Argentina





Hola Bienvenida Ir a Argentina

=** Argentina's Physical Features **=

Argentina is a country located in South America; its capital is Buenos Aires. Argentina's major include; Iruya, Tilcara, Salta, Catamarca, La Rioja, San Juan, Mendoza, Neuquén, San Carlos de Bariloche, Ushuaia, Formosa, Cordoba, Rosario, and La Plata. It's bordering countries and bodies of water from the north are Bolivia and Paraguay, from the east Brazil, Uruguay, and the Atlantic Ocean, from the south Chile, and from the west Chile. It's population in 2001 was 36,737,664.

=Flora = Argentina is quite green, it's filled with trees like ginkoes, oaks, blue blossomed, and chinaberry, but most of the trees are brought from other countries. Wheat, corn, and alfalfa are found in Pampas, Mesopotamia and northern Pantagonia. Linseed, Flaxseed and sunflowers grown in eastern Pampas. Oranges, lemons, grapefruit, bananas, and sugar cane are found in North West Pampas. Grape vines can be found in the Andes. Argentine farmers in the North grow many varieties of tea leaves. Tea isn't as popular as mate,a bitter drink thats leaves come from an evergreen bush called the yerba mate. In the West of Argentina there's the Neneo bush, in the center there is the ombu.

=Fauna= Argentina is the home of many animals such as the andean condor, the largest bird of prey in the world. It's wingspan is 3.6 meters wide, amazing! It lives in the high cliffs of the andes, sadly this bird is endagered because of habitat loss, and hunting. Another bird would be the Nandu, this bird looks quite like an ostrich, and like an ostrich it can't fly, instead they run around the countryside with their powerful legs. Nandus were also a favorite food of the gauchos and native Argentines. There are few of these birds left, but are being protected by hunters. Yet another bird is the hornero, a.k.a. oven birds, making their nests on fences and oven posts. The nests look like beehive-shape ovens that Argentines used. Hornero is Spanish for  behive ovens, but they are normally called oven birds. Fianlly, a nonbird animal! The armadillo, armadillo in spanish means little armored one. It has armor like plates to protect it's body, it'll scruch it's self into a ball, so enemies won't hurt them. They are nocturnal animals. Camels are also found in Argentina, there is the guanaco, vicuna, alpaca, and the llama. These types of camels don't have humps, but they can survive extremely hot weather. The guanaco and the vicuna are valued for their coats. The llama works as a pack animal, the alpaca is raised for it's wool. And the other two are domesticated. Every year thousands of elephant seals make their home on Argentina's atlantic coast. These seals are called elephant seals because of their dangling noses.Male elephant seals are much larger than female elephant seals. The enormous males can weigh up to 3,500 kg, and reach up to 6.5 meters. Magellanic penguins construct their nests, lay their eggs, and raise their young on the south of the penninsula. Other animals that live in Argentina are cows, the South american coral snake, sea lions, foxes, Southern right whales, and sheep.



Food
In Argentina meat is very popular, beef mostly. It's not strange for argentines to dine on beef twice a day. Favorite beef dishes include carbonada criolla, which is made of minced beef, bife a caballo is a steak topped with a fried egg. Pucheros, stews normally made with chicken and vegetables, and locros, or stews of native origin made with corn, and vegetables are also popular. Most community and family gatherings in Argentina are are marked with a barbecue called an asado. An asado needs an open air roasting pit, a large fire with hot coal, and big slices of meat that are cooked whole on a spit. Argentines adore wine, and have one of the world's biggest wine industries. Thousands of people from the country come to handpick the grapes in Mendoza, San Juan, Salta, and San Rioja. =Festivals= Argentines are quite festive, they celebrate many holidays and festivals such as carnival. Carnival is a festival that takes place during February or March. It leads up to Lent, a six weeks period in which Roman Catholics fast, Lent prepares Roman Catholics for Easter, it also marks the death and coming back to life of Jesus Christ. Carnival is popular because of it's tasty foods, filled with music parades, bright decorative costumes. Children and Adults dress up in costumes. Christmas is also a huge thing in Argentina, Christmas marks the birth of Jesus Christ. families put up Christmas trees and send cards, childrean wait for santa claus to come with presents. During Christmas it's actually summer, because Argentina lies on the southern half of the world! Christmas lasts for weeks. The celebrations begin on Christmas Eve, families go to church at midnight for Midnight Mass. After that you enjoy a dinner and you enjoy a special dinner, then santa comes but the kids have to wait till midnoght to open their gifts. Day of the kings, which takes place on January is one of the last Christmas celebrations.It's about the the three kings that visited Jesus. Kids leave their best shoes windowsills or outside their front doors, they leave cookies for the kings and water for their camels, the kings leave small presents in their shoes in return.

