The next part of our Argentinian adventure was, even by our 'overland addiction' standards, a little over the top, as we'd decided that we'd go straight from Ushuaia all the way to Buenos Aires in one go.

I remember looking at this journey on Google Maps back in Melbourne and thinking how crazy it would be and so it's fair to say that I was looking forward to it for a while. In terms of the distance, take a look for yourself: it's almost the same as Manchester to Moscow and by bus it would take us 52 hours to complete.

Although we were experiencing our first real 'First Class' bus service in Argentina for the majority of the trip, we initially had to endure a 5am start into dark and chilly Ushuaia. After arriving at the makeshift station, we got onto a freezing cold bog standard bus, with the only slight warmth coming from an old blanket.

We thought that we'd be on the same vehicle all the way to Rio Gallegos but after 5 hours of shivering, we were thankfully ushered off for our first immigration duties in Rio Grande and herded onto another bus, which to our relief had a functioning heating system.

The familiar on, off, on, off and on again ensued with the numerous border controls and one car ferry, and finally, there we were 12 hours later, back in Rio Gallegos for the third time.

With eight stamps (plus one gimmicky one 'Ushuaia - The Southernmost City In The World') in our passports and happy that we'd made the effort, we were tired and waiting in anticipation for the luxury Andesmar service to whisk us to BA.

The next 37 or so hours flew by whilst relaxing, working and studying in our fully reclining 'cama suite' seats. On both nights we were treated to a decent hot dinner with wine and on the second day they even entertained us and the rest of the passengers to a game of bus bingo.

When the coach assistant, Juan came around after a very late dinner to offer the passengers a glass of champagne (as he did the first night), we were the only two that accepted. I think at this point Juan was fed up enough and perhaps felt that we'd deserve a treat being the only passengers deranged enough to go all the way, so rather than opening the bottle and politely pouring us a nice plastic flute of the bubbly, he plonked the full unopened bottle onto our laps and muttered something along the lines of "you can have the whole thing; I'm off to bed".

We downed that bottle in about half an hour and forced ourselves to sleep. 5 star service from Andesmar, what can I say?

The second morning brought us into the capital and we felt quite giddy again to be in a big city after such a long time enjoying in the peace and tranquillity of Patagonia. We'd planned to meet up the following day with our friend Juan whom we met over two years ago on THE Island in Cambodia, so in the meantime we were to acquaint ourselves with the city. This basically meant a classic 'whistle-stop' tour and a well-deserved sit-down meal with a bottle or two of Malbec.

It was funny to think that Juan would put us up after meeting with him so long ago, but he insisted that we could stay with him and what better way to get to know a city than by someone who is born and bred there?

We got a text from our man the next morning warning us to 'eat soft'. Apparently, that night we'd experience the most epic all-you-can-eat parilla (grill) of our lives. We were both quite excited, especially Shaun.

We met up with Juan in the afternoon and took a bus-ride to Quilmes where he lives - a city within a city about 20-30 minute south from Buenos Aires city itself. After dropping off our bags, we met some of our host's friends and family before heading to El Tano for our feast.

The dinner did not disappoint and possibly put our Ushuaia experience to shame. This place was the real deal: located on a street where you wouldn't want to hang out on your own even before dark and we were the only tourists in sight (perhaps even the only ones to have stepped through the door). It was loud, unorganised and packed with locals. The service was charmingly abrupt and we, as foreigners, were denied the 'usual' stuff meant for mere Argentinians (their words, not ours), but instead served by the chef himself, the best cuts of the house.

Juan and his friends were smiling as our eyes were just gleaming of a mixture of joy and horror. I have never seen so much meat in my life. The plates in front of us kept changing from sausage to chorizo to pork to cheese to beef to ribs to steaks. Shaun went blind. I had to unbutton my pants. It wasn't pretty but it was amazing.

Juan and co's hospitality didn't end there: He would completely amaze us with his generosity, not only by letting us stay in his home, but also insisting on treating us to drinks, dinners, and a few other once in a lifetime experiences in the five days that we stayed.

The following night we watched him and his friends play a weekly 5-a-side match with pizzas on a bbq afterwards.

Shaun got to partake in a Saturday 11-a-side start of the season friendly, in full kit and all.

On Sunday, Juan took us to see Argentino De Quilmes (a fourth division team, now adopted by Shaun as his Argentinian team of choice) play a league match, which was pretty crazy. Juan described that the match was to be family friendly, but the atmosphere was electric, the stand was packed, everyone was chanting, jumping, singing the whole game, which included 2 red cards, a fight between the two managers and a missed penalty (taken by the goalkeeper, no less).

It was pretty amazing, even for a non-football fan like me. I dread to think what it would have been like if we'd gone to a River Plate game.

As the week went, it was hard for us to apprehend the Argentinian way of having guests, and with great gratitude we accepted everything that was offered for us: beers, food, lifts everywhere etc. What made it worse was that they wouldn't hear a word of accepting any money for any of it. We did manage to make a dinner of Finnish style meatballs mash and gravy for Juan and his friends one night and sneakily paid for a couple of beers and perhaps a lunch once though.

We loved our stay in Quilmes and the fact that we got to see the 'real' Argentinian way of life, we made many friends over many beers (or Fernet & Coke - the preferred drink of choice), all who welcomed us with open arms. The amazing treatment that we received will forever be remembered and Juan has an open house to ours and a brand new Manchester City shirt waiting when he visits us in our home back in England. He will be treated like a king.

As the day of saying goodbyes beckoned, we managed to meet up with Rachel and Sarah, whom we met a couple of times in Mendoza and again in El Calafate. We, Juan and the girls shared some pizzas and beers and caught up with all of the events of the last few weeks overlooking the canal in the posh Puerto Madero district of the city.

So with a double farewell, Puerto Iguazu in our sights and our days in Argentina running thin, once again we left with heavy hearts but with great stories to tell the grandchildren. Well maybe not all of it.