Original subtitles

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

- Is Argentina on your bucket list?

From the continent's tallest mountain

to the oceans' gentle giants,

it's where people play on the wind,

trains chase history,

and kids chase glory.

It can look otherworldly,

but it's one of the most scenic places on the planet.

We're starting in the heartland,

a place Argentina calls the Pampas.

Here, soccer stars are larger than life,

tango dancing pops up everywhere,

and frontier traditions are flat-out fun.

Wait, another mural?

They just love 'em here,

especially in the irresistible city of Buenos Aires.

From up high, we'll give you the down low

on the country, the city,

and the stories that radiate in every direction.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

[indistinct chanting]

- Buenos Aires, June 10, 2021.

The city erupts in wild celebration.

The Argentine soccer team

has just defeated its archrival, Brazil,

to win the Copa America.

This is when you get a true sense

of Argentinian passion and spirit

in the city that's the heart of the nation.

Argentina is on the Atlantic coast of South America.

The heartland region is called the Pampas,

and on the coast is the nation's most famous city,

Buenos Aires.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

Some just call it BA,

and it's packed with people, history,

and plenty of temptations.

The city is double the size of Paris

and Argentines might argue twice as beautiful.

Each neighborhood has its own flavor,

style, and story, which we'll get to.

But we'll start at the center,

the Obelisk.

When it's not hosting a wild soccer celebration,

it's still a central beacon of the city.

Erected in 1936

to commemorate the city's 400th birthday,

it's been a gathering spot

for almost every major demonstration

and celebration since.

♪ ♪

Just two miles to the south, a swath of green

marks the city's original birth place.

At what is now Parque Lezama, Conquistador Pedro de Mendoza

attempted to build the first Spanish settlement in 1536.

Today, statues and plaques in the park tell the story,

but it's not simple.

Mendoza and his 1500 men

were not the first people here.

The Indigenous Querandíes called this land home

and put up a fierce fight to keep it.

They forced the Spanish

to abandon their first settlement.

50 years later, the Spanish returned,

and this time for good.

Argentina was a Spanish colony for almost 200 years,

and the city boomed.

[mellow music]

Argentina finally gained independence from Spain

in 1816,

and an influx of other European cultures

began to shape an increasingly cosmopolitan cityscape.

The British built the first railroads,

changing the city and country forever.

Opened in 1864, Constitución Station

reflects the growing and changing nation it served.

[train horns blasting]

Along its rail lines, beef, grain,

and produce flowed from the vast farmlands

to the port and on to Europe.

Starting with the railroad,

strong commercial ties between Argentina and England

bound the two countries together.

Three miles north, British immigrants

commissioned the English Tower.

All the materials except sand and water

were imported from England

when construction started in 1916.

The clock itself is a smaller version of the famous Big Ben.

[bell tolling]

While English immigrants helped build a robust economy,

the French changed the layout of the city itself.

Influenced by the French styles,

urban planners and architects

applied a Gallic sense of flair and elegance

to almost every corner

and the city became known as the Paris of the South.

♪ ♪

At one end of Avenida de Mayo,

the congressional palace

is the home of the nation's legislature

and hearkens back to ancient Greece and Rome,

reflecting the very roots of European culture.

Its copper dome rises 262 feet into the air,

built with the help of European immigrants.

Coming in search of opportunity

and a better life,

immigrants from all over the world

made this emerging global city their own.

They shaped Buenos Aires neighborhood by neighborhood.

[upbeat accordion music]

And together, they forged a singular culture

now symbolized by a sultry dance:

the tango.

Born in the brothels of the city's rougher neighborhoods,

the tango swept the world off its feet.

Today, dancers Pablo Ugolini and Casandra Quinteros

transform the pedestrian street of Caminito

into a stage.

They are in La Boca,

a neighborhood rich in immigrant heritage

and now a prime tourist draw.

The classic beat, melancholy lyrics,

and the graceful tension between accomplished dancers

have made the tango a worldwide sensation.

The dance even inspires architects.

Spaniard Santiago Calatrava

designed this pedestrian bridge,

El Puente de la Mujer,

to mimic the fluidity and sensuality of the tango.

No cars are allowed, but dancing is.

