Argentina & Paraguay Luxury Tours

Palatial, luxe, historic… One of the genuine joys of travel is discovering the delightfully eccentric and unexpected. Be prepared to be transported to another era as you step inside this bookstore. Yes, a place of books, but wait. You will be awed by this unique and delicious bookstore.

This incredible edifice in Buenos Aires began life in 1919 as a beautiful theater designed by architects Peró and Torres Armengol. The astonishing interior is everything you’d expect in a once-lavish theater – gold gilt, red velvet curtains draped across a stage, architectural details including lovely murals on the domed ceiling. It simply must be one of the most glam settings for the thousands of books that crowd the shelves from the mezzanine to the upper balconies.

Few cities can outdo Buenos Aires for style and sophistication with architecture reminiscent of Paris. City lovers appreciate its nightlife and the wealth of museums, cultural venues, elegant boutiques and cafes. It is also the birthplace of the passionate tango dance. Even beyond Argentina’s sophisticated city life, however, a new trend is emerging. Family run, historic estancias are taking center stage for many travelers seeking a deeper understanding of the country and its ranching and rural past. These estancias also offer the benefit of introducing guests to local communities as well as contributing to those towns and villages through employment and educational opportunities.

Argentina’s northern regions are blessed with an abundance of stellar attributes: established vineyards, the Amazon’s pristine Yacutinga Reserve, and the dramatic Andean deserts dotted with Indian villages. The great central plains of the Pampas hold safe the traditions of South America’s cowboys, as the famed Argentinian gauchos continue to practice a way of life that has all but vanished elsewhere. Argentina is also known for its extraordinary horses that score high marks on the international polo scene. The Peninsula Valdes embraces vital habitats for penguins, sea elephants, guanacos, rheas and whales.  Argentina presents countless facets to explore. One of it’s neighbors, Paraguay is a country in the heart of the continent, but it remains a little-toured destination.

Like other countries nearby, Paraguay throughout the 17th and 18th century was home to missions built as self-contained societies that existed outside of Spanish colonial life and integrated indigenous populations with Christian faith. Most Paraguayans are of European and indigenous Guaraní ancestry. The Guaraní culture is strongly represented through folk art and festivals, and they have been living in eastern Paraguay for at least a millennium before the arrival of the Spanish. Guaraní was designated an official language of Paraguay in the country’s 1992 constitution. Paraguayans are intensely nationalistic and are proud to converse in Guaraní, which acts as a strong marker of their identity. That indigenous language is much more widely spoken in Paraguay than is Spanish, which is unique in Latin America. Rivers play an extremely important role in the economic life of Paraguay. Indeed, the name of the country is said to derive from the Guaraní word meaning “river that gives birth to the sea.” Rivers provide access to the Atlantic Ocean and serve as sites for the hydroelectric power plants that have made Paraguay one of the world’s largest exporters of hydropower.  Paraguay and Argentina offer distinctive worlds to explore from sophisticated cities to off trail adventures for a truly authentic South American experience.