Unfortunately we would only be staying in two places in Argentina, which given the size of the country doesn't seem right. The second place being Buenos Aires which was a long 22 hour (day and) night bus away, but there was a bonus since it only took 21 hours! On arriving we went on our last city tour with JP, since he was leaving us and we were getting a new tour guide for the last leg of the tour. As always we visited the main square, this time called Plaza de Mayo. Just beyond the square is the pink Government House (apparently pink due to combining the red and white colours of the countries opposing political parties) suitably named Casa Rosada. From here we moved down to the docks of Puert Madero. It looks quite a nice area, like it has been recently redeveloped with chic bars and restaurants. That evening the rest of the group went to a seemingly overpriced tango show. As per usual Sara and I were a little more conscientious about our money so decided to meet up with them after. Once they returned we all jumped in taxi's to go to a club, at 1am, to be told sorry the club doesn't open until 2am! So off we plodded to the taxi's again this time to the more lively district of Palermo. There are many bars here, but all of them seemed overpriced - about £7 a cocktail. The best value for money was by the litre of beer, so my arm didn't need much twisting to persuade me there! My good deed for the night (and Ian's) came in the shape of a phone, when a guy left his on the next table. We ran three blocks to eventually find them, to get a shocked grunt of a thank you. Guided by the light from our halo's over, a few of us moved onto something that would pass as a bar/club. Here we said our emotional goodbyes to JP as he had to go catch a flight, and we carried on the rest of the night primarily dancing Julie style (with a broken leg). Inevitably by the end of the night we all had the munchies, but despite our best efforts, nothing was open to offer us food at gone 5am, not even one of the 8 Mcdonalds in the near vicinity. Nonetheless not to keep a good man down, the next morning we went to Mcdonalds (not because we were hungover but due to there being free wifi there of course, plus I did acquire a handful of 2 for 1 vouchers!). This put us in good stead for the sunday market. I don't know how long this street is, but if I said it was lined with stalls for a couple of miles I don't think I would be exaggerating. There was everything here from handicrafts to textiles to any tourist tat you can think of - naturally we bought nothing! Unfortunately when we returned to the hotel we found out that Merel had her camera stolen on this very street with the bird poo scam - they squirt something on you when you are unaware, then 'kindly' offer to help clean you up while robbing you in the process. Later that day we went for a cheap steak for lunch, which being cheap was more fatty and nothing on Bariloche (lesson - never skimp on a steak!). The service was not great either and they say that the Argentinians are proud of their rude service. We couldn't come to Argentina without going to see a tango show, so we found a cheaper alternative which was apparently more local. Well there was no apparent to it, we were in something similar to a community hall and it was basically a tango class run by experts. To be honest we were a little overwhelmed, where as I am not much of a dancer anyway, Sara did not have the courage either. I would have joined in if Sara wanted, but the problem was everything was in spanish and what we assumed to be the beginner group, they were all so competent already. Plus I don't think Sara liked the idea of how often you had to switch partners! So instead we sat there with pizza and wine in hand watching and admiring the diverse age group of local tango enthusiasts, which was followed by a short show performed by the professionals - it was an experience to say the least. The following day we met up with my friend Jess (from accountancy school) and her newly acquired friend Josh. We have been travelling a similar route for a while, but given that I am on a tour this is the first time that we have crossed paths. It is always good to catch up with a familiar face and we decided to go to the grand Recoleta cemetry. Even though we have been to a few cemetries on our travels, we don't want to make a habit of it, but this one houses the resting place of Evita as well as other Argentinian celebrities. As you can imagine the monuments here are extravagant and massive, some are big enough to live in, whereas in comparison Evita's seems quite modest. We then got a quick bite to eat with Jess before leaving to go say our final goodbyes to Lauren (Joe's sister). It is sad to continue to say goodbye to people but given she only lives up the road in geordie land, i'm sure we will be reacquainted again (don't tell Joe!) For our final night in Argentina, we invited Jess to come along with the group to a party called La Bomba del Tiempo. Well it was more like a gig Latin America style, with a dozen or so drummers in a circle with a sound that can only be associated with South America. It was great to watch and a lot of the locals were well in the spirit of things moving like I could never. We just did a bit of air drumming along with your standard head bopping and even a touch of tango to show that we have adopted a little culture (even if we were showing it off at completely the wrong scene!) To end the night we trawled through the rain until we found a little bar that we then took over. It was nothing special, but it seemed traditionally typical and also had table football which kept us occupied for most of the night. Xx