Day 13 - Sun 14th March

Met up with the Irish guys who as usual had multiplied in number and we all headed out to watch River Plate beat Huracan 2:0. £5 for seats in the stands where all the hardcore fans sit, close to huge drums and we spent the whole game on our feet partying and singing chants/songs that we didn't understand...

Huge security round the ground too and even got breathalised for the first time!! Hadn't even been drinking!!

In the evening everyone just headed back to the hostel for a night in with Quilmes (the local beer) and pool/lookalike contests...

Day 14 - Mon 15th March

Started Spanish School. Directions were ropey so I turned up late but I wasn't the last so it wasn't too bad. About 7 of us, mainly either 30 or 42ish. An Aussie guy was the spitting image of Mr Incredible and a middle aged balding French guy who was into hip hop, street dancing and Buddhism were two of my favourites...I spent 4 hours every morning for the week across 3 teachers. One of which often went off track and explained about Argentinian sex hotels and how she'd weened her children off breastfeeding with lemon juice...none of which she'd had any prompt for! On the last day I gave them apples. Teachers pet.

In the afternoon we moved hostels to a lovely part of Buenos Aires called Palermo. The two guys who run it look like J Depp and Leo Messi - what more could you want! Did a bit of shopping for bits and bobs and then headed to a massive drumming party in a warehouse club called La Bomba - such a good time. Headed to a bar after and met several brazilians and swedish people along with an Argentinian who was really drunk and kept shouting 'shut the f*** up!!!' purely for his own amusement...

Day 15 - Tue 16th March

In the afternoon we headed to Recoleta cemetary, home of ornate marble mausoleums of BAs finest, including presidents but most famously Evita. Hung out in the park in the sun for a while with the world's greatest ice cream then in the evening headed to La Cabrera, the best steakhouse in town. £18 for a huge, incredible steak and wine. Bargain for the quality!

A middle aged Canadian moved into our dorm. Crazy. He turned out alright in the end but would just spout abuse and crass statements all day long. We lost track of the times he said he'd beat the sh** out of us, shoot us in the head if we didn't go somewhere, break our knuckles etc. Good laugh!

Day 16 - Wed 17th March

St. Patrick's Day. BA has an enormous Irish community (like everywhere!) so it was a huge deal. It was also a girl we were with's birthday so a large group of usgot dressed up in the standard green attire and facepaint and partied in the Irish part of town. One of the best nights and got interviewed on Argentinian tv!!

Day 17 - Thur 18th March

Chillout afternoon after classes to recover from Paddy's day. Walk around the park and a chilled evening in the hostel.

Oh yeah and bit bullet bought Boca tickets.

Day 18 - Fri 19th March

Headed to BA zoo with Lloyd, Rich, Dee and Erika. We were all really excited (Dee specifically bought shorts with horses on them, a donkey t-shirt and a dog badge) but came out a little disheartened...none of the animals seemed very happy. A lot of pacing going on and what can only be described as bizarre sexual fetishes amongst the animals...

In the evening met loads of new people, including a guy from Cordoba, Marcos and his tiny sidekick. 2 of the funniest people I have ever met!! Had a great night out with them to a club called Rumi and we're heading to Marcos' birthday house party in Cordoba next week!!

Day 19 - Sat 20th March

Went shoe shopping for Frances with Dee and then just went for a wonder with everyone all around Buenos Aires. Found another great steak place for cheap and then headed to Sugar, a bar owned by Eve, a mate from home (although technically she'd sold her stake that day, hadn't met the new bouncers and couldn't get let into her own club because it was too full). So hung out with her and everyone else we'd met in BA, pulling off some muzicsoulrhythm moves on the dancefloor until 5am...

Day 20 - Sun 21st March

The big one. El Superclassico. The biggest football derby in the world. Boca Juniors vs River Plate. And we were there. Dragging ourselves up, very hungover we headed over the La Bombenera (Boca's stadium) with our tour, where it preceded to throw it down with rain like nothing I've ever seen before. Queuing up in the street, drenched to the skin we eventually got into the ground to find an unbelievable atmosphere. It was still heavily raining but as the players came out the ground erupted with noise, streamers, balloons, ticker tape. It was incredible. Even Maradona in his personal 'hero's box was loving it. The only problem was that the pitch was essentially underwater. After 5 minutes of clearing the pitch of streamers and 5 minutes of players leaving the ball behind when dribbling, some horrendous tackles etc the game was abandoned :( worst feeling ever. But we'd still caught the atmosphere so it wasn't too bad. Sold my ticket for the replay on to someone who looked like steve sidwell in the hostel so didn't cost too much either.

Further, I got interviewed for Brazilian tv. I guess I just have the face for it...

The evening just consisted of drowning our sorrows in the hostel...

Day 21 - Mon 22nd March

Fairly chilled. Bought Frances' shoes. Had more ice cream in the park and slowly headed to our bus out of Buenos Aires to head off to Mendoza...