Buenos Aires is a huge city, very lively with lots going on. Each district has is own distinct atmosphere but overall it has a very international feel - there are shops and restaurants from all over the world and the city is packed with tourists. I was staying in a very central location which was great and made it easy to get around.

I spent the first morning walking around the centre and doing a bit of sightseeing. I went to see the Casa Rosada (the pink presidential palace) at the pretty Plaza de Mayo - a huge square with fountains and a monument to independence from Spain (and thousands of pigeons!). There was also a small stall there protesting about Las Malvinas, the Falkland Islands.

Later I browsed the shops along the main shopping thoroughfare, Florida. At the end of Florida is Plaza San Martín where I was pleasantly surprised to discover hundreds of life-size 3D brightly painted bear figures lining the square - it was a touring exhibition (United Buddy Bears www.buddy-bear.com), each bear represented a different country. I can't explain why but they made me really happy - they were so lovely (I was telling everybody about them and trying to persuade them to go!).

In the evening we went to the famous La Cabrera steak house in Palermo for dinner - we had to wait for about two and half hours to get a table so we were only starting to eat at midnight. The steaks were enorrrmous! The good food made up for the sniffy staff. Afterwards Monica and I went to Club Museum and partied until 7am! It's a big club and they played all different types of music - we had a lot of fun. After getting in late, I spent a lot of the next day sleeping.

In the evening a group of us went to a football match - the famous Boca Juniors were playing against local rivals Independientes at the Huracán Stadium. We went with an organised tour that took us to a Boca bar first for as much beer and pizza as we could fit in and a few rounds of Boca songs before the military-like operation of navigating us through the THREE security checks (where they were performing some pretty thorough searches!). We were warned to leave everything valuable behind and stuff anything we absolutely had to bring in socks/bras/pants, so everyone was slightly on edge with all the hype - admittedly there was a fairly tense atmosphere outside the stadium with a massive police presence and several helicopters flying overhead.

Inside the stadium, we were in the Boca supporters' end and the fans were crrrrrazy. Strangely there were almost no women in the crowd - just a lot of very sweaty men, jumping around and singing at the top of their lungs! They literally did not stop singing for the entire duration of the game. It was the most intense atmosphere of any football match I've ever been to and, despite the fact that Boca lost the game, it was a great, fun experience. The Huracán Stadium is nice and, because it was an evening game, we saw it during daylight, sunset and in the dark.

When we got back to the hotel we quickly got dressed up and joined everyone else for drinks and our last group dinner with Carla at the nice Mediterranean restaurant, Habibi.

The following day I visited La Boca area of town. I went to the Boca Juniors football stadium where there's a museum of the history of the club. I went into the stand and saw Maradona's special seat. I also walked around Caminito, admiring the cute brightly-coloured patchwork of houses and figurines of Maradona all over the place. It's an area full of culture - artists, dancers and street performers.

I had to return to the hotel for a group meeting with Julio, our new trip leader, and some new people that were joining us for the next stage of the adventure through to Rio. I also had to say goodbye to the beautiful Malan family, who had been with me all the way from Quito.

In the afternoon Denise, Simon and I went to La Recoleta - an upmarket area of town. We had lunch and then visited the famous cemetery where BA's rich and famous are buried, most notably Evita herself, Eva Peron. The tombs are huge and some are very elaborate. It's bizarre how much money some people must spend on these graves, I guess it is a status symbol for the families.

In the evening a few of us went to an hour-long tango lesson where we tried to learn the basic steps, it was good fun. Then we enjoyed a fantastic tango show over dinner - the performers told stories through the music and dance, with interludes where we were serenaded by singers. It ranged from a traditional style of tango to different modern interpretations. It was a great evening.

Later I joined some of the other guys for a party at the Milhouse Hostel and then a club nearby - we were reunited with Shane, Adam, Jake and Emma who had travelled with us from Quito to La Paz and then gone on separately - it was great to see them all again and catch up!

Unfortunately the night ended on an unsavoury note - as Denise, Simon, Emma and I walked around looking for food after the club we were approched by some children asking for money, they were probably 13-14 years old. When we declined and continued walking they grabbed Emma and dragged her along the ground into the road, trying to get her bag off her. She refused to let go and we went to her rescue but then they turned on Denise and did the same thing. Simon went to rescue Denise and I stayed with Emma and thankfully the attackers gave up and ran off. The girls were all scratched on their arms and backs where they had been dragged along the ground and Denise's bag was broken. We were all quite freaked out because it felt like a safe area and we were in a group but, above all, we were thankful that the kids didn't have knives or anything and that it didn't end up worse. Thinking about it rationally, these sort of things can happen in any big city and I guess the girls were just very unlucky.

On my last day in BA I went shopping with Monica. I had to buy boy's trainers as they don't make girl's shoes big enough for me in South America! I made Monica go to see the bears and then we went to the San Telmo district where there are many curious, dusty antique shops and some cool, quirky clothes shops where I picked up a few new items And of course I had to squeeze in one last trip to Starbucks