Four consecutive days of rest.
Bonnie Tucker / FST
For many Argentines, the four days of Holy Week that run from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday are the longest and most attractive non-workday break of the year. In most cases, the tourism possibilities that they offer those who can afford a getaway are more important than what these dates mean for Christianity. This year they extend from April 1 to 4.
During Holy Week (which to be exact begins on March 28, Palm Sunday), the prices of everything from fish to hotel rooms shoot up in all the country’s vacation spots. And if you don’t like crowds either, give this time of year a miss in your travel schedule. But if you don’t mind either of these inconveniences, there are many destinations from which to choose. Only some offer activities related to religion; most don’t.
Religious tourism
Of the religion-related destinations, what better choice than one of the many Catholic churches of Buenos Aires, or whatever major Argentine city you happen to be in at the time?
Those who prefer a more theatrical approach to Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection will be happy to know that the Argentine capital is also home to Tierra Santa, a religious theme park near the city airport that is open on weekends and holidays. Here visitors mingle with groups of life-size statues in Holy Land attire, eat Arab food in restaurants, observe a potter and other artisans at work, watch a belly dancing show, and see an 18-meter Christ arise from behind a mount several times a day. Check the open hours and Holy Week program at http://www.tierrasanta-bsas.com/.
… Pascua Tierra Santa BLOG …
Argentina’s most famous Way of the Cross is not in this theme park, however. It is 350 km south of Buenos Aires, on “Mount Golgotha,” a forested hill in the Buenos Aires Province city of Tandil, which in itself is a delightful year-round vacation spot (see our May 2009 story). Installed on the hillside during the 1940s, the statues of the Stations of the Cross recalling Christ’s ordeal appear beside a path that winds its way amid the trees and ends at a plaza in front of a 15-meter high cement crucifix . This year there will be torchlight processions on the hill the nights of March 30 and April 2, in addition to similar events during daylight hours throughout the week. See the full program at http://www.cultura.tandil.gov.ar/.… Pascua Tandil BLOG …
During Holy Week, the Tucumán town of Tafí del Valle, located 1,300 km northwest of Buenos Aires, stages an outdoor passion play that is watched by a multitude on a hillside just outside town. This play, inspired by the one that takes place every ten years in Oberammergau, Germany, was the idea of a well-traveled Tucumán oculist who thought it would be a good way to raise funds for the hospital of Tafí del Valle. The cast includes amateur actors from the town and professionals from the provincial capital. The spectators follow them from one stage set to the next. The first play, staged in 1992, featured 70 actors and was attended by a few hundred spectators. Now there are nearly 200 actors and their audience runs into the thousands. There are two 7pm shows: one on April 2 and the other on April 3. Proceeds go to the local hospital. At 8:30pm on April 1 and 3, the La Banda Jesuit Museum at the opposite end of the valley from Tafí will be the venue of free concerts of jazz and classical music, respectively. More at http://www.tucuman.gov.ar/.… foto Pascua Tafí BLOG …
The department of Arauco, the major olive-growing area of the northwestern province of La Rioja, is home to a natural shrine known as El Señor de la Peña (the Lord of the Rock), a solitary 12-meter-high granite rock with an unmistakably human profile in the middle of a plain between two mountain chains. Evidently, at some unknown time in the earth’s history, a cataclysm dislodged the rock from some distant mountain and sent it rolling to its present location on the plain. Venerated by the Indians even before the arrival of the conquistadores, the rock’s Christ-like profile draws thousands of pilgrims who make their petitions and light candles there during Holy Week, spending one or more nights on the site. It is located some 1,300 km from Buenos Aires.… foto Pascua Señor de la Peña BLOG …
Nearby is the Barreal de Arauco, an ancient, absolutely flat lake pan with no vegetation. Recently, a cabin court was built there to accommodate kite buggying and land yachting enthusiasts who come to enjoy winds that can surpass 50 km per hour. In October the National Kite Buggy Championship takes place on the Barreal. See http://www.turismolarioja.gov.ar/.Tilcara, one of the most famous towns of Jujuy’s Humahuaca Valley in northwestern Argentina, owes its fame to its pre-Hispanic fortress, and to the numerous music festivals that it hosts. Its residents celebrate Easter with ermitas, large painting-like (icon collages of dried petals, leaves, seeds and other items) that mark the Stations of the Way of the Cross procession that takes place on Friday night. After Easter, most of the families or groups of neighbors who made the icons donate their creations to the town’s icon museum. The icon-making custom dates back to the 1970s, when it was installed by a local priest.
