the Spanish immigration- the cross-bred- resulting from a cross-breeding process between white and indian races gradually faded away, and it nowadays accounts for 4.5% of the Argentine population. The pure indian population comprising indian tribes such as mapuches, collas, tobas, matacos and chiriguanos, among others, accounts for 0.5% of the inhabitants living in Argentina.
Telecommunications
Argentina offers several types of telephone services comprising a landline or domicile telephone connection reaching 75% of the population and stores where local, national or international phone calls may be made, these stores being referred to as "locutorios". The mailing service is available in all the country, Correo Argentino being its major supplier. More than 200 newspapers are sold in Argentina, the main ones being Clarin,which is the most widely circulating newspaper, and La Nacion being published in Buenos Aires. There exist almost 1500 radio stations, 260 of which having an amplitude modulated system and some 1150 where programs are broadcast by using a frequency modulated system. The main television signals broadcast from Buenos Aires are: Channel 13, América TV, Telefe, Channel 9 and Channel 7, the latter being state-owned and the only one broadcasting exclusively at a national level. Similarly, Argentina stands out, as it has a large number of cable TV channels.
According to 2001 data, most homes are provided with a television set and 54% of them is supplied with a cable TV service, which is the highest rate recorded in Latin America. By the end of 2002, there existed 3.8 million computers in Argentina and in 2005 the internet service became available to 26.3% of the population currently having over 10 million users.