Argentines still tango every day

in the social gatherings and clubs

that thrive in neighborhoods throughout the city.

♪ ♪

[country rock music]

One of these neighborhoods

is the old port, Puerto Madero,

that straddles the pedestrian bridge.

This was once the thriving center of trade,

a bustling port that defined its people so much,

natives of Buenos Aires are still called Porteños,

or "the people of the port."

But BA is also known as a city that can reinvent itself.

The cranes of the old port now sit idle,

but all around them, the land has been transformed.

Puerto Madero is still an economic center,

but now a 21st-century hustle plays out

behind walls of glass and steel.

Buenos Aires is connected to the world by fiber optic cable

as much as through shipping lanes.

And where cargo once docked,

there's an exclusive marina filled with luxury sailboats.

The cranes are now overshadowed

by more modern giants,

a string of skyscrapers that house luxury apartments,

corporate offices, and world-class hotels.

All this, past, present, and future,

is packed into BA block by block.

[sparse dramatic music]

And so are some of the world's great religions.

The King Fahd Islamic Cultural Center

stands on land donated by the Argentine government

and includes the largest mosque in South America.

♪ ♪

The Libertad Temple was the first synagogue built here,

and now it serves the largest Jewish population

in Latin America.

And while all religions worship freely,

the wealth of churches and cathedrals

reveal Argentina's predominant faith, Catholicism.

More than 3/4 of the population is Catholic.

The mother church, consecrated in 1791,

faces the Central Plaza de Mayo.

This is the cathedral of Buenos Aires.

It looks like a Greek temple,

but the bas relief on the facade

shows a classic Christian scene:

the meeting between Jacob and his son Joseph in Egypt.

For 15 years, Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio

led his flock from this cathedral

until he accepted a higher calling

and became Pope Francis.

[organ music, choir vocalizing]

♪ ♪

[energetic percussive music]

In Argentina, there's religion

and there's soccer.

And for some hardcore fans, soccer is the religion.

These are its temples.

And there are many to choose from

because Buenos Aires has 36 professional soccer stadiums,

the most of any city in the world.

So many stadiums in town that two fierce rivals

literally play next door to each other.

[bright music]

♪ ♪

If soccer is a religion in Argentina,

it has a patron saint: Diego Maradona.

The cult of Maradona took root at the Argentinos Juniors,

where he began his professional career.

Long before he died in 2020,

Maradona was worshiped across Argentina.

To commemorate their hero, the Argentinos Juniors

commissioned artist Victor Marley

to paint ten murals on the stadium walls.

A huge fan himself,

Victor has spray-painted Maradona murals

all over Buenos Aires.

[funky music]

But Argentine's true passion is for the game itself,

not for the fancy stadiums or flashy stars.

They play it in just about any open space,

turning hardscrabble lots into their own soccer palaces.

Given the chance, they'd play it dawn to dusk.

Any of these kids could become

the next Argentinian soccer hero.

[upbeat music]

But beyond Buenos Aires,

soccer fields give way to pasture and cropland.

These are Argentina's endless prairies

where people still ride the range,

cattle is king,

and stories take shape

far from the city's bright lights.

- In its wide-open spaces, Argentina unfurls

with a stunning variety of landscapes and cultures.

The Indigenous Quechua called this region the Pampas,

which means flatland,

and the Spanish didn't argue with that label.

True to its name, it's really flat

for hundreds of miles in every direction.

[soft upbeat music]

The Pampas extend from the Atlantic coast

all the way to the Sierras Pampeanas.

Covering more than 200,000 square miles,

it's larger than California.

And much of it is so flat, you can travel for miles here

and never see so much as a hill.

♪ ♪

This was once an unbounded space

where the Querandí and other Indigenous groups roamed.

But in the late 1800s,

the Argentine government drove them from the land.

The Pampas was parceled into farm fields and pastures

and became Argentina's economic engine.

Fertile and productive,

it's known as the breadbasket of the world.

[bright music]

Rich grasslands became pasture

to feed four-legged newcomers: cattle.

A wide variety of breeds have adapted to the Pampas,

but the iconic cow

is the black and white Holando-Argentino.

Its image is used to sell milk, butter,

and the Argentine dessert dulce de leche.

