Just two months after instituting a reciprocal visa fee for tourists to Argentina (meaning an extra $131 per person for Americans), the government of Argentina seems to be determined to rankle as many people as possible.

The latest is “the biggest inflation surge to start the year in two decades,” according to the Wall Street Journal, as Argentina Confronts Soaring Inflation. The worst part of this, for locals and tourists alike, is a 25% rise in beef prices. Chronic overspending is to blame, which has led to a big soap opera of the former head of the central bank being fired for not handing the government the bank’s foreign reserves to spend, his refusing to step down, then his being forced to step down when he was barred from his office. Kirchner’s yes-woman replacement is not sitting well with economists or the business leaders.

Bad government policies are mostly blamed for the beef inflation since price controls and export bans have led to a reduction in cattle, from 61 million in 2007 to 50 million today.

Good news for us is, the peso has dropped against the dollar to a nearly 4-to-1 ratio from around 3-to-1 in years past. So prices are rising, but so is the value of the dollar or euro for those coming in from elsewhere.

Your cruise stop in the Falkland Islands may cost extra though. Argentina is trying to force ships to get permission from Buenos Aires to pass through Argentine waters to get there. This move has gotten the support of Hugo Chavez, which tells you how well it’s going to play out with more sane leaders…

Keep an eye on international news if you’re planning a trip to Argentina. Hopefully an international recovery—or new elections—will right the ship before things get ugly.

[photo from Living in Patagonia blog]

A few months back I was fortunate enough to get that “once in a lifetime experience” sailing around the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. For many tourists that’s the whole focus and Quito gets a day in the itinerary—if they don’t just fly from Guayaquil to the islands instead.

That’s a shame really, because Ecuador’s capital really is worth some extra time. When I go back to Ecuador someday, I want to spend at least a week in that region, with a few nights at the lovely estate hotels like Hacienda Cusin and Hacienda Zuleta.

We just posted a story on the time I did get to spend there, with a couple days in the city and an excursion out to the nearby Andean market towns: Quito and the High Valley of Ecuador. It’s a story of food and flowers, of masses and markets, from the historic center to a town of leather crafters. If a trip to Ecuador is in your future at some point, I hope this convinces you to not pass Quito by. Not all Latin American cities are pleasant places for tourists, but this is one that’s definitely worth the lingering. If you get in touch with Metropolitan Touring, you’ll be in good hands.

As reported by Mercopress, Chile’s Concha y Toro exported 26.6 million cases of wine in 2009, making the winemaker the eighth largest producer in the world.

The company exports to over 130 countries worldwide and hold 7,000 hectares of vines across Chile and Argentina.

The United Kingdom is the brand’s biggest market, consuming nearly 30% of global exports. The brand is also the most popular Chilean brand in Britain, with its products representing 31% of all the Chilean wine sold in that country. The United States is the second largest consumer of the company’s products, holding 18% of the market.

For me, this brand is a consistent everyday bargain, especially when it comes to Cabernet. Their lowest-priced offerings are often the best around in the sub-$10 range, with the only real quality competition in reds coming from neighboring Argentina. I’ve had the pleasure of trying some of their top-end wines too though–and most of those are a bargain too for what you get, especially if you buy them within Chile. The usual reaction is, “Wow, this wine tastes a lot more expensive than it really is.”

Salut!

While on my Spirit Air flight back from Armenia, Colombia the other day I put together a photo tour of the Coffee Triangle tour—with a bit of video. A few sites, a few hotels, ziplining through a coffee plantation, and more. Here’s a quick flavor of the region. A feature story will follow next month.

If you’ve ever spent much time browsing the tequila shelves in Mexico, you’ve no doubt run across the striking slender bottles of Tequila Corralejo. I say “ever” because this was probably the first tequila brand to really differentiate itself with unusual packaging, long before the premium tequila boom hit the U.S. and companies started putting $30 tequila in showy bottles so they could charge $200 instead.

Corralejo hasn’t gone that route though. In fact if you’re buying a bottle while on vacation in Mexico or from the duty-free shop, this brand is often the best value on the shelf. In this photo here that I shot in Playa del Carmen, a bottle of Corralejo is only 50 cents more than crappy Jose Cuervo Gold. The former is 100% agave, the latter is part agave, part whatever kind of sugar could be bought on the cheap. (The other great bargain in that photo is Milagro, which I’ve reviewed on here before.) Unfortunately, you’ll pay three times that amount pictured if you buy it in the U.S., but that’s on par with its peers.

This is a fairly complex reposada tequila, especially considering the price, with a mixture of citrus flavors, pepper, oak, and honey. It gets four months in three kinds of oak barrels—enough to smooth things out and add balance, but not as front-and-center as with añejo versions. In some shops you’ll also find a blanco and añejo in bottles with different colors, but those are less popular.

Besides the distinctive bottle, this tequila has another attribute setting it apart: it’s not made in Jalisco. That’s a rarity since nearly all the quality tequila comes from that one state. Instead this is made in the state of Guanajuato, in the town of Pénjamo. It comes with a heavy dose of history: this tequila was is distilled in a hacienda that was the birthplace of of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla—the priest who sparked the Mexican fight for independence. You can’t get more authentically Mexican than that. Fire up the mariachi band and pour some tequila!