18 hour bus rides are quite the experience, nowhere else have I been offered champagne in my super big, super reclinable chair. Pretty much sums up Argentina, its fantastic. As I write this we are leaving elegant Buenos Aires for thundering Iguazu falls. We have covered quite a bit of the country.....

Leaving San Pedro in Chile we decided to head to Salta in north western Argentina. The bus was 9 hours but a night bus didn't exist, we soon found out why. The trip starts out in fairly flat desert, then we started winding our way up through the red mountains. Finally reaching the top, a valley of cactus strewn canyons in every shade of red confronted us. To get down to it a narrow, largely dirt road wound down the side of the mountain, much like Trolls Pass in Norway. Stunning, time consuming and nerve racking. Eventually canyons gave way to mountains, reds turned to greens and cactuses became trees. In a short space of time the landscape became incredibly lush. Definitely one of the most varied, beautiful drives of our trip.

A more sobering aspect of the drive was the number of crosses by the road, largely on the long, flat, wide roads. Here they don't just put a cross, a whole memorial is built, some even the size of a cubby house with a number of red flags secured around the area. Quite a strange site. We wondered if the problem was drink driving, a big issue in countries we had previously passed through. The 4 hours at immigration wasn't a highlight either.

After the poverty and dust of Bolivia, Salta was just what we were after, a laid back city centred around a vibrant town square. Being in the middle of horse country the traditional Gauchos (farmers/horsemen) are ever present in their long boots and black wide rimmed hats. Horse is still their preferred method of transport.

We didn't really do too much there, again eating was a feature; good cheap wine and amazing steaks for $12. God Bless Argentina.

At the suggestion of a friend we had met we ended up going out to a Gaucho ranch for a day trip. It's called Sayta and if your ever in the area just go. The horse riding part of the day was great fun even though me and big red (my redheaded, stubborn, very tall and beautiful steed) had differences of opinion regarding who was the boss of the operation. I think it was clear by the end of the day she was.

A highlight probably wasn't when Emmett fell off his horse when it had a little slip on a rock going downhill. As I watched this in slow motion, I dropped my reins so my horse proceeded to head down another embankment to eat with me powerless to do anything but try and hold on. Happily Emmett was fine and I got my reins back. Wins all round.

After riding we sat down to an all you can eat Asado (BBQ) with the family of the farm and the gauchos. The head of the family, Enrique was a joyful, politically incorrect old man, brilliant. The meat feast he was force feeding us (not Emmett of course, who he proceeded to call pumpkin) was sensational as was the free flowing wine. We were genuinely sad to leave when our ride turned up. Fabulous day.

To further update ourselves on Argentinian culture we headed to a dinner Pena show with a couple of girls we had met. Litres of wine and more melt in your mouth meat had us well lubricated for the entertainment, dancing gauchos and señorita's. It was a terrific night which had me further enamored with the ever so cool Gauchos.

A night bus had us south in Cordoba. We were bad tourists here. Really bad. Other than walking around the largely pedestrian city centre full of lovely churches, we saw a movie. Actually two of them. Taken2 was good, Bond was fantastic. It's not that there is nothing to do there, plenty actually; paragliding, hiking, skydiving, horse riding to name a few. The problem is we'd done it all. Tough problem to have I know.

Yet another night bus and we were in Mendoza, prime wine country. We immediately liked this place, very laid back. Due to a catastrophic earthquake early in the piece the city rebuilt with lots of lovely green plazas (squares) and wide tree lined streets. It's a great place for wandering, especially looking at all the amazing shoes, just don't try and shop between the hours of 12-4pm. It's siesta time.

The love affair with Argentinian empanadas (like little pasties with different fillings, but baked not fried like Columbias) I began in Salta continued. I also added another one to the mix, Alfajores. Basically soft cake/biscuits with a filling (usually thick caramel) covered in chocolate. Genius. So many different flavors, I took it as a challenge to try as many as possible. The Oreo one was outstanding.

Mendoza is known for its nearby winery's. With a super cruisy Hawaiian couple we jumped on a local bus to Maipu. From here we hired bikes from Hugo's bikes (highly recommended) and set off on our own wine tour. The main road doesn't really have a footpath so some trucks driving past were a little to close for my liking. Once we turned off it was lovely; flat, quiet roads through the vineyards. More suited to my riding ability.

The 3 wineries we started with were all great; a boutique one, one in a big old barn and a flash rooftop one looking out over the vineyards. It's definitely a red wine area, I'm usually only a white drinker, but when in Argentina. Their famous Malbecs are tasty, as was the Rose variety. The Chardonnays tasted like a bunch of flowers. I don't eat flowers. Needless to say riding around in 30 degree heat, drinking multiple glasses of wine and not eating lunch can leave one quite tipsy. Happily we took the back roads to deliver the bikes to Hugo.

