On Wednesday (3rd March) we got an hour-long ferry across the border into Argentina and hit Buenos Aires!

Buenos Aires - I fell in love with it within 5 minutes - as everyone who's been there said I would. What an amazing, eclectic, vibrant city. Even after a couple of days, I know it's somewhere I could live. It's got a very familiar feel to it with wide boulevards, brand names you recognise and a friendly hustle and bustle - it's like a mixture of London, NY, Paris and a bunch of Italian cities - all rolled into one fabulous package! The LP describes it as having "the sophistication of a fine-cut diamond, the charm of an unshaved Casanova, the mind of a frenzied lunatic and the attitude of a celebrity supermodel." That's about right I reckon.

So, a few wee snippets on Argentina that you might not have known. It's huge - the world's 8th largest country, just after India. It used to be one of the richest countries in the world until its financial meltdown in 2001 when it stacked up a US$10 million debt! Nowadays almost 50% of people are considered to be living in poverty. It has a wealth of natural resources and the skeletons of some of the largest dinosaurs that ever lived have been found here! Oh, and the current president is a woman. Hurrah! I also didn't realise that whilst the average man on the street doesn't really care, diplomatic relations between Argentina and Britain are still quite frosty.

On Wednesday evening we went to a tango school for a 90 minute lesson. It was very funny but lots of fun. My partner was one of the 19 year old Australians but he was the only guy who took it really seriously and he kept dragging the teacher over to watch what we'd done so we could be taught the next steps. We then went to a local restaurant in the Sam Telmo district where everyone writes messages on the walls so it was quite a quirky place. I had the best steak I've ever had in my life accompanied with some Norton Malbec (yum!) and itonly came to about GBP12.

On Thursday we hired a private van and guide and did a city tour. I'm here for another 6 days but decided it would be a great way to get oriented with the city so I know where to go back to. The first place we went to was this huge metal flower (can't remember the name now) which opens out at sunrise and closes when the sun sets. Beautiful. I definitely plan to go back there one evening. It was donated by an architect who is from Argentina but now lives in NY and he wanted to give a gift to his people (at the cost of USD4 million!). We then headed to the Recoleta cemetery which is where Eva Peron is buried amongst hundreds of huge tombs and mausoleums of famous people and the aristocracy. At the Plaza de Mayo we saw the Casa Rosada which is the pink presidential palace and has the balcony where Evita used to talk to her people and the Catedral Metropolitana which houses the tomb of Jose de San Martin who was Argentina's liberator. It was then onto La Boca which is the old working class and immigrant area as it's near the old port. This is home to Maradona's old football club, Boca Juniors. The best bit of La Boca was the Caminita - a vividly colourful street lined with corrugated metal buildings in bright primary colours and sculpted people hanging out of windows. A very cool neighbourhood. While we were o we saw loads of professional dog-walkers which seems to be the way to go here in BA! Apparently it costs around GBP15 per dog per month!!

Thursday night we went to a tango show. It cost a fortune (about GBP50) but that did include a 3-course meal and unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks. I strategically sat next to the wine so pretty sure I got my money's worth. I enjoyed the show but it lacked the goose-bump effect that I normally get when I watch tango in films and stuff. Still, was good to see. Friday morning we had a group farewell breakfast then went our separate ways. I made my way to my new hotel in Palermo. I had booked into a boutique place with just 10 rooms. Because of the earthquake in Chile (and also the Machu Picchu problems I suppose too), a load of people have re-routed back to BA so overnight the hotel prices doubled! I've ended up paying 5-star rates for basically a room in someone's house! Never mind, it's great to finally have my own space and be able to unpack my bag! Palermo is a fantastic place too with loads of boutique shops, restaurant and bars - very trendy and snazzy! Friday night I was meant to meet up with a few of the girls but I didn't make it so bought myself some cheese and wine and chomped it in front of the TV. Bliss!

On Saturday I went for a wander around San Martin Square (saw the Falklands memorial - ooops!), Recoleta and did a spot of shopping (of the window variety!).

Sunday ended up being a HUGE day. I knew Debs (from my Dragoman tour) was due in on Saturday so sent her a mail to meet in San Telmo. My internet wasn't working so didn't know if she had got message or not but I went anyway as there is an antiques market on a Sunday that I wanted to see. She was there! Had lunch, accompanied by 2 bottles of red; wandered round market a while then stopped for another bottle of red. Then went to restaurant I had been to with my group a few days earlier and had steak (can't get enough of the steak here; it's phenomenal) and another bottle of red. We got chatting to the waiters who then brought us a lemon liqueur followed by champagne and then we went to a bar with one of the waiters and had some grancia (some weird local firewater). 14 hours after meeting up, Debs insisted on walking home (which I believe took her well over an hour as she went the wrong way!) and I staggered my way into a taxi.

While in the restaurant, a tour group came in and sat near us and I got chatting with a great girl called Sabine. We arranged to meet up on Monday to do a bit of sightseeing so we wandered through San Telmo and then hopped on a bus to La Boca. We then went to get tickets for a tango show at Cafe Tortoni, which is the oldest cafe in South America. As we were waiting for the tickets we noticed the National Academy of Tango was ext-door and were offering tango lessons we went to investigate and found they do 3 -hour classes for about GBP3!! Bargain! There was the plan for tomorrow!

Anyway, back to the tango show. It was great! Much better than the last one (and much cheaper at only about GBP16. It was very dynamic with lots of singing and variety. Well worth seeing.

On Tuesday I met up with Sabine for our tango class. Blimey, it was hard going! We were the only tourists there although there were some other people who had never done it before. I was pared with an older guy but he was brilliant - really patient and a good leader (all-important for the tango). We had to do a dance in front of the rest of the group to show what we had learnt which was highly embarrassing but it was good fun. Only problem was it was boiling in the room and 3 hours is a bloody long time! Also, Sabine was paired off with a bit of a muppet. Never mind. We then bumped into a guy Sabine had been in Ro with and went next-door to Cafe Tortoni for a coffee before heading to the giant flower to watch it close. The guard on the gate said it wasn't working which is a shame as it's supposed to be stunning by night. Bumed into 5 people from my GAP tour who were trying to do the same thing and then Sabine and I headed to Recoleta for dinner.

Wednesday I did a bit of shopping, packed, then met Sabine at the Eva Peron museum which was quite nice. It basically documents her life and has displays of her clothes and all sorts of stuff. I really must watch that film again (possibly one of the best things Madonna ever did) as she was a remarkable woman and so sad that she died aged 33. We then walked through Palermo (what a great neighbourhood - funky restaurants, bars and shops) and had a humungous plate of cheese and salami, pizza and, of course, red wine. Our last supper! I was sad to say goodbye to Sabine as we just seemed to click - again, one of the downsides of travelling. Hoping our paths will cross at some point over the next 2 months or so.

So, it's official. I'm in love with Buenos Aires. I can't quite pinpoint exactly why but this place has such a vibe that you can't help loving it. It's possibly my favourite city in the world (so far!) and I could easily live there. It's fantastic!!! There are 3 negative things I have come up with so far - there is dog poo everywhere so you really have to concentrate on where you walk; I've been bitten alive by mosquitoes and there are always people hassling you to buy stuff on the metro. I could cope with all of that to live here!

I just wish I'd had longer. I thought a eek would be long enough to see any city but I've hardly scratched the surface and needed at least another week. Sigh.....another one to add to the 'I'm definitely coming back here' list.