I dont mean to sound overly conservative, but in my opinion, for someone with no driving experience outside of the USA, driving in the North of Argentina is an overly aggressive proposition with the potential for a whole lot more negatives than positives. Aside from the excellent advice above, I would also say that proficiency in Spanish would be a must, as well as the ability to competently drive a stick shift - unless you are willing to pay a huge fortune for a high-end vehicle that would offer automatic transmission.