The day had finally arrived! After much anticipation and change of heart, Monday the 2nd of January was upon us and Emily & I embarked on our adventure of South America to kick off the new year in a memorable way. Stepping aboard our LATAM operated Qantas flight we were only a mere hop, skip and a jump away from the Latino continent. However, when I say mere, I actually mean a twenty-nine hour door-to-door transit with lengthy stopovers in Auckland, Santiago and Córdoba before eventually stepping foot into the capital city of Argentina; Buenos Aires. Greeted by our lovely host Agustina at midnight, she welcomed us in to her beautiful, modern apartment in Recoleta and left us with plenty of insider tips and suggestions for places to visit, restaurants to eat at and bars/nightclubs to drink at. First mission though, shake the jet lag and adjust to the Argentinian time clock of afternoon siestas and late nights.

Eager to start exploring the city and ticking off the tourist checklist, we tagged onto a bus tour of the city to visit the many districts. After driving through the wealthy suburbs of Recoleta and Palermo, we were soon to realise why the city is labelled as the 'Paris of South America' with its rich history, European architecture and extensive parks. We stopped off at Plaza de Mayo to visit the main square and take photos of the 'pink' presidential palace before venturing south to one of the oldest neighbourhoods; the soccer-mad district of La Boca. This colourful patch of Buenos Aires gave a greater insight of what life is like for the working class of Argentina. Strolling up the famous Caminito strip, with a chorizo in hand and a Boca Jnrs shirt on my back, the residents were very welcoming and nice. It seemed a $15 jersey from a local man on the street had acted as a cloak of invisibility and a means of ensuring our safety in B.A. The tour ended with us being dropped back near the town square and we walked back to a restaurant called La Cocina to experience our fist taste of the much-hyped South American cuisine item; empanadas. A pastry pocket filled with marinated carne (meat) or pollo (chicken) just like a version of the Australian pie. They did not disappoint, a delicious snack that became our staple lunch diet for the remainder of our stay in B.A.

Our most memorable, or perhaps 'unmemorable' depending on how you view it, was a visit to the decorated Palermo Soho district which was home to many great restaurants and the base of the nightclub/party seen of the city. Eager to indulge in the meat cuisine of South America, we headed to the highly-rated La Cabrera steakhouse for dinner. After being placed on a waiting list upon our arrival for up to 45 minutes, we were finally seated and begun examining the extensive menu of meats. Ordering a mix of both rib-eye steak and racks of ribs, complimented with a side of salad, we were soon to realise that we had severely under-estimated their 'grande' portion sizes with at least 1kg of meat on the table being delivered to our table and a 1L bottle of beer to help digest it. A beautiful meal that lived up to expectations but definitely left us with feeling of 'death by meat'. Curious to see what the B.A nightlife had to offer, we pushed through the meat-sweats and walked to a nearby Mexican bar called 'Chupito' for a variety of novelty drinks. Flaming Harry Potter shots, tequila, Sex on the Beach shots from a syringe and vodka red bulls were all on the hit list to jack up our to adrenalin before our next stop; Kika nightclub. Very much like our old-favourite Soho in Sydney, Kika was a dark room, with strobe lights and smoke machines (which complimented the cloud of cigarette smoke already present in there), mixed with some good tunes, which allowed us to dance the night away into the early hours of the morning.

On the final complete day in Buenos Aires, we rose early and started with a gym session to sweat out the previous nights spirits, followed by a period of swimming/tanning at our rooftop pool and heading up the road to the famous tourist attraction of Recoleta cemetery. A free tour around the graveyard provided us with insightful information about many of the 5000 graves that were situated within it, such as past presidents, inventors and the noble Eva Peron. It was like the Hilton of cemeteries, although apparently people living in Sydney are not allowed to be buried there for some strange reason? :S. Wanting to finish off our stint in the Argentinian capital in style, we followed a hot tip to Floreira Atlantica Bar. The place operates as a regular florist/wine cellar shop by day but turns into a secret, hip, underground cocktail and tapas bar of a night by entering the closed store and following a sliding door down into the basement. Another delicious dinner which consisted of marinated prawns and lamb, washed down with some boutique cocktails definitely left a good taste in our mouth (literally and figuratively) of our stay in Buenos Aires. The next stop on our itinerary is up to the northern border of Argentina to experience one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world; the Iguazu Falls.