What an amazing city. we`re been here a week already and will probably stay another.

Everyone`s really glam and beautiful, me and Damian have been trying not to let the other one notice that we are oogling the Argentinians.

We are staying really close to that Obelisk in the picture, its in the middle of a massive road that has 11 lanes of traffic in each direction. Its difficult to cross.

We have eaten countless steaks and drunk loads of Malbec. As with any South American City, it is packed with posh English Gap year kids so we had to move around hostels a bit to avoid all the Henry and Wills we have been meeting. No they`re not that bad, we just feel very old when they tell us how excited they are about going to uni, and they really only want to meet other posh English gap year kids.

We`ve been pottering around the city quite a lot, typically for this trip we have found there to be strikes everywhere and some of the main museums and sights are closed. there is a massive protest every afternoon that walks through the city centre and ends up in the main square, htey are protesting about unemployment, farmers rights, landowners rights, food prices, teachers pay, working conditions, you name it. I also met a group of campaigning veterans from the Falklands (or as Damian keeps calling them, the Maldives) who gave me a rant about Margaret Thatcher which was good for practicing some new Spanish insults. Then lots of people turned up with balaclavas or scarves over their faces and massive metal sticks and baseball bats and they suggested I leave for my own safety, so luckilly I got out before they smashed up the police trucks and the semi permanent fence that has been erected around the presidential palace to protect Ms Kirchner from the daily protests.

We went to see a tango show in La Boca, it was great, lots of teeny weeny sparkly dresses and very high heels and dramatic poses. there was a live band with an old guy playing the bandoleum (like a square acordion) and he shouted ESSSO! every five minutes. translates as `AVE IT!!´. there was also a pianola which is a mechanical piano that plays itself which was a very ingenious contraption.

La Boca is the dodgy bit of Buenos Aires. at night you get out of your taxi, into the show, and straight back home in the taxi afterwards. in the day time you are herded by police and fenced into three small streets full of tourists, and cannot stray into side streets for fear of being robbed. apparently. we thought boca was very overtouristed, they have recreated a 19th century street and filled it with tourist tat.

San Telmo is a nicer bit, its all very old buildings and antiques markets. we wandered for hours, marvelling at the curious things for sale. Like vintage tango dresses and gramaphones and strange bits of meat in plastic bags with potatoes) Me and Rob bought a pile of records to post home (sorry mum, more parcels).

The Porteños party hard; bars shut at 6am and nightclubs shut at 9am! some nightclubs are open until lunchtime the next day and then you can go to an `after´which will be open till the following evening. And no-one looks grimy or messy after all the dancing, because they are argentinian! and they are not drunk and violent/ puking /crying like at the end of a night out in England.

We have just missed the end of the football season so were unable to see Riverplate versus Boca, but we will make up for this in Rio hopefully.

The food here is something else in deed. we had a steak that was 2 INCHES thick. it was only cooked on the outside 2 millemetres, the inside was wet and purple, wobbly raw and cold. tasted AMAZING! it was as big as the plate, was enough for 2 people easily and cost about 8 pounds, with all you can eat side orders like rices, salads, pickels, you name it.... this city is amazing for eating. and the wine is great and cheap. I think we had about 4 steaks a week here.

Time is ticking so off to Brasil....