I was in Argentina from April 1, 1992 until February 9, 1994 as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (my mission began on January 29, 1992). My mission was called the Trelew Mission when I arrived but was changed to the Neuquen Mission about 6 months before I came home. The mission covered all of Argentina from the Rio Negro down. That area is generally called the Patagonia. It is very dry, sparsely populated and of a varying climate. It is very beautiful.
Before you start reading, I want to impress upon you the circumstances under which I served a mission. I volunteered to serve this mission and was called to the specific area. I had to learn Spanish and an entirely new culture. I paid my own way. No missionary for this Church is paid. Missionaries always work in pairs. There are a lot of reasons for that, but the biggest is that Christ set it up that way. Male missionaries (aged 19+) serve for a period of two years and female missionaries (aged 21+) for 18 months. All missionaries start their missions by going to a Missionary Training Center (MTC) for a short time to learn language and teaching skills. (For a brief explanation of what I taught on my mission, see my belifs page) I attended the MTC in Provo, Utah next to the beautiful campus of BYU.
This is going to be brief. Probably briefer than some would like. But, if I started to write all of my experiences here, I’d have to get out my mission journal and copy most of it here. You’d then have about 200 pages to read. I didn’t think that you’d want to read that much. Don’t get me started. I love Argentina and the people there. I don’t think that I’d ever stop writing if I were to try and capture all of my experiences here.
My first area was in Commodoro Rivadavia. It is on the seashore, south of Trelew in the province of Chubut. I was there for 6 months in a little barrio called Prospero Palazo, that is about ten minutes by bus from the main city. The barrio itself was pretty small, but we also covered the two neighboring barrios as well as one large barrio 6 miles closer to town and one barrio 4 miles farther away from us. We walked almost everywhere. The wind was terrible there. Because the roads, except for the main one were dirt, the wind would pick up little rocks and hurl them at us. I have a picture of a tree-lined plaza where all of the trees are growing at an angle. Trees don’t naturally grow at an angle. The wind caused them to grow that way.
My second area was San Carlos de Bariloche. 
It is on the Chilean border in Neuquen Province. It is know as the Swiss Alps of South America. I saw a lot of tourists there but not a lot of skiers or beautiful mountain passages. I worked in a poor section of the city and only saw the beautiful parts of Bariloche on commercials on other people’s TVs. I spent 6 months and my first Christmas there. 
Because it’s the Southern Hemisphere, it’s supposed to be summer then, right? Wrong. It snowed two days before Christmas. Bariloche is gorgeous. Even the few parts that I saw were incredible. If you ever get a chance to go there, take it. You won’t be disappointed.
From there, I went to a little area in the eastern Neuquen desert called Cholle Choel. It was a terrible little place but I spent two wonderful months there. It was the first time in over a year that I’d felt warm weather and it didn’t last long. One night it even snowed on us.
Next I traveled nearly 24 hours south to the end of the world and Rio Gallegos. It’s the last city on the Argentine side of the continent. 
My area included the island of Tierra del Fuego, but I never got to visit it. There are missionaries on the island at two different cities and they were in my zone, but we weren’t allowed to go to the island. To give you an idea of how far south I was with out looking at a map; Tierra del Fuego is about ½ hour by twin propeller plane from Gallegos and then if you keep going south for about another hour to hour and a ½, you’ll reach Antarctica. I spent my second winter there. The ground never thawed in the daytime. Dawn came about 10 am and dusk at 4 pm. The wind blew right through you. I was told that in the 80’s the wind would pick up small cars and turn them over. With all of the construction of tall apartment buildings since then, the wind has calmed down a bit. After a short two months, I was transferred north 18 hours to Caleta Olivia.
Caleta Olivia is about a ½ hour south and east from Commodoro Rivadavia. It was nice to be back in an area that I considered home. During my three months there, I got to see some of the members that I’d known and baptized in my first area. It was a great experience. I think that I could write nearly as much about Caleta Olivia as I could about either of my first two areas. It is next to the seashore and just gorgeous. Now I have to admit that I’m biased, not just because I was a missionary there, but because I grew up in Arizona. Caleta Olivia is like having the splendor of the desert next to the ocean. I had my second Christmas there and enjoyed it as much if not more than the first.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to spend my last month in Caleta Olivia. I was very disappointed when I first got the call that I was to be transferred up north to Roca in Rio Negro Province, but that all changed after a short time. I only had one month left in my mission and I didn’t know the members, area, my companion, etc. But I was determined to go out working. My companion had a different idea. He wanted to go lazy. I tried everything to get him to work, but he would take a nap after lunch and then say that he didn’t feel good and that he couldn’t work that afternoon and why didn’t we stay in the apartment that afternoon. So, I locked him in the apartment and found a member to go work with me. I worked hard that month and was happy. I left the mission field knowing that I had done what I was called to do and more.
