Day 17 - Fri 14th Nov - Buenos Aires

Finally Buenos Aires!!

We left the hotel about 8am in order to get the terry from Colonia to BA. We got to the tour hotel about midday, however Nick and I had booked a difference hotel in BA as it was the last few days of his holiday.

We went to the tour hotel first to listen to what our tour leader had to say and to make plans with the others. When we finally arrived at our hotel it was amazing, we think they might have given us a bigger room that we had booked as it was an enormous suite room.

We just spent a couple of hours in the afternoon walking around the shopping aread of BA called Florida st. It´s a bit like a peadestrianised Oxford St, with sunshine.

Then in the evening all the girls (7 of us) went to a tango show - for some reason the boys didnt want to go! it was really good, it started with giving us a tango lessong for about 45 mins (it was very basic!). There were about 20 of us and only one bloke!. Then we went through for a really good 3 course dinner. About half wy through the main course they then started the tango show. There were three couples all on at different times and they were really good, they must have been on for about an hour and half and it was really impressive.

After that we met up with the other guys for a few drinks then went to a club called Crobar as Felix Da Housecat was DJing. I only lasted until about 4am but some of the others managed to hang on til closing - 7.30am!

They do everything really late here - they have dinner about 9pm or later, the clubs don´t open until 1 or 2 am and don´t get busy until about 3am, then close about 7 or 8am. They don´t have a siesta culture here so I haven´t yet worked out when they (or the Brazilians) actually sleep as they seem to be on the go 24 hours a day!

Day 18 - Sat 15th Nov

After a well needed lie in (well actually getting up for breakfast then going back to bed for a few hours) we headed out the Recoleta area of the city. Recoleta is a very upmarket part of the city with desinger shops (Dior, Cartier etc) but it is also home to Recoleta cemetary. The cemetary contains crypts and tombs for famous and wealthy Argentines, including Evita.

The cemetary was amazing (I know thats quite a stange thing to say about a cemetary), each family has there own crypt and there are more affluent areas of the cemetary (and therefore bigger plots) and the slightly cheaper plots (although still for rich people). Most of the plits are extremely ornate and quite ostentatious, some of them even looked like mini cathedrals. Evita´s grave is actually one of the more modest ones in the cheaper part of the cemetary (more on Evita later).

Outside the cemetary area they had a market on as it was the weekend. I bought a nice beaded bracelet to replace the one I bought and lost withing 24 hours in Uruguay! (I have since broken this new one too).

Saturday night was officially the last night of the tour, so we all got together for one last dinner and headed out to steak place (yes steak again) in San Telmo. Later that night we headed out to Pacha nightclub (clocking up more Pachas around the world).

We bumped into Frankie Detori in there and were talking to him and had some photos taken. He was also very keen to show us the Pacha tattoo he has on his leg! It was quite strange because all of the Brits were flocking around him, but none of the Argentines knew who he was. Left about 5am but was still having a great time.

Day 18 - Sun 16th Nov

On Sunday there was a football match on with two Buenos Aires teams at La Boca, and the boys had tickets so were gone most of the day as they had to meet up with a guide fairly early to get escorted to the match as it was in a not great part of the city.

Meanwhile I headed off with the girls to San Telmo market. San Telmo is an old town part of BA and is where the hotel Nick and I were staying was. The market is every Sunday and is the entire length of one street and took us about 5 hours including lunch. I bought quite a few things, some small Christmas presents and a beautiful clock for my dining room (which I am hoping made the plan journey back with Nick!).

As it was Nicks last night we went out for a lovely mean in the port front (yep, steak again) before meeting up with the others for a couple of drinks.

Day 19 - Mon 17th Nov

Nick left to go back home in the morning, so I checked out of the very nice hotel we had been staying in and moved to a hostel where two of the other girls were staying. I decided to walk there (about 20 mins walk) with my backpack rather than getting a taxi, so I had my rucksack on my back and my day pack over my front.

There is a scam in BA where two nice looking old ladies squirt you with a white goey liquid, then kindly advise you that a bird has poo´d on you. Then when one is offering you a tissue to wipe it off, the other one is stealing your wallet. As I was walking along with my backpack (one of the busiest streets of the city in the middle of the day) I suddenly felt that the back of my legs were a bit wet. As I reached down to feel what was going on I had a tap on the shoulder from a nice old lady who pointed up to the sky to indicate that it was a bird. As soon as I saw that I put my hands over the bad on my front (the one on the back was padlocked) and just carried straight on as fast as I could to the hostel which was still about a 10 min walk away. I didn´t want to stop until I got there incase one of them was following me. When I reached the hostel the lift had a mirror and I coudl see that I had white goo zigged zagged all over my back, my bad and my legs. The hostel staff were so pleased that they hadn´t managed to get anything and were telling everyone that they didn´t manage to con me!

I spent most of the afternoon getting settle in the hostel (we were in a 4 bed dorm with, us 3 girls and a guy from Peru) and popped into town to do a little bit of shopping.