=Argentine Spanish=

Argentine Spanish is different than the Spanish they speak in Spain. The Spanish sounds more Italian, because of the millions of Italian immigrants who came to Argentina and added their own words and pronunciations as they learned to speak Spanish. Argentines also use the old fashioned grammar that the Spanards stopped using hundreds of years ago. =Daily Life= Family and friends are something very important to Argentines. Argentine children, parents, grandparents,and aunts and uncles traditionally, and normally live in the same house. Now it's quite common for parents and children to live apart form other family memebers especially in the city. The kitchen is like the family gathering place. Families have a meal together in the evening, and once in a while, the family eats out at a restaurant called a parilla, parilla's specialize in grilled meats. Friends and neighbors are guests in Argentine homes. Normally when they get together there is a barbecue ofbeef or chicken. After the barbecue they sing popular folksongs, but not a cappela, accompanied by the music of the guitar, bobmbo drums,or flute. But, like most get togethers, the main activity is talking, especially about politics and sports. An important part of the get togethers is drinking a bitter drink called mate. This drink is made from the dried leaves of the yerba mate bush. Native Argentines introduced mate to European settlers many years ago. Mate is drunk through a metal bombilla straw, the bombilla has a strainer at the bottom so the leaves in the gourd and out the persons mouth. At the gathering the server pours the freshly made mate into a cup and gives it to the guest, after the guest drinks the mate, the server refills the cup and gives to another guest on the other guest's left, and it's passed on until every one hes drank. It is considered rude to refuse to drinkmate, to wipe the bombilla before you drink, or to spend too long sipping on your serving. =School= One of the most imporant things to Argentines is a good education. Argentina is filled with middle and high schools, and not to mention universities, for free! There are private schools, which you pay to attend. Argentines must attend school from ages 6 to 16. There were times when children had to drop out of school to support their families. Now more and more kids are finishing middle school. In Argentina, the day at school is broken into two four-shifts. 50% of the students go to school from eight a.m until noon, the others go from one p.m to five p.m. Some children bike, walk, or take the city bus or subway to school. Some ride a combi. Parents arrange this special type of school bus to pick up and drop them off the students everyday. At school students, learn history, science, geography, literacy, mathematics, art, and languages such as German, Italian, English, and French. Younger students have a short recess. During recess they go to the playground to climb, play in sandboxes, jumprope, or play wit a ball. Older students have short periods to rest alittle bit in between classes. Most schools have a uniform. Kindergarten students wear light pastel colours or pink. Elementary and middle school students can be known by their simple wight frocks. Uniforms are mostly a white shirts, ties, blazers, black shoes, and pants for boys and skirts for girls, but that uniform is mostly worn is private schools that have a uniform.
 * English || Spanish ||
 * Yes || Si ||
 * no || no ||
 * hello || hola ||
 * goodbye || adios or chau ||
 * see you later || hasta luego ||
 * good morning || buenos dias ||
 * good afternoon || buenas tardas ||
 * good evening || buenas noches ||
 * please || por favor ||
 * thank you || gracias ||
 * you're welcome || de nada ||
 * excuse me || disculpe ||
 * how do you do? || mucho gusto? ||
 * I don't understand || no entiendo ||

=Sports= Argentines like basketball and rugby, but most of all they love...soccer! Argentina's official soccer team is Asociacion del futbol Argentino, which is playing in the world cup. Soccer has been been popular since the English introduced it. Horseback riding and racing is also respected. Some of the world's best players are from Argentina! Plus Argentine ponies are wanted all over the world for their strength.