If I were to try and explain what the mission meant to me, I don’t think that I could do it justice. I went out a boy. I came home a man. I learned how to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I learned so many valuable lessons for the rest of my life. I made up a saying while on my mission. It went something like this: You only have two years to be a missionary; you have the rest of your life to think about it. By that I mean to say that the time that you’re a missionary is very short, but its effect will carry through the rest of your life. I know that that’s certainly true about me.
The people of Argentina are mostly of European descent. I saw a lot of white people there, but they sure didn’t speak English. The main European group that mixed into the Latin émigrés is German. There are even some Germans who live there in communities where they don’t speak Spanish. There is a community like this outside of Bariloche. They make the best strudel and pastries. Yum, yum. I had a companion whose last name was Farley, but you couldn’t tell it from his tan skin, black hair and brown eyes. I also met a lady from Czechoslovakia (when it was called that).
They obviously speak Spanish and are very loving. Although they don’t have mariachi bands or burritos (more on that in a minute), they are very Latin. They are mostly Catholic, though the Protestant religions (of which we are not) are gaining size. They are an open and expressive people with a rich heritage: maybe you’ve heard of the Gaucho; surely you know that the Tango originated in Argentina; and who hasn’t heard the name of Peron, you know Evita – "Don’t Cry For Me Argentina." Yep, yep, yep.
Most of the food in Argentina is great. I’m going to tell you my don’ts first just to get them out of the way.
Morcilla or Blood Sausage: It is what it is.
Mondongo or Cow’s Intestinal Lining: If cooked just right, it can be tolerable. However, most people don’t cook it long enough and it is really chewy and gummy.
Kidneys: I would not like them in a box. I would not like them with a fox.
Cabeza de Chivo or Goat’s Head: Not on a train. Not in the rain.
The following are some foods that I strongly recommend.
Empanadas: They are small meat pastries that can be fried or baked. Interestingly, the baked ones fill you up faster than the fried ones.
Nokies: They are descended from an old German recipe. They are basically, mashed potatoes with flour added and boiled, served with a red meaty sauce.
Locro: I think that they are like hominy but I’m not sure. They are large kernels of corn, cooked in a yummy soup.
Dulce de Batata or Sweet Potato Jam: Yummy, yummy, yummy. They have this in a half chocolate version.
Dulce de Leche: The translation would be milk jam, but that doesn’t really work. It’s like caramel, but softer and spreadable. It also tastes better than caramel. It is becoming popular in America now but I doubt that we’ll ever see the real thing. The real stuff has ash in it and can’t be imported for that reason. But OH is it heaven.
Mate (MA-TAY the accent is on the first syllable): An herbal tea that is best drunk from a gourd through a special straw called a bombilla. You can buy it in bulk or in tea sachets. The first time I tried it, my companion told me to try it straight with no sugar. It was very bitter. It takes a while, but the taste will grow on you. Mate is also a very important part of Argentina’s culture. Everyone drinks it. I mean everyone. From the highest executive to the lowliest street sweeper, everyone drinks mate. It is usually used as an excuse to go hang out at someone’s house. If someone comes over, you get out the mate and drink together. Yes, from the same gourd. Someone heats the water until it is just about to boil and then fills the gourd. It is impolite to give the first mate to a guest because it’s very sour. After the first one, the gourd is refilled and passed to another person. This continues for hours. It’s a conversation facilitator.
Eat anything else not on the don't list. Argentines like to eat meat and potatoes when available or european dishes that very similar to what we eat in America.
Sur del Sur- All English. This is a great page dedicated to Argentina's history and culture and everything else about Argentina. It's received numerous awards both at home and abroad. The Argentine Secretary of Culture awarded the company that made it, because it represents Argentina so well.
Latin World- Some is in Spanish and some in English. Latin World is a general site with info about Latin American countries. This link will take you to their Argentina page. I think that the best information on this site relates to business.
Escape Artist- English and Spanish. Another great page with good info on my second home.
Index.AR- Spanish. A pretty good index of information on Argentina.
Mission Neuquen - This page is dedicated to the men and women who served in the Argentina Neuquen Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Food, Images, Geography, Stats- Some Spanish parts. 95% English
History and Culture with images. - Lots of information for someone interested in the beauty of Argentina, especially if you were going to travel there.
Argentine Tourism, Services and Shopping Guide- English and Spanish versions. Mostly just tourism stuff.
The Vanished Gallery- English and Spanish. From 1976-1983 The military dictatorship of Argentina abducted people that it felt were a "national threat." Thousands of men, women and children dissapeared without a trace and haven't been heard from since. This site is dedicated to their memory.
A Reference Guide to Argentina - This is laundry list of links. Some are good and some are useless. If you are looking for any of the following things and you read Spanish and have the time to fish, you are sure to find it here. Arts and Humanities, Economy and Finances, Education and Academic Research, General Information, Health, Human Rights, Internet and Connections, Magazines, Museums, Newspapers and other information sites, Political Parties, Radio Stations, Science and Technology, Sports, Travel and Tourism.