Another huge fail on the photo - how can there not be a photo from Buenos Aires?!

So rocked up to Buenos Aires on Saturday 13th and instantly fell in love with it. The city is absolutely beautiful, with completely stunning 1920s architecture evidencing the wealth that used to flow through this place. It's also incredibly warm, which is definitely a nice change after Peru!

On the night I arrived there was a Valentine's Night party in the hostel, so after meeting all my new room mates (2 germans, 2 americans and 2 brits) and a quick nap I headed down to the bar for the start of the party. Needless to say, a lot was drunk. Nightlife in BA starts incredibly late, so the bars open at 11, and the clubs open at 2am and stay open til 8am, very strange!

Next day I dragged myself out of bed at a not unrespectable time of 10am, and headed up Avenida de Mayo to do some touristy things. Walked all the way to Plaza de Mayo, which used to be the main square in Buenos Aires, and which is where the Casa Rosada is. The pink house is from where Evita and Peron gave their most iconic speeches, and is another beautiful building. Unfortunately its pink colour is actually due to ox blood that they mixed with the white wash when they repainted it in the early part of the century. Managed to get myself on a free tour of the house, which showed us into the women's room, scientists room, and the room of the busts (not as exciting as some of you may have been hoping). Another great thing about BA, especially after pricey Costa Rica - everything is free entry and there are free tours of most landmark buildings if you ask. After Casa Rosada, and a quick sit in the Plaza itself, I headed to Casa de la Cultura, which used to be the press office for BA, and then on to see some of the big banks. After an absolutely gargantuan dinner for just a fiver, I hottailed it back to the hostel to catch the showing of Love Actually, and then after watching a couple of sets of the jam sessions that were happening here, got an early night.

Next day after a long breakfast with my roommates I headed to Puerto Madero, effectively the docklands of BA. The port has recently undergone a huge regeneration project to make it more modern, not to mention squeaky clean, with the result that it looks exceptionally like a stretch of the Thames! Considering it was a dowdy day as well, I felt right at home. Had a leisurely stroll around the luxy restaurants and bars in the area, and a saunter across the Puento de Mujeres (probably not spelt like that, but essentially meaning the bridge of women, and supposedly designed to represent a couple tangoing - not convinced myself) before stumbling across a little deli/restaurant called iFresh Market. Sandwich shops are in short supply here, so this was a real find - a freshly made sandwich with parma ham and cheese was just perfect for sitting by the water and watching people row by in very old school sculls. Just as the sun was starting to go down I made the 45min walk back to the hostel, aiming to dodge the huge mosquitos on the way, and settled down to watch some Bear Grylls in Spanish before getting ready for Monday night party. Yet again, found myself in some random club at 4am dancing to random 80s songs (perfect) with random Brazilian people. Odd. Must have looked a little worse for wear when I got back to the hostel, as I managed to wangle 2 free empanadas (bascially cornish pasties) before bed. Win.

Looking forward to the next few days here, it's an amazing place to spend some time. Going to chill out today and try to source some fresh fruit and veg from somewhere (just eating meat and cheese is starting to get old). Got lots planned for the next few days - polo lessons, tango lessons, a tango show, a trip to a gaucho estancia (ranch), as well as seeing more of the city, including Recoleta and Palermo as soon as the sun comes back out. It's also quiz night tonight, time for my roommates to see my competitive side I think. I've already assessed who will make the best team mates according to specialist fields. Bring it.