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Sorry it's taken me so long to pull together a summary, but responses
dribbled in over several weeks and I was hoping to receive several follow-ups (which
unfortunately never materialized).

Just as in the U.S., Argentina has several organizations serving celiacs.
Since I found their websites not very informative for my purposes and didn't
receive responses to the emails I sent them, I won't reproduce the info here.
However, you can get a good list from www.celiac.com.  Some of the organizations
sponsor local meetings but I don't think my schedule (or my minimal Spanish)
will permit me to join them.

The one exception is www.celiaco.org.ar (only the Spanish-language version),
which has a useful section on where to buy GF food called "Donde comprar".
Using it, I found a website for an Argentine brand, Tante Gretty, containing
links to over a hundred health food stores (which are called "dieteticas")
carrying their products.  This list will be very useful as I drive around the
country.    www.tantegretty.com.ar/reperesantes.asp.

In general, the best information came from respondents, or from the referrals
they gave me.  I was assured that knowledge of celiac disease is widespread.
In fact, the government requires gluten-free products to be labeled using a
shaft of wheat embedded within a forbidden sign, similar to the logo we
sometimes see in this country.  The phrase "Soy celiaco" (pronounced sell-EEE-ack-o)
will often be enough to alert waitstaff in better restaurants, but of course
language cards will also come in handy in situations where more information is
needed.  Like the U.S., the national diet is heavily based on wheat and beef.
I probably won't be able to indulge in many pastries, but OTOH steak and
salad are easily available in casual neighborhood grills called "parillas".

I found a bed-and-breakfast in Buenos Aires (www.recoletaguesthouse.com)
where the owner assures me that my GF needs won't be a problem.  Since conditions
looks so promising, I decided not to make advance reservations elsewhere in
the country and wing it, as I usually do when traveling in North America.

Ironically, and totally unexpectedly, my biggest challenge so far has been
renting a car, not planning how to stay on the GF diet.  There are no automatic
transmission cars to be had anywhere in Argentina, so I'm getting a crash
course from a friend to learn how to drive a stickshift.  I'm leaving for my
three-week trip tomorrow night.

Paul Otto
Brooklyn, NY
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