In the early years of cattle ranching,

wealthy Argentines

loved the Holando's milk and butter so much,

they brought the cows with them

when they traveled to France.

But when it comes to beef,

the sizzle belongs to the Angus and the Hereford.

Argentine beef is considered the highest quality

and is exported around the world.

There are more than 50 million head of cattle in Argentina,

outnumbering the human population.

[cattle lowing]

And for every cow in a field,

there seems to be a grill in a backyard.

Argentines love their beef.

They eat around 110 pounds of beef per person each year,

making Argentines

the biggest consumers of beef in the world.

The Argentine traditional dish is asado,

or grilled meat.

[mellow guitar]

Another icon once wrangled all these cattle:

the Argentine cowboy known as the gaucho.

Rough and unruly,

they embody the untamed frontier nature of the Pampas.

Stories and songs

romanticizing the gaucho lifestyle

have become central to Argentine identity.

But their way of life is long gone.

Instead, reenactors put on displays of riding prowess

in competitions known as corridas de sortija.

These were medieval games

adapted to the gaucho way of life.

Like jousting knights, riders gallop at full speed

and try to spear a small ring dangling from a string.

Another tradition is the boleadoras,

a slingshot.

Gauchos adopted it from Indigenous cultures.

Used as a weapon of war and for wrangling cattle,

today, it survives as a cultural touchstone

to celebrate a historic way of life.

♪ ♪

The gaucho may be gone,

but the fortunes made from ranching

still define the landscape.

This mansion was built in 1919

by one of Argentina's cattle barons.

Called the Villa María

and inspired by Tudor-style architecture,

it's surrounded by almost 4,000 acres of land.

And this was just the family's summer home.

Today, it's been converted into a hotel,

but the clay cats on its roof remain.

They are a holdover from the French superstition

that such figurines will bring good luck and fortune.

Clearly, it worked.

♪ ♪

Today, grand entrances to these estates

lead to a pastime of the wealthy

that has become a national passion:

the game of polo.

This is the estate of Adolfo Combiaso,

considered the best polo player of all time.

English immigrants brought polo to Argentina,

but the locals got really good at it.

Like, championship good.

Argentine breeders combine the hardiness

and stamina of a local horse known as the Criollo

with the speed of English thoroughbreds.

The result is the ultimate polo pony:

fast, smart, agile, and tough.

Top mounts can cost more than $100,000,

but that's a waste of money without a top rider.

Argentinian polo players are consistently the world's best.

Nine of the top ten ranked players were born here.

They simply own polo.

♪ ♪

[upbeat music]

But the Pampas is more than just open space.

Cities and towns define the Argentinian heartland

from stunning architecture

to the humble origins of a soccer hero.

[upbeat music]

- The Pampas region of Argentina feeds the world.

It produces wheat, corn, and sunflower,

but the reigning king is the soybean.

The genetically-modified seeds and more pest-resistant crops

transform these lands.

Argentina exports more soybean meal and oil

than any other country.

And this export chain begins with trucks.

♪ ♪

Thousands of trucks of all sizes ride the roads daily.

Argentine truckers live by their own code,

like modern-day gauchos,

and even have their own patron saint: Gauchito Gil.

Based on a folk hero similar to Robin Hood,

Gauchito Gil looks out for the truckers

and they, in turn,

build him red roadside shrines in thanks.

Most of these truckers shuttle back and forth

almost nonstop to one destination:

the city of Rosario.

The largest grain transit center in the world,

Rosario is an inland port on the Paraná River.

Trucks make nearly 2 million round trips

in and out of Rosario each year.

From here, goods are loaded onto freighters

and shipped all over the world.

When the port boomed in the 1900s,

immigrants rushed in for the steady work,

and Rosario earned the nickname of Pampa Gringa,

or the European Pampas.

Now the city is a melting pot of many different cultures.

People have come from more than 35 countries

to put down roots and grow with Rosario.

[peaceful music]

Rosario is also famous for its deep patriotism.

This memorial embodies the Argentine love of country

and commemorates the Argentine flag.

Its blue and white colors

waved for the first time here in 1812

on the shores of the Paraná River.

Since then, the country has changed,

but the flag has not.

The eternal flame burns at its base,

marking the grave of the Unknown Soldier,

a tribute to all who fought for Argentina.

