When I return to Argentina, it will be to the outdoors. Compared with California, it boasts six times the land area, but population is roughly the same, and a third of the people live in Buenos Aires. The rest of the country is essentially empty. Unspoiled Patagonia awaits, as do the Andes, the highest Mountains in the New World.

Argentina shares with Brazil Iguazú Falls, largest cascade in the Americas. The jewel of an untouched subtropical jungle, visiting is a chance to see the continent the way it was before the coming of mankind.

Downriver lies the Reina de la Plata, the Silver Queen. The Río de la Plata never delivered the hoped-for silver. Argentina's dreams always slip away.

But Fair Winds brought the sailing ships up the Río de la Plata to the best anchorage in the Southern Cone, and today the Chinese ship their manufactures here, as do everyone else. In 2010, this ship and others coming from Asia will be offloading in Santiago, Chile. The goods will be freighted on the refurbished Transandean Railway in a single day instead of taking ten around Cape Horn. And the dreams of the port of Buenos Aires will again dim a little.

In spite of jarring economic crises, Buenos Aires grows. Rolls of sheet steel wait on a siding. In the background, new high rises house Microsoft and Cingular. Maybe someday, prosperity will reach all Porteños.

The city's grand 19th-century buildings have survived a turbulent history. Not for nothing is Buenos Aires called the Paris of South America.

Parks and plazas fill the center of the city, cool spots to rest in the January (summer) heat in the shade of a huge Banyan tree. (I know, I know. It's not a Banyan tree. Perhaps one of you will properly identify it.)

If you have the money and you want a prestige address, it's hard to beat an apartment in the landmark Kavanagh building, once the tallest in South America. A four-bedroom apartment is for sale as I write: about a million dollars. That little won't get you one of the terrace apartments, though.

For less than a fifth of that, you can get a nice two-bedroom apartment on a tree-lined street in a desireable neighborhood, a more welcoming neighborhood.

Apartments above, shops on the ground floor, it's the ideal urban design. We walked to the butcher, baker, dry-goods and produce shops, all within a block of our Recoleta apartment. I bought gallons of Diet Coke from a carefree man in a convenience store, his boom box blasting popular music. He was so friendly, I didn't mind. The deli is in the next block, lavanderia across the street, a tailor next door who hemmed two pairs of pants for $6 while Jean got a manicure for $3. Don't expect those prices next year.

For atmosphere, faded neighborhoods make good photo ops. This burger and hot dog joint is still in business, though you have to look closely to tell.

A couple steals a moment together in the Retiro Railroad Station, oblivious to people hurrying by, and to my intrusive camera. Buenos Aires will reawaken the lover in you.

The view from the plane looks north toward the Paraná Delta, with the summertime river houses of El Tigre and the flat water where Porteños row their beautiful wooden boats. How badly I want to be there now, sitting on the riverbank, reading the paper.

Argentina has so much. The world's tenth-largest city offers culture and intellectual life and yet has a warm, small-town feel. Retirees can live happily and cheaply here, although maybe not for too much longer. Young people can find their life partners among so many beautiful people. A huge, uncongested land calls for exploring to find nature, serenity and maybe solitude.

For some, it's already become the ultimate snowbird destination. You can experience summer twice a year in a Western, first-world country, doing more than just lying on the beach.

I'm sad to leave. My friends in San Miguel call, otherwise I would stay longer. Maybe one of you will join me here some winter: a couple of weeks in BsAs, a month in Patagonia, a couple of weeks driving up the Andes along Route 40. It would make an unforgettable journey for both of us.