Hola Amigos,

Monday 9th June
After an amazing 15 hour bus ride from Mendoza to BA, (Argentina's capital) we jumped in a cab and headed to Millhouse which is meant to be BA´s number 1 party hostel. The first thing you notice about BA is how European it looks...lots of Italian and obviously Spanish influences. We checked in then went for a little walk, we were both a little tired and it started to rain so we went back to the hostel to watch the Holland Italy game with a few beers. We bumped into a few Aussie guys we met in Santiago who joined us. After the quality result in the footie and a few more beers we went down to Puerto Madero for an Asado ( Argentinian BBQ) After dinner it was back to the Hostel for a few more drinks before hitting a night club across the road, It was a pretty crazy night to say the least....BA ROCKS! It was a late night as we rolled in at 7am. We came to realise that things are done very different in Argentina especially BA, no one eats until at least 9.30pm, and no one goes PARTYING until about 2am....Yikes!

Tuesday 10th was spent in bed all day due to the night before, we never got out of bed until late afternoon, went out for some Empanadas and we were back in bed for about 9pm....We also had a TV in the room so that was a big bonus!

Wednesday 11th, We checked out of Millhouse hostel and moved into "Portal del Sur" which was only a few blocks down the road. It was a really nice hostel (would deffo recommend), small dorms, clean nice atmosphere and a great breakfast. After checking in we booked a bus tour round the city for the afternoon. We were picked up at the hostel at 1pm and the tour took us all round the city. It was a good way to get a little familiar with the city as it is so BIG, the population of BA is 14 million!!
The tour lasted for around 4 hours and gave us a clue about which areas we would go back to. La Boca was a pretty cool neighbourhood, its home to Boca Juniors. It was full of colourful houses and people, with some nice restaurants but we were advised only to visit during the day because it was a very rough neighbourhood. After the bus tour we stopped for a lomito on the way home.

Thursday 12th was a bit of a ying yang day, we strolled the streets of Recolleta stopping for long coffee and Empanada breaks. We were on the hunt for a butcher as we were fed up of eating out. We found one and bought 6 big fillet steaks which cost us 21 pesos that's about 3quid. We had a chilled out night with a few drinks and a nice home cooked meal.

Friday 13th we went to Recolleta with a few people from the hostel to visit a graveyard, which is a very strange tourist attraction, Eva Peron is buried here, she´s the Argentinian equivalent to Diana. It was a pretty amazing graveyard but a little freaky, we never hung around to long. After the graveyard Lance, Fiona, Jamie and myself went to watch the Holland France game in a bar. We had decided during the day that we were gonna have a big night out. There was Jamie Myself and about 6 others from the hostel. We got a carry out, hit the rooftop bar in the hostel then went to "Crobar" a famous nightclub in BA. We never went out till about 3am as that's when everything starts to get busy. The club was good although not my kind of tunes, lots of house and techno type beats, Jamie was loving it! It was a quality night. Think we ended up getting in a 9am.

Saturday 14th June was pretty much a non event after the night before, we never got up until about 5 that afternoon, then headed into the city for the cinema and something to eat. Jamie twisted my arm to watch "Sex in the City", have to admit it was pretty good!

Sunday 15th June, we looked around the city half the morning to find a computer with Skype to phone Jake and Jimmy for fathers day but there was none open so we used a public telephone which cost a fortune...hope you though it was worth it dear fathers? Then we went to church, interesting Mass in Spanish, Jamie enjoyed it though.
After a quick phone call we went back to the hostel to meet the others to go to the San Telmo market which is on every Sunday, its a must see Market, really pretty area and sells loads of things, it also has lots of street performers and food, yip we are really loving the food in Argentina! After spending the day in San Telmo we headed back to the hostel for dinner (more home cooked cheap steak) and an early night.

Monday 16th was our first day of Spanish lessons we were meeting our teacher at a cafe in San Telmo. There was Jamie and Myself and another guy from England called Nick who am pretty sure thought he was in France, the way he kept speaking French?? We sat in a cafe for the first hour and a half then had to get a bus to the train station then from the train station had to get to the bus station where Jamie and I booked our bus to leave BA then get back to the main Plaza all trying to speak Spanish, it was pretty amusing. After the Spanish lesson we went into San Telmo for dinner with Ross and a few others as it was his last night before heading home. We went to an amazing restaurant which was nice and cheap, for the 9 of us with wine and beer it was 50 quid and we all had steaks....it just does not get any better.

Tuesday 17th and it was off to Palermo for our second Spanish lesson, we went to Palermo in the morning and had a walk around before meeting our teacher in a cafe, it was a different girl this time, pretty much the same as the day before we spent the first hour or so in the cafe then went out on the street and had to practise what we had learnt, we had to get to the supermarket them buy some items. After out lesson we bought our dinner for that evening, yet again more steak, this time with veg and pasta, how can you not eat so much red meat when its so cheap. That evening we sat with our buddies in the hostel and had a few beers.

Wednesday 18th we went shopping in the morning as i only had 2 pairs of trousers and they were both in the wash, was pretty warm wandering around BA with my shorts on! Totally Freezing. It turned it to nightmare trying to get trousers to fit, the trousers that the shops had were 34 waist and 34 leg which were huge on me and the 32 waist was a bit tight. Anyway after looking for a few hours I finally found some. We then went for an amazing lomito before booking a tango show for the night. On the way home we were caught in a massive protest to do with the price of meat going up it was mental there was tens of thousands of people with flares and flags and drums going wild, it was quite a scary experience but also good to see. That night we went to "Cafe Tortonis" which is the oldest cafe in Argentina to watch a Tango show, it was amazing there was a story behind the dancing and music, was very entertaining. Would recommend this type of show as its cheap and the location in BA is fantastic. After the show we went to an Irish pub near the hostel to watch the Brazil Argentina world cup qualifying match.

Thursday 19th was our last day in BA and the heavens had opened the rain was belting down, so we phoned home then went to Hooters for some chicken wings.....MMmmmmm We ordered some 911´s (Maddog you would have loved it)
There was more protesting, this time it was to do with the taxi´s and the price of petrol, all the Taxi´s abandoned there cars on the streets and th drivers made there way for the main Plaza to protest, the streets of the city centre were blocked for hours and FULL of yellow and black cabs....The Argentinians really know how to protest. We went back to the hostel to collect our stuff then went to the bus station to catch our bus up to catch our bus to Pueto de Igazzu.
We LOVED BA, advise to anyone is make sure you are there for at LEAST 10-14 days, that way you can really appreciate this wonderful city.
Chow for now Amigos,
Marc and Jamie xxx