=Art= The Native people were the first artists of Agentina. They made ceramics, woodcarvings, metalwork, and other crafts. They created everyday appliances, and items for special occasions. Decorations were based their religions, and tales that were passed on from generation to generation. In the 1500s, Roman Catholic religious subjects became common Argentine artwork, such as the New Testament. In the 1800s artists in Argentina started to express their feelings and selve in their art. Nat//ive artisans of the North use the same teqnique as their ancestors. For instance, the artisans of the Mataco people are known for their beautiful carvings of animals and birds.The woods theyuse are naturally green, red, yellow, black or brown,and are decorated with small pieces of bone. Native artisans also used to make the special cup and straw for mate (I shouldnțtexplain mate all over again). The traditional cup is made from gourd that is decorated with gold or silver, but someare made completely from precious metals.The bombillas (you should rember what that is) are also sometimes completely mad fr gold or silver too,and they are beautifuly decorated. Some of the earliest painting subjets were paintings of gauchos, the Argentine version of cowboys. Most of these paintings were created by Prilidiano Pueyrredonn (1823-70), many think him as one of Argentina's firt magor artrists. Other painters painted scenes of everyday life in Argentina. Since the late 19th century Argentine artists have used many styles, some artists have traveled to Europe and come back with fresh new ideas. Candido Lopes (1840-1902) painted big, detailed, scenes of war. Antonio Berni (1905-1981) made murals, and paintings portraying a life of poverty. Today's artists of Argentina include: Luis Benedit, Guillermo Kuitca, and Alfredo Prior. They are know for their unusual paintings, and disorted pictures of everyday objects. La Boca is originally the home of many Italian immigrants, and is one of the most famous neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires. In fact painter Quiquela Martin grew up in La Boca in the1900s. His colourful and famous paints of the port and it's workers encouraged people in La Boca to paint their houses bright colours. Now La Boca is where many artists live, including: dancers, mucicians, painters, photoraphers, sculptors. La Boca even has an outdoor artist market!//

=Music= In Argentina music is everywhere, on the streets, in homes, most family memebers sing or play an instrument. Musical performances are a regular part of holidays and festivals. And peolple who live in the city regularly go to concerts. Styles of music in Argentina include: Folk music blends with Native Argentine and Spanish music, with music from other South American countries and Africa. Classical music from Europe, and Argentine rock music is also quite popular. Argentine folk sigers have entertained people for many years, in the countryside and the city. Their songs tell tales of love, and old stories from Argentine history and folklore. But these singers aren't alone, instruments such as guitars, violins, and traditional instruments such as the quena, or flute, the charango, a stringed instrument made from the shell of an aramdillo, the siku, or pan flute, and bombos, or drums. The bandoneon, is the most popular instrument in Argentine music. This instrument is similar to the acordian, but instead of long keys, there are buttons on the sides, when pressed they play notes. It's sound comes from air that is sucked in or squeezed outof bellows. A bandoneon bellows are very wide, and can be stretched to very wide lengths, before their squeezed back together again.

=Clothing= Traditinal Argentine clothing is worn on special occasions, in everyday life Argentines wear clothing like the clothing worn in Europe. However some people in the remote parts of the country side of the country side wear traditional clothing more often. An example of a common piece of traditional clothing would be the poncho. It is a rectangular piece of cloth with a little hole in the middle for the head, in fact it's a quite simple piece of clothing. A good poncho may be handmade from the wool of a vinuna. Most ponchos are quite colourful with many pattern. The colours and patterns on a ponchos can indicate where the person wearing the poncho is from. Ponchos used worn only by heroes, now everybody wears them.