We arrived in Buenos Aires on Sunday morning and decided to walk down to the docks and around San Telmo, the area we were staying in before we could check into our hostel. San Telmo was buzzing as the weekly market was being held with stalls spilling onto all off the streets around the main plaza, with antiques, arts and crafts, clothes and some brillant street performers. In the evening we stayed in our brilliant hostel chatting to lots of people and finding out what to do in Buenos Aires.

Monday and Tuesday were spent exploring the centre of the city and looking at all of the leather products on sale and browsing lots of shops similar to those back home. Due to it´s wealth Buenos Aires is extremely similar to cities in Europe and it is often referred to as the Paris of South America as it is so attractive. On Monday evening we went to a drum show called ´La Bomba de Tiempo´ (the Time Bomb) which was amazing. A group of 17 drummers and other musicians played for a couple of hours in a small outdoor arena and involved the crowd at some points, everyone there loved it and the noise was phenomenal. On Tuesday evening we went to ´La Catedral´, an old hall that held open tango lessons and shows during the week in a beautiful old building. We watched people dancing and enjoyed some food and wine but unfortunbately had to leave early as Ashley was a little worse for wear!

On Wednesday we explored San Telmo again this time getting to see the buildings and parks as it was much quieter than market day. We visited some shops, an art gallery and got to look at a Russian orthodox church that was similar to St. Basils Cathedral. In the evening we sat around talking to people in the hostel and having some more cheap Argentinian wine.

Thursday was spent relaxing at the hostel and chatting to people so that Ashley could recover from the previous nights alcohol consumption. As he hadn´t had quite so much to drink Tim went walking around town for the afternoon. The evening was again spent in the hostel eating and chatting to people who had already come from Uruguay, uor next destination.

On Friday we decided to take the metro across the ciy to visit Palermo, a shopping district with some big parks on its edge. As it turned out, the shopping was non-existant but the parks were really nice with lakes, gardens and a big observatory. In the gardens was also a really pretty Japanese garden that had been built at the beginning of the century and was still being very well maintained where we spent some time relaxing and enjoying the unusual quiet. In the evening the hostel did a Parilla BBQ (similar to Asado but more meat!) which was massive! We were fed copious amounts of steak, chorizo, blood sausage, salad and more as well as wine and beer. It was a great social where we got to know some other couples who had just moved into the hostel and who were planning similar routes to us through South America. After the bbq a few of us went out to a club to experience the Buenos Aires nightlife before getting back to the hostel at 7am via mcdonalds at Ashleys request.

With the morning being a total write-off we decided to visit La Boca in the afternoon, a pretty area despite being one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the city. There was a large market being held and we got to walk past the stadium of Boca Juniors, one of Argentinas biggest club football sides. Lots of the houses were made from brightly painted corrogated iron which gave the whole area a very interesting and colourful look. In the evening we went to a tango restaurant where we had a delicious 3 course meal (steak of course!) and a bottle of wine before watching a 2 hour show that was brilliantly performed by some fantastic dancers. There was a live band which included an accordian and there were also singers in between the dancing. At the end of the show Ashley attempted to dance with one of the professionals and got some photos taken.

On Sunday we took the evening ferry to Uruguay after another day exploring the San Telmo market. The ferry turned out to be a needlessly complicated affair as we had left it late to book, a decision that resulted in Tim having to tube across the city to buy tickets and run back to the hostel in time to get the bags - not fun! The ferry was a one hour journey across the Rio Parana into Uruguay where we would spend a few days before coming back into Argentina further north to see Iguazu Falls. We both loved Buenos Aires and could have stayed longer if there wasn´t so much more we wanted to see!