Argentina is located in South America. The capital of Argentina is Buenos Aires which is located in the northeastern part of Argentina. The countries that border it are Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Brazil, and Uruguay. Iguazu Falls is a famous waterfall located in the Argentine province of Misiones. Sierras de Cordoba is a famous mountain range located in central Argentina, it is located between the Pampas. The Pampas are a large area of lowlands in Argentina. It is a very good area for farming and agriculture. Gauchos are present in the Pampas. Gauchos are Argentine cattlemen, basically like and American cowboy. If you were to go to Patagonia, you could see and find a lot of amazing things. One of which being lots of mountains, it is a beautiful place to hike or just visit. The tango is a ballroom dance that was originated in the capital city of Argentina, Buenos Aires. Argentina's main language is Spanish but they have a certain pronunciation to their words. Argentines pronounce the "ll" as "sh" instead of the normal "y".

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the beautiful and big capital of Argentina. The citizens of Buenos Aires are referred to as Portenos, meaning "person of the port." Portenos have a different slang, way of dress and way of life. The portenos in particular love to tango, it is the most popular form of dance in Buenos Aires. La Boca is considered the most beautiful neighborhood in Buenos Aires. La Boca means "the mouth" because it was the mouth of the river known as Riachuelo. Buenos Aires has many tourist attractions. La Casa Rosada (the Pink House) is a government building in Buenos Aires, kind of like the White House in America. It is where the president works and where many executive decisions are made. A legend states that the building is pink because a president wished to unite the two political parties, one of which had a main color of white and the other red, so he mixed them, making the building pink. Another very popular attraction you can see in Buenos Aires is El Obelisco. It is a 223 foot tall column in the city that doesn't really have any historical significance or purpose. Many citizens of Buenos Aires say that the tower represents their society. There are also a few very famous people from Argentina such as Diego Maradona, Carlos Gardel and Lionel Messi. Carlos Gardel is a famous singer/songwriter who wrote very popular tango songs. Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi are both very successful soccer players from Argentina. Buenos Aires has so much to offer and we can see this from just their way of life

History of Argentina

Buenos Aires has a very rich history. There have been many good moments and many bad moments in their history. A lot has happened over the last 100 years in Argentina. One thing that happened from 1976-1983 is the Dirty War. The Dirty War began in 1976. General Jorge Videla attempted to stop guerilla activity that had become out of control at the time. The military regime kidnapped, tortured and killed guerillas, their families and sympathizers. These people became known as los desaparecidos or the disappeared because a lot of them were never found or it is unknown what happened to them. It is thought that up to 30,000 Argentines were killed. Argentina also fought another war known as the Falklands War which was fought against the United Kingdom for around 10 weeks up until the Argentine surrender in 1982. The war was fought over the Falkland Islands which are still a British territory today.

Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls spans over an area of 1.6 miles and contains 275 waterfalls. The tallest of the waterfalls is called the Devil's Throat which drops more than 262 feet. Garganta del Diablo is a 1 kilometer long pathway that leads to the Devil's Throat. This makes Iguazu Falls almost twice as tall and three times as wide as Niagara Falls. About 52972 cubic feet of water flows every second. There is a legend that goes along with Iguazu Falls that is known as the Guarani Legend of Iguazu Falls. It states that Naipi was to be married to Taruba who was a great warrior, they were madly in love. A few weeks before they were to be married she was walking alongside a river and the Serpent God M'Boi saw her reflection in the river and thought she was beautiful. He demanded that the tribe give her to him. SInce they were afraid of him, they agreed to give her to him the day before she was to marry Taruba. Naipi and Taruba were obviously upset, so they made arrangements to meet up at the Iguazu River and run away. M'Boi saw Naipi getting into the canoe with Taruba and grew angry, he tried to catch up to them. Taruba rowed and was able to keep space between them and M'Boi. He grew angrier and his body grew to the size of the river. He squirmed, causing new curves in the river. M'Boi then forced the earth to split, Taruba was knocked out of the canoe and thrown to the river bank while Naipi was trapped inside, he changed her into a large rock. Taruba saw this and tried to rush to her but M'Boi pulled his hands into the earth. His fingers turned into roots and Taruba turned into a palm tree. M'Boi's form of revenge was separating the two by a waterfall so they could see each other but not touch. Naipi and Taruba still show their love by spreading a rainbow from one side of the rainbow, starting at the palm tree, to the other side, ending at the rock.
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