Argentina (continued)

Mendoza was a pretty cool place. It`s actually a college town. What made it different then Chile was that the place had a more European feel to it. Chile feels like it`s caught between North America and Europe while Argentina is clearly culturally with Europe.

Also interesting was the number of old run down cars in Argentina. Chile has a free trade agreement with the US so they get new cars all the time but Argentina has huge trade barriers against cars and you can see how old and decrepit they are.

It also seems like Argentina is a little poorer then Chile. Although, I've heard it said that culturally Argentineans think themselves as wealthy, because earlier in the century the country had the 11th strongest economy in the world.

Another thing that I noticed is that Argentineans seem to be a lot more social than Chileans. Every Argentinean I spoke to seemed really excited to meet someone from the states. Chileans, in comparison, seem to be a bit timid and more self-absorbed. I wonder if that's a result of the dictatorship?