We could have easily spent more time in Mendoza visiting their famous mountains, eating and drinking on the brilliant never ending outdoor eat street or getting into some extreme sports but it was time to head to Buenos Aires. A city I had longed to visit for many years. To get there, another night bus!

Immediately I could see why BA gets called the 'Paris of South America'. The wide boulevards house grand old buildings just like those you would see in the European city. The purple flowering jacaranda trees set everything off beautifully. Despite its troubled past it is a grand city whose wealth of years gone by is clearly on display.

The city is split up into distinct areas, barrios, so public transport took us around. We stayed in the micro centre on the main boulevard, noisy for sleeping, but great for sightseeing. In the area we took in Casa Rosada, the pink house where Evita made the balcony famous, the famous church that looks more like a pantheon (houses the remains of the hugely important liberator of Argentina San Martain) and the huge, stunning congress building. They all have squares in front of them where people gather at night to play soccer, jog, chat and walk the dogs.

The city really does come alive at night, much like most of Argentina, we were slowly adjusting to the usual 10pm dinner. The rich area of Palermo is especially vibrant at night and where most Portenos (locals) head out. Venturing there on a Saturday night it's literally restaurant after bar after pub, all completely packed. $6 mojitos made me love the area even more.

Sunday is a good day to head to one of the oldest barrios, San Telmo, as a huge market is on. It's set up along a cobbled street and seems to go on forever, passing many important buildings on the way. It finishes (or starts) at San Telmos main plaza where tango dancers ply their trade. Such a great atmosphere even if I was holding onto my bag particularly tight so the apparent numerous pickpockets chose another target.

When in BA a tango show is a must. We didn't want a Vegas style number so we headed to the oldest, most famous cafe, Cafe Tontino. Entering the building was like stepping back in time, I could completely imagine BA's rich and famous holding court there during the country's glory days. The show was great; A mournful tango singer with passionate dancers. There is definitely something extremely sensual about the dance. Emmett said he enjoyed the dancing but really i think it was more the barely there outfits on the gorgeous girls.

BA has a lot of history, the BA free tour gave us an insight into it. Being, at one stage, the city was one of the richest, architects were bought in from Paris explaining its European look. We also found out what the ugly steel barriers, that ruin all photos, in front of Casa Rosada are about. Whenever there is a protest they block it off completely, these days there are so many protests each week they just leave the barricade there full time. Lazy.

A bit of a strange tourist attraction is in Recoleta, another rich, beautiful area. It's a cemetery, a place I usually avoid like the plague, but this one is different, it's almost like a city behind the walls. There are above ground crypts of all sizes, some bigger than many houses I've seen on the continent, many decorated with lavish monuments and statues. The ones from the 1800's, early 1900's are ridiculous in their grandeur. I particularly liked the full size statue of a soldier guarding his own tomb. Creepy. The big draw though is Evita in her small, modern family crypt.

Evita really is everywhere in the city, some love her, others hate her. We headed to the Evita museum to suss her out. I concluded she was very powerful and had a great wardrobe. Emmett and I have agreed to watch the movie, despite the presence of Madonna, maybe I'll make some more hard hitting conclusions from that.

Food in BA was typical of Argentina, meat. Though I was craving any kind of vegetable we had to have one meal at a traditional Parilla. To say it didn't go so well would be an understatement. I had found one with a menu to suit the vegetarian amongst us, thoughtful of me. We sat down, ate the complimentary appetizer, and ordered drinks. All good. Then we ordered our meals. The waiter proceeded to tell Emmett everything he tried to order was unavailable. The only vego item available was grilled provolone cheese. A hissyfit ensued; "cheese is not a meal". After a very tense meal we ended up finding out from the very apologetic waiter there was no gas, hence the issues. My fillet steak was amazing.

Our last day was as Argentinian as you can get. We headed to the famous La Boca for the day, an Italian immigrant area with brightly painted houses and many tango dancers. That night we headed back there to the home of the famous soccer team La Boca, La Bombonerie. This time Argentina was playing Brazil.

It was kind of surreal. All the streets in the area were cordoned off and guarded by riot police with shield and batons. Going through one of the points a girl with us in a Brazilian shirt was not allowed through. All very serious. With the masses we went through 3 security checks before we made it in.

The stadium was full of Argentinians, with an end full of Brazilians. Unlike the Boca game we were going to attend 2 days earlier, this game had no flares or post match riots, just 2 sides singing songs at each other and jumping up and down in unison. Such a terrific atmosphere, made me almost like soccer. It ended up being 2 all, drawing the series with a penalty shoot out to decide it. My team won ;)