Words of the National Anthem

stand out in relief from the walls,

and the 230-foot tower

memorializes the nation's flag.

♪ ♪

But if the flag unites Rosario,

soccer divides it.

On the north side of town, Rosario Central.

Just three miles south, Newell's Old Boys.

This team is one of the founding members

of the Argentine professional soccer leagues.

It's also where superstar Lionel Messi got his start.

As a boy, Messi scored an astounding 234 goals

for the Newell's Old Boys youth teams.

But in need of growth hormone treatment,

Messi moved to Europe and there,

he became a giant of the sport.

First with Barcelona

and then with Paris Saint-Germain,

Messi has grown into what many consider

the greatest living player,

a belief backed up by his contract--

the richest in the history of sports.

Muralists Marlene Zuriaga and Lisandro Urteaga

painted this 230-foot-high portrait

showing Messi in the Argentine national team's jersey.

Lisandro is Messi's childhood friend.

He and Marlene took 18 days to paint this tribute.

It portrays Messi with his hand over his heart

and his eyes gazing over the city

he still considers his hometown.

[mellow rock chords]

♪ ♪

The heart, soul, and lifeblood of Rosario

is the Paraná River.

Sailing clubs compete here almost every day.

Its shores are lined with beaches,

and old industrial buildings

have been converted to museums and open spaces.

One is the renowned MACBA, or Museum of Contemporary Art.

Reflecting the importance of agriculture,

the museum is housed in abandoned grain silos.

But Rosario, above all, is a transportation hub.

The Rosario-Victoria Bridge

links the city to an international highway system

that runs from Brazil all the way down to Chile.

The main bridge across the Paraná

is an engineering wonder.

Built on 650 pilings and spanning 2 and 1/2 miles,

the bridge has to be tall enough

to allow freighters to pass beneath

because the river is still a major economic thoroughfare.

♪ ♪

Leaving Rosario on the Paraná River is the next journey,

and it connects Argentina's past and future.

[upbeat music]

- The Paraná River is the central shipping channel

in a vast interconnected series of waterways.

The Paraná runs for 2,000 miles

from Southern Brazil,

divides Paraguay and Argentina,

then flows through the Pampas to the Río de la Plata,

just north of Buenos Aires.

The Paraná is the longest river in Argentina

and the second-longest in South America

behind only the Amazon.

In the Indigenous Tupi language,

Paraná means as big as the sea,

and its muddy brown waters

have always been a money magnet.

[soft dramatic music]

400 years ago,

countless conquistadores searched along these banks

for a mythical city of gold.

They never found it.

But today,

the treasure is in the transportation business.

Roughly 4,000 barges and ships travel the river each year,

carrying billions of dollars in goods,

but the river that gives can also take away.

You should think twice before swimming in the Paraná.

Palometas, a small type of piranha fish,

has been known to take off swimmer's fingers and toes,

so maybe not the best place to go skinny dipping.

[bluesy guitar]

♪ ♪

At the end of the Paraná River

where it reaches the Río de la Plata,

its waters divide and spread into the Tigre Delta,

splitting again and again.

The channels carve and form fantastic shapes.

More than 350 waterways

make up this delta of 5,000 square miles.

As the water slows, sediment drops to the bottom,

gradually building up and creating new islands.

High humidity and rain produce thick vegetation

and an intense green hue.

The delta is named Tigre, Spanish for tiger.

But unless these feared predators

have changed their stripes,

what actually prowled these islands were jaguars.

♪ ♪

Now, this land has been tamed.

The Tigre Delta

borders the northern fringes of Buenos Aires

and Porteños flock here on weekends.

And the closer you get to the city,

the more crowded it becomes.

Water taxis jockey with leisure craft

out for the maritime equivalent of a Sunday drive.

There are even mini-mansions and art museums.

But others flock to the water for a good workout.

Rowing is a passion for many Porteños.

These waters have funneled a long line

of successful rowers and sailors onto the world stage.

Argentina has won a medal in water sports

at six consecutive games since the 1996 Olympics.

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

As the Tigre Delta gives way to the Río de la Plata,

the scene broadens, and the water appears to glow.

♪ ♪

The river's name translates to River of Silver.

Maybe they should have called it River of the Wind.

