You’re never more than a few metres from an empanada wherever you travel in Argentina, and you’re all the better for it. Empanada literally means “wrapped in bread” but this description does not do justice to the wonder of this Argentine staple. These savoury pockets are served warm as a prelude to the asado, or on their own at parties.
Tucked away in the corner of the country, where Argentina, Bolivia and Chile converge, is the magical Andean northwest. The climate is as harsh as the terrain: unrelenting heat and heavy rains in the summer, arid cold in the winter. April, May and September are the best months to visit.
Don’t worry if you didn’t catch Argentina’s opening match against England in the Rugby World Cup on 10 September. It was as poor a game as you could ever hope to miss. England scraped through 13–9 in the end, but looked less like the world-class side they are and more like 15 blokes who had…