Hi Guys,

As you can see I have made it to Buenos Aires and I am currently very very hung-over so you will have to bear with me on this one. Here is a summary of my last week since leaving Salta.

After Salta we had a couple of long driving days whereby we drove until it got dark and then stopped overnight on our way to Estancia. Estancia was basically a South American equivalent to a cowboy ranch and we all had so much fun with lots of horse ridding, wine and fabulous steak over 3 days. Upon arrival and setting up camp we had a bit of wine tasting which turned into a very very drunken night and as a protest to being put to bed I decided in my drunken state to run around the field semi-nude screaming like a banshee. Apparently according ro Ricki who is my tent buddy I also sat up in the middle of the night and started groaning rather loudly in my sleep to the extent that I woke most of the camp. All very bizarre and the result of a little too much vino!

The next day, not surprisingly, we all, me especially woke up with stinking hangovers and too be honest the last thing I wanted to do was bounce on a sodding horse for the day but regardless we persevered. My horse was so bloody big that I required help getting on and off but to be fair he/she (never asked) was extremely well behaved as we rode off into the countryside and stopped for a sarnie at this very beautiful waterfall, it was a great day and I have to say the fresh air did me the world of good as we went back on the vino later that evening.

The next day as we did not get too drunk the night before I woke up feeling fresh and looking forward to more horse ridding. Actually because we spent the majority of the previous day on the horses our confidence with them improved greatly overnight as we even tried a bit of trotting and even at one stage cantering, although the later scared me a little to be honest as my horse got a little over-excited at the increase of speed. Still it was another good day, although after a few hours on the horses my bum felt like it had done 12 rounds with Mike Tyson and was quite relieved to finish in the end. Later that evening we had a bit more wine, well why not, it was free and we had an amazing bbq with some excellent steak. It was heaven!

We left the ranch on Sunday morning and made our way to Cordoba. The intention was to camp there overnight and drive all day to BA the following day, but as everyone was excited to be staying in a hotel again after 10 nights freezing our arses off in tents we decided to drive again until it got dark and get to BA early the next day, Tuesday. It was a good plan as it meant we had more time to explore. On my first afternoon I went for a nice long walk, saw a great cathedral and the famous Evita pink building and was more than happy to admire all the great architecture of the buildings, BA is a very attractive city.

Yesterday I checked out the big cemetery. To be honest the idea of a cemetery being a big attraction to me sounded a bit morbid but regardless I wanted to check it out. The cemetery is renowned for housing many famous Argentineans including Evita herself and was so strange as all the graves had massive structures and tombs the size of houses. Walking around I felt like I was in the labyrinth or something. Anyway, later that evening myself and a few others went for the best steak I have ever had before getting ridiculously drunk in an Irish bar until 5 in the morning.

Ok so I am now up to date. Today I intend to do very little until tonight when I am going to see a tango show. Tomorrow we leave BA and head north towards Brazil.

Anyway I hope everyone reading this is well.

Take Care
Jon