Argentina is world-renowned for its fine wine and meat, offered to visitors at bargain-basement prices unimaginable in the north of the Americas or in Europe. While the quality of traditional Argentine foodstuffs is high throughout the provinces of this vast country, there are other items which vary dramatically with geographical location. For example, European visitors spending extended periods of time in Buenos Aires tend to lament the lack of tasty chocolate on offer in the city (although it should be said that the Argentine sweet and cake alternatives are numerous, often filled with lashings of dulce de leche similar in flavour to caramel but slightly richer as an alternative to chocolate!) Furthermore, Quilmes, the ubiquitous Argentine staple where cervezas are concerned, whilst extremely cheap, leaves lovers of beer and ale decidedly underwhelmed.

For these reasons, lovers of chocolate and beer shouldn’t bypass the opportunity to sample the gastronomical delights on offer in the south of Argentina and the region of Rio Negro specifically. The city of San Carlos de Bariloche (more commonly referred to as just Bariloche) is famous for its chocolate in particular, and the main avenida is jam-packed with shops selling freshly-made chocolates, some of which can only be described as cocoa supermarkets! The chocolates come in all shapes and sizes with a mind-boggling array of flavours and fillings to choose from (the ice cream here is also not to be missed!). While the quality of the products in all the shops is generally excellent, favourite brands for many include Mamuschka (www.mamuschka.com) and Abuela Goye (www.abuelagoye.com.ar).

Tambopata National park in Peru is a beautiful green paradise, comprising 1.5 million acres of sub-tropical rainforest of the Madre de Dios and Puno regions.

Tambopata is internationally acclaimed as one of the most bio-diverse areas on earth. It is particularly famous for its monkeys, giant river otters, black caimans, capibaras, tapirs and hundreds of bird species.

A common ritual for many young Argentines on the back of completing their secondary school examinations, is a trip to the south of Argentina with nothing more than a carpa (or tent), mochila (back-pack) and a group of buenos amigos! This pilgrimage to the camping sites of Patagonia is, of course, not exclusive to young people from Argentina and they are joined by a smaller crowd of overseas travellers with similar aspirations. That said, some people visiting Argentina arrive without a tent (perhaps favouring the reasonably-priced hostel accommodation), and leave wishing they’d packed their camping equipment in order to get that little bit closer to Argentina’s natural wilderness. If you have got space for your camping gear this is a great way to explore the south of Argentina in particular, which is generally more expensive than other regions in the country (in terms of accommodation, eating out and day-to-day expenses).