Yesterday our alarms rudely woke us from our deep alcohol-induced slumber, at 5.00am. We got up as quietly as possible, got ready and left the hostel in our pre-booked taxi, bound for Santiago Airport.

When checked in we were asked if we wanted to change to an earlier flight, leaving at 7.30am, with Sarah now a little worse for wear we accepted the earlier option. After a quick look around duty free we boarded the plane soon in the air, enjoying the spectacular views of the Andes in the early morning sunlight, as we took flight. We enjoyed an inflight snack of a ham and cheese sandwich and yoghurt whilst watching the pilot episode of Prison Break. No sooner were we up then it was time to make our decent into Buenos Aires, making perfect time landing at 9.10am (half an hour before we were due to take off!).

We collected our luggage, got tickets for the Manuel Tienda Leon bus to our hostel, on which we instantly fell asleep. After nearly an hour negotiating the city traffic we were dropped off at a bus station for a transfer in a minibus to our hostel. We paid for a door to door service, so what did we get? - A door to 4 and a half blocks down the road from our hostel service! Once we arrived at Hostel Inn Buenos Aires we paid, got our key and dumped our bags before heading out to make enquires at the travel agents next door. By this time (just after 1.00pm) it was siesta time and the agents wasn´t open again until 4.00pm, so we decided on a little siesta of our own to catch up on lost sleep from the night before. Re-charged around 3.00pm we caught up on emails before heading next door, made our enquiries and headed out to explore the area, which we soon found out was bustling with boutiques, antique shops and an ecclectic market. After browsing a few shops and cafes and restaurants we settled on a cheap corner cafe (Laura - roast chicken with roast potatoes, Sarah had breaded veal topped with ham, cheese and tomato and chips). We wandered back and had a lazy evening at the hostel.

This morning we were up early at 8.00am and went downstairs for our inclusive breakfast of cornflakes, bread, jam and caramel (!?!), coffee and juice. We left the hostel around 10.30am and headed straight to the docks, where walked along past restaurants and grand ships. We ended up the clock tower near the retiro (the bus station) where we booked our over night bus to Mendoza. At 2.00pm we made our way towards San Martin for a bite to eat, passing by the square and the many British-looking (London-looking, to be more specific!) buildings and streets before settling on the best rest-o-bar (in our opinion!) in the area; Yonofui. Beautiful food, contempory surrounding with 70s to early 90s music. We enjoyed bread, breadsticks, crostini and mixed pickled veg to start, a main course of chicken in a mushroom sauce and mixed veg fritata, coffee for Laura and lemon sorbet for Sarah, accompanied by a large glass of vino and all for only 20 pesos! We will be back there!

From here we made our way to Cemetario de la Recoleta home to Eva Peron´s final resting place. Next to the cemetary in a gorgeous little white-wash church; Chabuca Granda, we had a wonder round the lavish little church before going into the cemetary. Once in the cemetary grounds it would have proven difficult to find Eva Peron´s ´grave´ and family tomb, without the directions from the trusty Lonely Planet. We negotiated the ´roads and lanes´until finding the tomb down a ´side street/alley´, we were certain we were at the right place before we even got to the tomb - the crowds were a sure-sign. The tomb, made out of black marbel has several plaques dedicated to Evita and to signify her final resting place (along with plaques for each member of her family), which was moved here from Madrid in 1974 (also previously in Italy). The cemetary itself reminded us of Kolkata cemetary, but more bright, with much more people and much less scary! We thought that the whole cemetary seemed a bit erie and a sort of arrogant ´show´by wealthy families and individuals, some of whom felt the need to immortalize an image of themselves in stone or on iron plaques. Apparently, `it is cheaper to live extravagantly all of your life, than to be burried in Recoleta´!

After our cemetary visit we headed to the city library where, the Lonely Planet informed us, we would enjoy lovely views of the city. However it was closed until Tuesday due to the Easter holidays, so we started the long walk back to the hostel arriving back around 7.20pm deciding to chill out and rest our feet for the evening.