… foto Pascua Tilcara BLOG …
In Tilcara, which is 1,515 km from Buenos Aires, the local action sport is paragliding off the mountains behind the town; those in the know say that the air is thinner owing to the altitude and the descent is faster than in other places. See http://www.turismo.jujuy.gov.ar/.In the neighboring province of Salta, a long agenda of all sorts of activities awaits visitors who go there to spend Holy Week. Of these, the most picturesque is the traditional parody of a Judas-burning show in Cachi, which this year will take place on April 3. Before the cloth doll is destroyed with fireworks, someone reads off a list of picaresque gossip about leading townspeople. See http://www.turismosalta.gov.ar/.
Puerto Madryn, the Chubut port city 1,375 km southwest of Buenos Aires that that offers whale watching from June to December and diving all year round, is more attuned to the sea than the desert. Not surprisingly, it has developed its own peculiar version of Easter: divers lower a cross and 12 of the 14 Stations of the Cross to the sea floor near the beach, and the meditations of a priest in a wet suit who swims the Stations is broadcast over loudspeakers to the townspeople who look on from the tourist wharf. See http://www.madryn.gov.ar/ for the exact date.
… foto Puerto Madryn BLOG …
Junín de los Andes a city in the province of Neuquén 1,600 km southwest of Buenos Aires, is famed for its trout fishing (from November to May 31, and all year in some lakes), and for the spectacular Lanín volcano (3,776 meters above sea level) that also attracts climbers throughout the year. But Junín has a peculiar “Via Christi” Way of the Cross with 17 Stations whose characters present events from national as well as Biblical history; several have Mapuche features.…. Foto Pascua Junín de los Andes BLOG …
Conventional tourismHowever, most tourists choose Junín de los Andes for just rest and recreation. Located in a Valdivian rain forest sector of Lanín National Park, the Lahuen Co eco-resort and thermal spa (http://www.lahuenco.com/) is open all year round, even with snow on the ground. Its all-inclusive rate per person in a double room starts at US$ 270 in high season and US$ 216 in low season. Visitors who just wish to spend the day in their spa pay US$ 100 or US$ 80. All programs are for guests older than 15.
…. Foto Pascua Lahuen Co BLOG …
According to a recent press release, lodging in Junín de los Andes costs a lot less; a double room in a hotel requires an outlay of 220 pesos on average, and 190 pesos in an inn), while meals vary from 100 to 50 pesos per person. See http://www.junindelosandes.gov.ar/.Many other hotels throughout the country attempt to lure tourists during these four days without appealing to religion. Few if any packages include wine with meals, or tips. When one calculates the cost-benefit ratio, it is necessary to take into account the time one arrives and leaves the place in order to know what meals and excursions are really included in the package. In almost all cases, Holy Week comes with high-season rates.
Among the select accommodations that seek guests during Holy Week is the Yacutinga Lodge, an eco-resort in the province of Misiones that caters to birders and hikers who like rain forests and nature in general. Children younger than 8 are not accepted. The lodge is located in a private nature reserve inside a meander of the Iguazú River 60 km south of Iguazú Falls and some 1,400 km northeast of Buenos Aires. Here, an all-inclusive two-night (three-day) package starts at US$ 410 per person in a two-person bungalow in a luxuriant palmetto forest. Hiking, birding, nature interpretation and sit-on-top kayak excursions are the activities on offer. Guests are picked up and left at a small shopping center on the outskirts of Puerto Iguazú, not the airport. More at http://www.yacutinga.com/.