♪ ♪

Windsurfers have long flocked to this windy river.

But now it's become a major draw for a new sport:

kite surfing.

And there is plenty of room for everyone,

including paddleborders.

They create a kind of watersport variety show.

From here, it doesn't even look like a river.

It's so wide, you can't see the other bank.

This playground of wind and water just never stops.

People are always thinking up new ways to sail and splash.

But there's a place nearby that was just as vibrant

until one very bad day.

[quiet music]

♪ ♪

100 miles south on a saltwater lake,

one vibrant town met disaster in a flash.

Villa Epecuén was an elegant spa

catering to wealthy Porteños.

But in 1985, a dam broke,

sinking the town under 30 feet of water.

Everyone escaped alive,

but 1,500 people lost their homes.

It took 25 years for the waters to recede,

and the town's remains finally resurfaced.

An old slaughterhouse symbolizes

how Epecuén has been left a ruin...

and old memories now look like nightmares.

It stands empty and abandoned except to serve occasionally

as a backdrop for a music video

or a movie set.

All that is left today

is a shadow of the town's former glory.

[energetic music]

The tragedy of Epecuén is far from the minds of vacationers

350 miles to the east on the Atlantic coast.

It always seems to be sunny in Mar del Plata.

Starting in the 1880s,

it was a vacation hotspot for Argentina's elite.

The casino and the Provincial Hotel

fancy themselves to be on the same standing

as Europe's swankiest seaside resorts,

and among them, an adaptation of the Parisian Place Vendôme.

Anyone outside the upper class was excluded.

But Argentine attitudes and politics

changed in the 1940s and '50s.

Social reformers demanded equal rights and privileges

for all citizens.

No longer excluded, millions of Argentines

flock to Mar Del Plata for their holidays.

The city boomed with new hotels

and apartment buildings lining streets

leading to the beaches.

Almost every visitor checks out

the picture-postcard scene

at Mar Del Plata's old harbor

with sunbathing sea lions

and picturesque yellow fishing boats.

But these boats aren't just for show.

When they sail from this port,

the smaller ones stick close to shore

and trawl some of the world's richest fisheries,

landing everything from sea bass to squid.

Larger red trawlers

venture as far as 100 miles from the coast.

While the rest of Mar Del Plata

gets ready for bed, these ships go to work.

They'll head to the fishing grounds

and spend days out on the open ocean,

helping to feed a nation on the move.

♪ ♪

As the sun sets,

the river keeps flowing toward Buenos Aires

and the city will shift into a new gear.

In the darkness, it will create its own light

and reveal the pulse of Argentina.

[upbeat music]

- All roads and rivers in the Pampas

seem to lead back to the country's capital,

Buenos Aires.

Built on the shores of the Río de la Plata,

it almost looks like the city has turned its back

on the waterfront,

but there are places that face the water

and face a dark chapter in Argentina's history.

[somber]

The Parque de la Memoria is a memorial

to those who disappeared during a military dictatorship

that ruled from 1976 to 1983.

As many as 30,000 Argentines were killed

in political violence.

Some were even dropped out of planes into this river

and left to drown.

And one lone figure stands on a floating pedestal

looking out over the river,

a symbol of both the innocence lost

and the need to never forget.

The model was a 14-year-old named Pablo Míguez

who witnessed the military kidnap his mother.

Soon after, he was also snatched away,

and there's no record of his fate.

Collectively, these men, women, and children

are known as The Disappeared.

♪ ♪

The memory of resistance to the military dictators

has left its mark throughout the city.

♪ ♪

Today in the Plaza de Mayo,

white headscarves are painted in a circle

around the central pyramid.

This is where the mothers of The Disappeared

met every Thursday

to share any news of their missing loved ones.

Political demonstrations were banned,

so the women simply walked in circles

in a passive yet powerful symbol of resistance,

and each wore a white scarf.

♪ ♪

Women have often played a central role

in Argentine politics,

and no figure stands taller than this one.

Her full name was María Eva Duarte de Perón,

but to millions, she is known simply as Evita.

Her portrait still adorns

the Ministry of Social Development.

In the 1940s and early 1950s,

Evita served as first lady when her husband,

Juan Domingo Perón, was president.

A champion of the poor,

Evita was loved by the lower classes.

