9th

We head into the city today to do a tour inside the restored Theatre building. The transformation from a run down building to its finished state is pretty impressive. Its only a short tour, but we get to see enough. We have lunch in a pretty busy restaurant around the corner. It's a buffet, but the catch is you get your plate weighed after making your selections, and the cost is $10 per kilo. Its not a bad deal as the food is really good and there is a lot to choose from.

Now we catch a bus to the Jardim Botanica, (botanical gardins). The reviews were good so we need to check it out. Now it did start off ok until we were about half way around the gardens when its started to rain. The rain turned into a torrential downpour, and we did get rather drenched try to find shelter. The rain stopped after 30 minutes and we completed the walk in the gardens. Not as good as I thought it would be.

Now its getting close to rush hour, 5pm, so we get a bus into the city, and will try and catch the ferry home. Well that plan is thrown out the window. There must be 1,000 or more people waiting at the ferry terminal. Oh well lets try and find a bus. We don’t walk into the apartment till 8.15pm. Rio transport has really ****** me off! Not looking forward to the bus ride back to the airport.

10th

Woke up to dark skies and rain. The weather report is lots more rain and storms for the next few days. Well I think we are lucky as the past 6 days the weather has been sunny. So we stay put in the apartment for the day, and watch some TV. 11.30pm were off to bed and it is still raining.

11th

Up early as we fly to Buenos Aires today. And yes it is still raining. I think we will get wet trying to get the bus. Anyway we arrive at the airport after a 2 hour bus ride. Thank goodness that’s the last bus ride in Rio. Our first flight is with TAM, and it departs on time. We have a 5 hour layover in Sao Paulo, so we head into the Admirals lounge to kill some time.

The next flight from Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires is with LAN. The flight departs on time. We arrive on time, and wait for the stairs to arrive to allow us to disembark. Well half an hour later we are still waiting. So the stairs finally arrive and we head into the airport. Its over a 1 hour wait till our bags arrive. The next delay is clearing customs. So we landed at 8pm and don’t leave the airport till just after 10.30pm. Its now a 40 minutes taxi ride to the city.

We arrive at the apartment in Palermo and our host is waiting for us. The apartment is a lot smaller than the one in Rio, but more than adequate.

12th

Our first day in Buenos Aires is going on a free city walk. We catch the Subway to the city centre and find our way to the starting point. The tour is run by just one guy, and he is full of information. The tour last for just over 3 hours. He covers a lot of ground, and we learn a lot about the city and some of its history.

We head back to the Presidents House and take a tour inside the building. Tour is ok, but the building is not the impressive. There is a special room dedicated to Eva Peron, which looks like it has not been touched since she died.

The city would have to be the cleanest we have visited in South America. Its well laid out, and there is not much traffic. The buildings are very European, and you could be forgiven for thinking you are in the middle of Paris. Lots of Cafes serving the worst coffee I have every tasted.

13th

Today we catch a bus to La Boca to visit Caminito Street. It’s a small area with lots of colourfully painted buildings. As its Sunday the place is buzzing with tourists. There are lots of Tango Dancers trying to lure the tourist into the restaurant for a meal. We don’t eat here as the food is so expensive, tourist pricing. We decide to walk back to the city rather than catch the bus. It’s a nice day for a walk, and its only 5 kilometres.

We stop at a burger King for a quick feed. The security guard is kept busy chasing of some feral kids that keep coming in hassling people for their food. I watch him actually having to manhandle one of the kids to get them outside. Rather sad to see. Then the mother comes in and goes straight to the bin and starts rummaging through the bin. The guard is yelling at her to leaving but she ignores him. We leave asap.

We keep walking along the rejuvenated port area, and then through the gardens. There are so many parks and green spaces in BA. We come across a huge stainless steel structure. It’s a flower with petals that open and close.

The district we are staying in is called Palermo. Its considered part of downtown, and its right next to Recoleta. All the streets are lined with beautiful trees. At times the foliage is so dense you cannot see the sky. It is also very cool with the shade from the trees.

14th

Today we take a walk to the famous Recoleta Cemetery. Its dates back to 1882, and there are some interesting Mausoleum’s. We also visit the Mausoleum of Eva Peron. No need to spend much time here and we head into downtown to do a tour of the Freemasons building. It is one of the more beautiful buildings in BA. The view from the top(which once doubled as a lighthouse) was great.

Now its time we head back home, so it’s a subway ride this time, no walking. The subway is packed, and we are like sardines on the train. When the train stops at our station we have to push our way through the crowd to get to the door. Alan make sit ok, but I am not sure what was happening with me. I tried to push my way through, but 2 guys kept pushing me back. I pushed really hard and forced them apart and got off just before the doors closed. Not sure what their intensions were. We were told by the ticket sales guy never to have your backpack on you back, but move it so its on your chest. Apparently there is a lot of theft on the subway. These guys rattled me a little, a si don’t know why they tried to separate us.

15th

Nothing exciting today. We take a short walk to the Alto Shopping centre just up the road. Its fairly new and has all the major worldwide brand stores. Nothing cheap though.

After lunch we stroll through the park called Palermo Woods. The park is over 500 acres.