Hola Argentina!

Yes, 'tis time to learn of the land where daughter Sharon is studying this semester.

Come with Conquistador Ma, as we travel and gain new knowledge, with a few of my own hypotheses thrown in. It'll be your job to decide which facts are true and which ones are somewhat made-up but completely plausible when you think of it from my warped perspective.

Here we go!

*sounds of classical guitar music*

Argentina is located at the bottom of South America, with the Pacific Ocean on the right (east) and that long, skinny, "Why-did-WE-get-stuck-with-the-Andes?" country to the left, (west) Chile. (by the way, ALWAYS remember to spell it with an "e" on the end, otherwise you will google up a LOT of restaurants)

Besides bordering Chili...I mean CHILE, Argentina is neighbor to Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay (and get that picture of the LOTR Urukai out of your HEAD, people!).

Those last two countries naturally bring up the question, "What on earth is a 'guay' ?"

Well, for starters, if you type in "Paraguay" at the Online Etymology Dictionary, you will come up with "petunia."

*refers back to Wikipedia*

It comes from an indigenous language--Guaraní--and means "river." So basically, we've got this "river thing" goin' on down in South America.

Now, the name "Argentina" comes from the Latin word argentum, which means "silver."

Huh. We can already see where THIS is going.

Spanish Conquistadors (means "conquerors," if you can be-lieve it)--who humbly referred to themselves as "explorers" when dealing with the natives--got the idea that there was silver 'round about these parts, possibly due to the fact that the Indians were wearing silver ornaments. (BIG mistake, guys...)

Naturally they thought to themselves, "Whoa! A bunch of innocent native types who could very well be corrupted by money and wealth if they ever found out how much this shiny stuff is worth....! We'd better come to their aid and take it off their hands, saving them untold future misery."

Well, it didn't take long for the conquistadors/explorers to discover the "Río de la Plata," which is Spanish for "Silver River." (after the 12th century, the word "plate" came to stand for gold or silver, particularly in Early Middle English--ya just gotta love this whole language/etymology business....I sure do :-)

After following the river up and up and up, the explorers finally reached the source of the silver, only to find that it had been claimed by.....get this, OTHER EXPLORERS!

Boy, were they ever sorry they had not called ahead.

But on a more positive note, Argentina is the eighth largest country in the world. So yes, it is even bigger than Texas. (though frankly, I don't think it's legitimate for Argentina to be placed behind Australia...I mean really, is it fair to be a country and a continent at the same time? Let the Aussies pick one or the other, fer cryin' out loud)

This could go on and on, but time and prudence (not to mention, reason) demand that we call a halt to Fun Argentine Facts for the time being.

Tune in next time when we discover why "Argentina is 'Bi' ."

(don't worry. really.)

Until then,

Hasta la vista
 

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