In the evening we decided to head out to Recoleta cinema to see Quantum of Solace. It would appear that going to the cinema is the thing to do in BA on a Monday night as it was absolutely packed. We had to queue for ages, then couldn´t get the time we wanted, we could get the next time but had to sit on the front row. It as ok though and I quite enjoyed the film, we still didnt get back until about 1am.

Day 19 - Tues 18th Nov

At breakfast time in the hostel some guy were walking around promoting a city tour that they run. They said that included with thehostel was the first hour of a three hour tour which started with a short video of the Argentine history. Wesigned up and it was really interesting but we could only so the first hour as we had arranged to meet some of the others in a different part of the city in the afternoon.

In the evening we were out for Paul´s 30th birthday party. We met at the hostel he was staying at with a couple of the other guys and had a few drinks there first then head out to a nice steak restaurant (yep, steak again), then back to their hostel for a few more drinks, then out to a club aftewards. Another 5am finish!

Day 20 - Weds 19th Nov

Nikki and Soo were both checking out of the hostel in the afternoon so it was my first real night of being on my own so far. We had a nice farewell lunch with just the girls in Cafe Tortoni which is quite a famous very old tango cafe.

The other guy that was staying in our dorm room was also checking out that day and there wasn´t mean to be anyone else checking in until the following day so I was really looking foward to having a quiet early night. However an American couple then turned up at the last minute, but they did go out for most of the night.

I did manage to have my very first night in, in front of the TV for three weeks and an early night! It was great!!

Day 21 - Thurs 20th Nov

I had arranged to do the full city tour that we started on Tuesday with an Irish girl from the hostel who also only did the first part on Tues. It was starting from a different hostel so it did a different route to the one we had done.

The tour concentrated on three different parts of Argentine history; the 2001 troubles and economic crisis, the disappeared people in the 70s and mothers of plaza de mayo, and the Peron / Evita phase. The first place we wernt to was the Union building that the Perons created and the Evita museum that was inside it. It is also the place that Evitas body was originally laid to rest.

We met the man inside that created the museum, he was 80 years old and had met Evita when he was 20. He had some fascinating stories to tell and it was great to hear it all from someone first hand. He actually got really emotional about it all these years later and was choking up. We were there for about an hour and half and it was really interesting.

We then headed to Plaza de Mayo and talked about the ´disappeared people´, who are 30,000 people that disappeared at the hands of the military dring the 70s. The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo are the mothers of the people that went missing, who for 30 years have got together and marched around the plaza in front of the presidential building demanding justice.

After that we walked to another part of the city and talked about the economic collapse in 2001 and that the police had shot 5 protesters there. There are 5 memorials spread along the street marking the place that they each died. We then hopped on the oldest subway train in the city, which has wooden doors that you have to slide open manually. Our destination was the Paliament square and to the headquarters of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo where they have set up a library, college and cafe there too. The tour finished nearby there afterwards so Maebh and I went back there to the cafe to have some lunch.

The Mothers march every week on a Thursday afternon so after lunch I headed back to the Plaza to see them, but unfortunately they were just finishing up when I got there. They had a little market stall there though so I bought a couple of things.

In the evening I headed out for a chinese meal (no steak this time!) with two Irish couples from the hostel - the Irish contingent definitely appears to be strong in Argentina at the moment! We had a couple of quiet drinks in teh hostel after that before a fairly early night.

Day 22 - Fri 21st Nov

This was my last day in Buenos Aires and I had to check out of the hostel in the morning, although I was able to leave my bags there and still use the communal areas. Then I had a few things to do in the city whilst I was still close to civiliastion like photos developed, post office etc, nothing very exciting.

In the afternoon I headed out with 3 girls from the hostel (1 Irish, 1 Brazillian, 1 Chilean!) to La Boca, which was really the only main part of the city I hadn´t seen yet. La Boca is teh area that has very colourful buildings and is often the image that people have of BA. But it is only this one part of the city that is like that, and there are only two streets you can go to as its a bit of a dodgy part of the city.

It was quite touristy but nice to see, there were people outside doing tango to try and entice you in so we stopped and sat outside of one of them for a bite to eat and watching the dancing.

I really enjoyed Buenos Aires and could easily have stayed for longer as there was so much more to do and see. Its a very busy city and is strangely familar and feels a lot like some other citys too.

By the time we go back I didn´t have muchg more time to get ready and head to the bus station to get the overnight bus to Cordoba. It felt strange to be doing this on my own for the first time without a tour guide making it easy and ensuring everything is correct. I nearly didn´t get the bus as my ticket said the bus was 9.05 and on the platform notive board it said 9.01 so I presumed it was a different bus. Luckily I asked someone and they said it was the correct one.

I had decided to upgrade to the next class of ticket up from the ones we had done on the tour (still less than 30 pound for a 10 hour journey) and the bus was really nice with bigger seats, nice thick blankets, served hot food with beer or wine, then asking if we wanted champagne or whiskey after dinner! They showed a film (which unfortunately was dubbed), they woke us up half an hour before arriving with breakfast and coffee.

Definitely the best bus ride so far!!