There were times over the last few weeks when I wondered if I would ever make it as far as Buenos Aires, but I am very glad that I did...

Despite my crazy taxi driver to La Paz airport and the crazy bus driver from Buenos Aires airport to my hostel (must be a prerequisite of the job, the ability to strike fear into all who travel with them!), I arrived safely if a little tired.

And my first positive memory of Buenos Aires will always be being able to take clothes off to get into bed for a change rather than having to put more on (!) and not needing to wear my socks to sleep in!!!

The hostel itself was a really good one. And the free breakfast was particularly noteworthy...not only was there the usual bread and jam, but every day fresh pastries, proper coffee and fresh juice. I also came across more different flavours of jam than I have ever seen. From memory I can recall the usual strawberry, plum, apricot...but then the more unusual pumpkin, quince, tomato (!), orange (jam not marmalade) and my personal favourite, fig.

Buenos Aires is very much like a European city, rather than being typically South American, and in some ways reminded me very much of London. The main sights are the different districts, each which their own unique identity and charm.

The microcentre, where I was staying, is the busiest part and has many plazas, the main shopping area, the Obelisk (a huge monument that can be seen for miles around) and the widest road in the world. I counted about 15 lanes of traffic going in each direction, incredible and certainly fun to try and cross - that little white man just never stays on for long enough! I also managed to find a branch of C&A (for those who remember that wonderful British clothing store!) and Harrods, although it didnt look much like the one in London...

The Plaza de Mayo is one of the main central plazas and houses the citys cathedral, several musuems and the Casa Rosado, the famous house where Evita Peron made her speech from the balcony. Normally you can take a tour around but for some reason, this particular week, there are no tours so couldnt take advantage of that.

Then there is Puerto Madero, one of the newest parts of the city, where recent renovations have attempted to bring to port and docklands back into the main central area. It is a bit like London Docklands with loads of boats, swanky new offices and renovated warehouses with restaurants and bars. It is a nice place to spend a few hours watching the world go by and making the most of some fresh air without all the traffic.

Recoleta was definitely my favourite district though. I went there on the weekend, the best time to go because there is so much going on. There is a huge craft market and many street entertainers, with everything from puppetry and mime acts to some fantastic tango. It was the first time I had seen people dance the tango and even after visiting other places around the city, this was still the best. Recoleta is one of the wealthiest parts of the city and is home to a massive cemetary. Now normally a cemetary wouldnt be top of my list of places to visit, but all the guide books recommend it so I thought I would go and check it out, not really to sure what to expect. And I was shocked. When I think of cemetary it usually conjours up images of war cemetaries with lots of grave stones all in straight lines along the ground. But this place was something else. It was like a small town...and because everyone who is buried there is either a famous figure in Argentine history or an aristocrat the headstones are more like shrines than anything else. When you peer inside you can see the coffins as they are not buried underground. Except that of Evita Peron. The cemetary also houses her coffin, but for security reasons it is encased in a steel casket four metres underground.

While in Recoleta I also went to see a strange sculpture someone had told me about. It is a huge silver flower in one of the parks, but it has a unique qaulity - it is solar powered, so by day the petals open up and you can see inside, but at night when the sun goes down the petals close up - pretty amazing!

Sunday is the day to visit the district of San Telmo as the cobbled streets come alive with entertainers and a huge antiques market. To be fair the word "antique" is a bit generous. There are some shops there which are clearly selling genuine antiques but the market is more of a cross between a charity shop and a car boot sale! I´m sure if you looked hard enough there are some genuine bargains to be had, but somehow old and used cabbage patch dolls or wine glasses dont strike me as antique! Nice way to pass a lazy Sunday though, watching the hustle and bustle and listening to the various artists playing jazz or tango in the streets.

Another district is Palermo, supposedly the most elite, but for me it wasnt as nice as Recoleta. It is a big area split into different parts...Palermo Soho, Palermo Hollywood, Palermo Viejo etc. But the best part is really the big park and the lake, where you can take a relaxing stroll and enjoy the sun and open space in what is really a very busy, hectic city. Again there is another huge road, this time with 13 lanes...makes you realise why traffic congestion is such a problem in London. And I also got my first sighting of the professional dog walkers that Buenos Aires is famous saw. These guys walk up to 15 dogs at a time, but thankfully they all seemed pretty well behaved, no bickering or trying to drag the walker off in different directions - would have been more amusing though!

And finally there´s La Boca. This is the one of the roughest areas of the city but still worth a visit. There ar a few streets that always appear on postcards or pictures in guide books as they aer very art deco and in contrast to the rest of the surroundings. They are full of brightly coloured wooden buildings, looking a bit like freshly painted beach huts at the seaside, but make for a nice wander through. La Boca is also home to the football stadium where the Argentinian team Boca Juniors play. Unfortunately I am here during the summer break and the season doesnt start for another couple of weeks but I was still able to go into the stadium and have a look around. And it was worth the look as we found 40 pesos in money on the floor. That is about 7GBP, which admitedly isnt much, but over here that buys you a good couple of days food, so a nice little treat as I got to the end of my week and the financial resources were somewhat depleated...