… Foto Pascua Yacutinga BLOG …
Another option is offered at the opposite end of the country, in El Calafate nearly 2,800 km – a three-hour direct flight – southwest of Buenos Aires. The Eolo Hotel, which is located inside a ranch halfway between the town and the national park with the famous Perito Moreno glacier, is a member of Relais & Chateaux, a prestigious international group of luxury hotels and restaurants owned and run by individual proprietors. It is considered by many to be an excellent choice for those who want to experience the best of the area´s landscapes (the Andes, the steppe or the lake), all of which are visible from the hotel building. This year Eolo is ending the season with an April 1-7 Wine Week of daily tastings at cocktail time that deal with a region, winery or varietal. Hiking, mountain biking and nature interpretation excursions are the on-ranch activities. From March 21 to April 20, the hotel is offering a two-night package at discount rates that start at US$ 590 per person in a double room, including meals, activities and transfers from and to the airport. Children older than 12 pay the same rate as their parents. More at http://www.eolo.com.ar/.… Foto Pascua Eolo BLOG …
Easter marks a changing of the guard in the country’s outdoor vacation locations. In the Patagonian region in the south, the good-weather time of the year (spring, summer and early autumn) is about to end, and guest ranches as well as many hotels (like Eolo) that are not near ski centers wind up their season after the four-day Holy Week mini-vacation. As a result, the main flow of tourists who are not keen on snow or skiing will move to the country’s semiarid or subtropical northern provinces, where the climate tends to be cooler and drier during the winter months.PHOTO CREDITS: A corner of the Tierra Santa theme park in Buenos Aires, Bonnie Tucker. A Station of the Way of the Cross in Tandil, Bonnie Tucker. A passion play in Tafí del Valle, Tucumán Tourism Secretariat. The Lord of the Rock in La Rioja, Bonnie Tucker. A weaver at work in front of an Easter icon in Tilcara, Jujuy, Bonnie Tucker. Preparations for a watery Easter ceremony in Puerto Madryn, Puerto Madryn Tourist Office. Christ washes the feet of an old Mapuche lady in the Via Christi Way of the Cross in Junín de los Andes, Le Mot. Indoor thermal pools at Lahuen Co, Lahuen Co. A bungalow at Yacutinga in Misiones, Yacutinga Lodge. A suite of the Eolo Hotel in Santa Cruz, Eolo Hotel
From 11am to 8pm, the crews of the brigs, frigates and other sailing vessels representing Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela will offer free guided tours of their vessels.
Monday will be the best day to see the tall ships, because it is a work day and there will be fewer people queuing to see them, and there will be more time to catch details such as the figurehead of the Ecuadorian big, which features a condor rather than a scantily attired woman.
Most of the boats are moored in the Navy sector of the Dársena Norte basin. There are three in Dique 4 and one in Dique 3 in Puerto Madero. During the weekend, the Sturla boat company offered Dársena Norte excursions that gave passengers a look at the big ships from the water.
On Saturday the crews of the sailing ships in the port took part in a colorful parade in Plaza San Martín to the accompaniment of the popular music of the respective countries played by the Argentine Navy’s Symphonic Orchestra.
Before their arrival in Buenos Aires, the ships visited the ports of Mar del Plata in Argentina and Montevideo in Uruguay. On March 9 they will sail southwards. Their schedule has them passing Staten Island on the 18th, visiting Ushuaia from the 20th to the 23rd, rounding Cape Horn on the 24th and calling in Punta Arenas from the 27th to the 30th. April will see them in ports of Chile and Peru, May in Ecuador and Colombia, and June in the Caribbean.
On the morning of Saturday March 6, the Carrusel – featuring the royalty of the night before as well as various dance groups and other performers – leaves from in front of the entrance to the General San Martín Park (Boulogne sur Mer and Emilio Civit), and proceeds along Civit, Chile, Las Heras and San Martín to Colón.
The fruit throwing is a symbolic act of sharing the bounty of the harvest after a year of hard work. But not to worry: the fruit isn’t thrown at you; it is tossed only if you look receptive.
Horsemen from gaucho tradition clubs and performers such as caporales dancers provide added color to the Carrusel parade.
(Energetic male caporales dancers with sleigh bells on their boots represent the hated mulatto work gang foremen who mistreated black slaves on the tropical plantations of colonial Bolivia. Many of these dancers are transient Bolivian farm workers who harvest grapes and other crops in Mendoza.)
The entire Acto Central show lasts three and a half hours on average and ends with a big firework display. Repetitions of the main show will take place the nights of March 7 and 8, and cost a lot less. Admission to the different sectors varies from 120 to 20 pesos for the Acto Central, and 30 to 10 pesos on the repetition nights.
