Currency:
Argentinian Peso's

Highlights:
Parillas, red wine varied architecture, history, great nightlife, beautiful passionate people and tango!

Our Adventures Summarised:
One word describes Buenos Aires - indulgence! We've indulged by staying in another awesome apartment in the best part of town, Recoleta, and indulged by eating at many of the fabulous 'parillas' (steakhouses) accompanied by several bottles of wine which goes without saying in this part of the world…

We arrived on Friday afternoon and were really impressed at the airport with their efficient tourist and taxi service - although we did almost die on the way to our apartment. The taxi drivers don't so much believe in lanes here and it's basically a non-stop game of chicken to see who goes first. Friday afternoon saw us sprawled out on the couches for some much-needed chill-out time after our early morning start from Chile. Georgie and I stayed there for the evening as we weren't feeling so well but the other 3 set off to sample their first steak in town - La Chacra - which was met with satisfaction all round! It's not as cheap here as Mendoza - steaks are more like GBP 7 instead of 4 - but since they don't believe in steaks smaller than 400 grams, they are still unbelievable value for money! Al and Shaun also began their love affair for empanadas here.

On Saturday, our tourist shoes were back on and we set off in search of the Turistika bus. Yes, despite being completely ripped off by them in Santiago, we decided this would be the best way to view Buenos Aires as it is made up of so many different areas. However, the service almost got the better of us again as we were patiently waiting at the bus stop closest to our house only to be told that we could only purchase tickets at the starting bus stop which was not so close to our house. Off we trekked to find that there were about a hundred other people who had the same idea as us for the day so it was another exercise of patience for tickets but eventually we were on our way.

What a city!! We've all been so impressed with BA - and from speaking with other travellers, we are not alone in our opinion. It's a beautiful city and immaculately clean for the most part. We were surprised at what a European feel it has to it but then learnt that there was a big European influx of people during the Second World War as Argentina was one of the few countries to remain neutral. It's completely first world. Random fact - the widest street in the world is here - Avenida 9 de Julio with 16 lanes. The architecture is stunning as captured in many of the photos below by my budding star photographer husband. The areas are all very different - from La Boca with its colourful houses, original settlers and the La Bombanera stadium where La Boca Juniours play (a little on the rough side though) to San Telmo with its cobblestone streets and tango clubs to Palermo with its trendy restaurants and string of bars to Recoleta which is the residential neighbourhood for the wealthy (just ask the dog walkers!).

On Saturday night we headed out to La Cabrera Parilla which as Lonely Planet advised - 'if you only go to one steakhouse in BA, this has got to be it'. It was well worth the long wait as we gorged on incredible massive steaks - so big that we took a doggie bag and have had 2 meals from it since then! We have gotten into the swing of timing here too with long afternoon siestas and late dinners - we only finished our meal at 2am and we were far from being the last people in the restaurant. We then headed out for a few drinks in Palermo - lots of fun and although we were tempted by the discotheque option, it was a little tough on such a full stomach!

Our lazy Sunday only got started at about 2pm as we wandered around the hippie market near our place in Paseo de las Artesanias. Brownies and empanadas were the order of the day! More chilling in the afternoon because… well just because we can. And then it was tango tango tango! Café Tortoni was highly recommended and what a show!! It's the oldest café in the whole of South America and the show was held in the small intimate basement area. It was so much better than we even expected - the orchestra played beautifully and there was also singing to accompany the dancing. Although we didn't understand much of what was going on as it was all in Spanish, we got the gist of the story as it told the history of tango and how it started in the brothels and then developed into so much more. The dancers really inspired us to do some more dancing lessons - although I don't think all the lessons in the world would make us capable of some of those moves!

On Monday we went to Uruguay for the day - see separate blog for that adventure.

Tuesday was our last day in BA and by this stage, we were starting to feel like we lived there as we knew our way around our little neighbourhood so well. We decided to pay a visit to Evita's grave to pay our respects but had no idea that the Recoleta Cemetary would be so impressive - so many huge and ornate statues for all the wealthy. We then went on a shopping spree much to Georgie's delight on Florida Avenue. Sadly Tuesday night was our final steak dinner. It felt like the last supper. You'd swear we hadn't just been eating straight steak for the previous 2 weeks! The ribs that we started off with were not such a hit - note to self, order American style ones only. Everyone had food envy after that for Al and my steaks after that though as they arrived perfectly cooked dripping in pepper and mushroom sauce respectively with the best part being the tator-tot-type potatoes that accompanied them. Noisette potatoes in Argentina are a hit!

We will miss you city of Fair Winds but look forward to our Inca trail adventure!!

You can view our photos from Buenos Aires here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=333439&id=713415257&l=1bde2f0536
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=333440&id=713415257&l=355a314288
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=333855&id=713415257&l=56f3c2eb55
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=333861&id=713415257&l=33600e3088