Argentina is a land of contrasts, from the vast plains of the east, to the Andes in the West where Aconcagua, the highest peak of the Western Hemisphere at 6,959 meters, towers above the other mountains. The variety of the broad landscape ranges from high plateaus of the Northwest with deserts, valleys, gorges and brightly colored hills; to lakes, forests, glaciers, steppe, mountains and cliffs of Patagonia. In the Northeast, wetlands, lagoons, waterfalls and subtropical rainforests spread into the expanse of the flat Pampas in the Buenos Aires Province and the rolling hills of Cordoba.