[dramatic music]

From her office in the old post office building,

she fought to promote equal rights

for the downtrodden and for women.

Today, the building has been converted into

South America's largest cultural center.

Evita broke down barriers and in the process

created a cult of personality that endures to this day.

On a balcony of the presidential residence

known as the Casa Rosada, Evita solidified her legacy.

Here, she gave her most fiery speeches

to crowds of loyalists

whom she fondly called the descamisados,

or the shirtless.

It was also on this balcony that Madonna sang

"Don't Cry For Me Argentina" in the movie "Evita."

But on July 26, 1952,

millions of Argentines did cry for Evita

when she died of cancer.

She was just 33 years old.

The woman who rose from humble roots

was interred in the cemetery

previously reserved for the nation's wealthy and elite.

This is her resting place in a family mausoleum

that is now a solemn tourist destination.

[solemn music]

♪ ♪

[upbeat music]

Across town in Puerto Madero, other women trailblazers

are honored in a uniquely modern way.

Every street in this neighborhood

is named for a female artist, scientist,

politician, or social leader.

Some of these women inspired a movement in 2015

called "Ni Una Menos," or "not one woman less."

It is an ongoing effort to combat sexual harassment

and violence against women.

Starting in Argentina,

the movement has spread across Latin America and Spain.

It has also inspired artwork throughout the city.

A painting on one building boldly declares,

"Women, equality, independence

pleasure, and power."

Many other murals portray women's collective identity,

like this one by artist Mariela Ajras.

Ajras also joined forces with the artists

Mariano Antedomenico and Martin Ron

to paint three murals on the Hospital de Clínicas

of the University of Buenos Aires.

♪ ♪

The University of Buenos Aires,

known locally as UBA,

has campuses all over the city.

It just turned 200 years old

and was recently ranked the best institution

of higher learning in Latin America.

This ranking placed it in the top 1%

of the world's universities.

Students study hard but can't resist a break

on the sunny steps of the main law school.

[upbeat music]

The university encourages students to bloom

and in the springtime, all of Buenos Aires seems to join in.

There are more than 250 parks in the city.

Porteños by the thousands gather in these green spaces.

One of them is the city's largest park

known as Los Bosques de Palermo.

It covers almost 1.4 square miles

and has extensive gardens with over 8,000 rose bushes.

During October and November, the city's Jacaranda trees

explode in bursts of purple flowers.

The annual show put on by 19,000 Jacaranda trees

is considered part of the BA's seasonal rhythm.

In the late 1800s, landscape artist Carlos Thays

imported the Jacarandas from Northwest Argentina.

His work helped bring cool shade

and treelined streets

to a city that once baked in the sun.

[festive music]

♪ ♪

Avoiding this daytime heat may be why

the capital city seems to light up as night falls.

The same obelisk that was a gathering point

to celebrate the Copa America victory

is set aglow in the dark,

beckoning Porteños into the streets

for BA's true calling card: a vibrant nightlife.

♪ ♪

The rhythms of the city change and become up-tempo.

Running east to west through the city,

Corrientes Avenue is called the street that never sleeps.

Whatever you want to do, no matter what the time,

you can probably find it here.

For culture vultures,

this is a city of over 300 theaters,

more than Paris.

Here, diners have endless choices of restaurants.

And there's even a late-night venue for bookworms.

The Ateneo Grand Splendid, housed in a former theater,

is considered one of the most beautiful bookstores

in the world.

♪ ♪

The nightlife carries on well beyond downtown.

The old neighborhood of Palermo

has been transformed

by trendy stores, bars, and restaurants.

Famed author Jorge Luis Borges grew up here,

and his books described the rough and rowdy locals.

But today a hip young crowd

cruises its cobblestone streets

and gangs of ruffians are a distant memory.

Like so much else in this dynamic, ever-changing city,

nothing stays the same for long.

♪ ♪

In BA, the nights seem to go on forever.

If you have a bedtime,

you're gonna miss Argentina's best side.

The city has timeless beauty, but also restless energy.

Good luck trying to pin it down to any one thing.

Take a stroll, turn a corner,

and another facet of this country

lights up in front of you.

Argentina doesn't disappoint.

It just keeps luring you in for more.