Buenos Aires is often said to be the most European city in South America, and from our short time there we can see why. The architecture, the fashion and even the look of the porteños (the locals) lend the city a Parisian feel.

On our first day, we took a train about an hour out of the city and visited Tigre, which lies on the Paraná Delta. The delta is one of the largest in the world and there is a vast system of islands and waterways to explore. Tigre was an important port and a popular holiday home location for many of the elite Argentines. We wandered around aimlessly in search of the fruit market which we eventually found. To our dismay the name was a little out of date as there was no fruit to be seen, just cuddly toys and fast food. We then just managed to squeeze in a quick boat trip before having to dash back to the train station and BA.

On our next day we took a city tour on a really convenient 'hop on hop off' bus. We took in all the main sights which included La Boca and San Telmo (the blue collar neighbourhoods from whose brothels Tango is said to have originated in the late 19th century); the Casa Rosada (the President's office); and Cementerio de la Recoleta (the final resting place of many notable Argentines include Eva 'don't cry for me' Peron). Whilst the tour was very interesting what we enjoyed most that day was siting in a lovely little cafe and having a cortado (expresso with a dash of milk) and media-luna (croissant) and people-watching.

On our last day we (Steph) did some shopping for leather goods and a lovely time was had by all (Steph).

Throughout all our time in BA though, there was only one thing we were desperate to do, which was to see , and even try, a little Tango. This turned out to be harder than we anticipated because many of the Tango shows are very touristy affairs involving high kicks, costume changes and dry ice. On our last night we eventually found a very cool Tango venue called La Catedral, which had classes and a live band. We had a fantastic time. We got there at 9pm and by the time we left at 2am the party was just getting started.

The next day was a day of pain. We had to be up at 5am to catch a plane to La Paz via Santiago. At Santiago we nearly missed our connection because they changed our direct international flight to La Paz to an indirect flight via Iquique in northern Chile - an internal flight. This sent us running around Santiago airport looking for signage or staff of any kind. We just made the flight thanks largely to a nice lady in a souvenir shop. After our 'complementary' stop in Iquique we eventually made it to La Paz late in the evening. For anyone planning on taking three flights on a hang-over and three hours sleep before arriving 4,000 meters above sea level - don't.

La Paz is amazing though and Steph with tell you all about it in the next post.

~Chris

PS the other highlight of BA was dodging the innumerable piles of dog poo which adorn the streets - we learnt some moves which proved remarkably similar to some of the more complicated Tango steps.