All the tall shade trees with their roots in the acequias (irrigation canals) that line every street, and the city’s five downtown squares themselves, speak eloquently of the spirit and character of the mendocinos. In the summer, the downtown area is clean, neat, pretty and protected from the sun’s rays by the foliage of hundreds of trees. It was built with those characteristics in mind after the big earthquake of 1861 destroyed the first city, the one that was founded by Spanish conquistador Pedro del Castillo in 1561. The trees are the result of 150 years of hard work by several generations who wanted to live in an oasis in the face of the desert around them. And the squares have two functions: they were built to serve as pleasant, shady outdoor living rooms for reading and chatting in the summertime, and as open areas in which to take refuge from aftershocks in the event of another quake like the one in the 19th century.
Plaza Independencia, which occupies four city blocks, houses a modern art museum, a theater, and a large crafts fair. It is surrounded by four smaller squares, each of which is located one block diagonally from each of its corners. Plaza Italia and Plaza España bear the names of the major immigrant communities that have made Mendoza an important agriculture-centered province. Plaza Chile and Plaza San Martín are dedicated to the Argentine-born general whose army freed Argentina and Chile from the Spanish yoke with the help of forces from the neighboring country in the second decade of the 19th century.
Of the four squares, the most beautiful is Plaza España with its blue and white Sevillian tile benches and fountain, and its impressive central monument to Spanish-Argentine fraternity. Inaugurated in 1949 with funds provided by Spanish residents in Mendoza, this square looks and feels like a spacious Andalusian patio, and houses some quality crafts stalls.
During the Chaya, riojanos also enjoy a folk music festival in the capital that lasts several nights, just like in the neighboring province of Córdoba, the national leader in the organization of such events. But this festival comes with flour. Every night, some people dance to the music, others sit and watch, and most engage in flour games. As one musician once complained: “They’re more interested in the flour than the festival!”
One way to protect your hair from the paste produced by the mixture of flour and water is to wear a wide-brimmed hat, as did former Argentine President Carlos Menem and his then wife Cecilia Bolocco several years ago.
As opposed to the European-inspired festivity of large groups of well-trained dancers who parade with impressive floats in front of crowds in many Argentine cities, Carnival in the rural and mining communities in the northwestern corner of the country is a harvest festival in which common people dance; they do not perform for an audience. They don’t even rehearse; they dance to have fun and honor the Pachamama. The carnival dance groups, or comparsas, do not compete with each other for status or money. Each town has two or more of them, and each has its own altar with its respective "Devil."
The Andean Carnival has four stages – two warmer-ups, the main event, and the last act. First there is a Jueves de Compadres (Mens’ Thursday) during which the menfolk get together and sing or talk about the good and bad things that happened to them during the past year. This year, it took place February 4. The Jueves de Comadres (Women’s Thursday), February 11, is considered an even bigger attraction, perhaps because females are cattier than men and are often wont to say what they really think of their neighbors on this occasion. 
Everybody decorates the altar with sample of their agricultural produce or various other trimmings. At the base of the altar they dig a hole into which everybody places a bit of food or drink, or perhaps a lighted cigarette to share with their nature deity.
Finally, the devil doll is unearthed from beneath the altar, a large group of howling youths dressed in devil costumes comes rushing in, and everybody joins hands to dance around the altar.
Quite a few use spray foam aerosols instead of four or talc, and some visitors don sieve masks for protection.
That evening, the comparsa people go from house to house, where they sing and dance, and are served drinks.
In January, some Buenos Aires vacationers head for Punta del Este and steep high-season prices, but others continue on to one of the little fishing towns that dot the spectacular 170 km of coastline of the Department of Rocha further north. In these towns prices are lower, crowds are somewhat sparser, and contact with nature and local culture is more direct for people who value rest and subscribe to the adage about Small being Beautiful.
Uruguay’s portion of the Atlantic coast is full of rocky capes and peninsulas that separate bays and beaches which provide options of surf or quieter waters. The prevailing easterly winds that make the rocks offshore a danger for navigation led to the construction of lighthouses in Punta del Este, José Ignacio, La Paloma, Cabo Polonio and Punta del Diablo more than a century ago.
In José Ignacio, Argentines as well as Uruguayans who fled crowds in Punta del Este 10 or 20 years ago are fighting to keep the look and lifestyle of their chosen spot as untouched as possible by developers intent on building mansions and luxury hotels, and travel agencies that bus in tourists for a day on the beach. The recent construction of wooden stairs down to the beach and a boardwalk beside the part most frequented by visitors has increased comfort and improved safety, although some locals feel that the structures mar the view and feel of the place.
Each of the towns on the Rocha coast has stories to tell. But they deserve a book, they won’t fit into a blog article. 
The beach favored by surfers is La Balconada, where people also go to thrill to sunsets.
The rocky point that gives La Pedrera its name is home to Costa Brava, the most famous of the town’s renowned seafood restaurants.
Cabo Polonio has both agrarian and seafaring sides to its personality, and fewer than 200 year-round residents. There are no streets, just paths amid the houses. Apart from the inns that have electrical generators, the town has no electricity; at night, people make do with the light provided by the revolving beacon of the lighthouse. There is no drinking water or telephone service, either. The treelessness of the cape makes all the sand, rock and sea expanses around you feel very broad indeed. The beaches are good for swimming, diving or surf, and the rocky areas are good fishing spots.
The cape is so low on one side that the ocean’s waves appear to rush past beside you on their way to the beach.
Alicia Fernández de Servetto, the owner, raises sheep and cattle, and offers a distinctive Uruguayan ranch experience to travelers who are genuinely interested in the area. For her, the tourists to whom she divulges ombú lore are "not tourists, but visitors." They hear, for instance, that botanists tend to classify the ombú more as a shrub than a tree.
A retired schoolteacher, she enjoys telling visitors how survivors of shipwrecks on the Rocha coast became leading butiaseros during the 19th century.
In the main house two recycled rooms with private bathrooms are available for guests, who are shown local flora and fauna during horseback rides or cart rides. Fishing and canoeing on the lagoon are additional options. 
The main pastimes are walking on those beaches and watching the local fishermen bring in their catch. The place fascinates everyone from backpackers to the bohemian bourgeois set.
While the thing to do is rent a rancho (hut) with few if any amenities for a week or a month, there are also 27 more conventional accommodation options, of which only two are inns, one is an apart-hotel and the rest are mostly cabin courts.
There are several good seafood restaurants and other eateries, a couple of pubs, and a cybercafé. The stable population is 600, a number that increases twentyfold during the summer high season. More information at: 
Set on a rise within view of the coast to the east and overlooking the Laguna Negra marshlands to the west, the fortress was well restored in the 1930s. It occupies an area of one hectare. Its buildings house interesting displays that illustrate life in the garrison, as well as scale models of all Uruguay’s colonial forts. It is open daily during the summer high season, and on weekends only during the low season.
The Santa Teresa National Park that surrounds the fortress has an area of 3,000 hectares. Its 2,000 native and exotic trees were planted to fix the dunes, which were threatening the fortress when restoration work began. There are a hot house, a cool shady area formed by shade trees and a museum that shows the restoration of the fortress and the design of the park, as well as cabin courts and campgrounds. The park extends down to four of the country’s most beautiful, pristine beaches, which offer good fishing and excellent waves for surfing. 
LA CORONILLA. This modest little town 25 km south of Chuy consists of three loosely connected neighborhoods and the traditional Hotel Parque Oceánico, recently refurbished.
Surrounded by a big seaside (or "oceanic") park of butiá palms and eucalyptuses that links it with the beach, the hotel is a pleasant, self-contained refuge for older people and families with small children who don’t want crowds, noise or night life. Open all year round, it is near the Cerro Verde and Coronilla Islands nature reserves, as well as the Santa Teresa Fortress in the national park of the same name. 
Dark but homey like an old castle that smells of fireplace wood smoke, the inn is the right base from which to explore both the fort and the museum. It is a favorite of esoteric groups who say it has good vibes because the San Miguel hills lie atop one of the positive energy lines that emanate from Mount Uritorco in the province of Córdoba in Argentina. It has two good restaurants and a swimming pool that is ideal for relaxing for a few days in a setting very different from those of the nearby sea resorts, and a world away from fast-paced big cities.
The fort complex is located less than 10 km from the city of Chuy, and it is easy to get there directly from the Montevideo bus terminal. Of the many buses that go from the capital to Chuy every day, several return on a different route that leaves you on the inn’s doorstep.
The Barra del Chuy is an immensely broad beach whose northern sector belongs to Brazil, and to Uruguay in the south. The Brazilians have removed the dunes from their sector. The Uruguayans, more ecological, have left them in place to renew the sand of their part of the beach.
Hot and muggy in the summer, Chuy is best visited during the cooler months. The temperature is always more bearable in the San Miguel hills.