And we have arrived in Buenos Aires for the final few days of our trip around South America. We honestly can`t believe it has been over 2 months although we are both looking forward to our own bed and some home cooked food.

After a mix up with the flights (our LAN agent in Bolivia had put us on a TAM flight and not let us know - no problems just a bit confusing initially) we arrived in Sao Paulo and then onto Buenos Aires after a short wait. The other thing we forgot was the $100US per person entry fee in Argentina. It's a visa fee you just pay on arrival. After paying this (and still trying to work out how we didn't have to pay it when we crossed over in iguazu) it was off to find a taxi.

Anyway, arriving late at night we got a taxi from the airport to our hotel. Now we are not sure if we got ripped off or not but after the guide book said it should cost about $25 peso we were surprised to find it cost us $60 pesos ($15 AUS). Now we aren`t sure because a number of things have been wrong in our lonely planet guide and both Brazil and Argentina are doing very well economy wise.

After arriving at our hotel we booked in and pretty much crashed. . well until 3am when everyone started to come back to the hotel. Buenos Aires is truely a city that doesn`t sleep. No one will serve you tea until at least 8pm and most people don`t have tea until at least 10:30pm!

After locating a city guide we determined that there wasn't all that much to do as far as tourist sites go. Then again maybe it was just us. We of course did wander down to El Obelisco. A monument in the middle of Avenida 9 de Julio, the 9 lane main road! It is 68m tall and built to mark the first foundation of Buenos Aires. 

Basically the rest of the day was spent wandering around the streets of central BA before heading back to our hotel and out for our first tea. Wandering not far from our hotel we found Iberia Cafe. Ordered wine and then found they don't even serve food (except for medialunas - croissants) until 8p.m. Luckily the wine was fantastic. The food when ordered - Bife de Chorizo (steak) for me and salmon for Phil was divine. Well cooked and good servings although vegies are non-existant it appears.
 
We decided a trip to the suburb of Palermo was in order and our first foray into the subte (subway) ensured. The subte is great. Costs $1.10 per trip, about 25c, the stations are well marked and easy to navigate.

A wander around the streets indicated Palermo was a quite well off suburb with lots of boutiques and cafes. Decided it wasn't quite our cup of tea and headed back into the centro and a walk down Florida Street, the main shopping area of BA.

Well it happened again. We have no idea where or how but I managed to get robbed. Luckily for us I only lost the equivalent of about $75AUS but our bigger problem was they also stole our travelex card. I had them zipped up in a top pocket of my jacket. No idea how they unzipped the pocket or got the money out without me feeling it.   As annoying as it was I still had to be impressed with their skill. Lucky for us the travelex card isn`t something they can use and there was no pin number with it so all in all we were kind of lucky again. 

Next day we were off to the Buenos Aires Zoo. Maybe we were just missing seeing wildlife after seeing so much and probably also because it was something we like doing. Anyway after having some concerns about what the zoo might be like we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually quite good.

Finally got to see the elusive jaguar :) While looking at it we were suddenly confronted with the idea of what would have we actually done if we had come across one in the wold? Interesting thought really.

Also saw an anaconda which we hadn't been lucky enough to see in the wild either. The group the day before us in the Pantanal had seen one on the side of the road and their guide had just picked it up and put it around their shoulders.

I was then in for a great surprise. My pretty much all time favourite animal is the ocelot. Now we have one at the Adelaide Zoo but everytime I have been it has been asleep in the back of it's enclosure. This one was at the front and was just gorgeous. Phil now gets why it is my favourite.

All in all a great time athough we were a little concerned at the number of cats that were just pacing back and forth. Have heard this means that they are stressed but hopefully it isn't the case.

Next on the cards was the Museo de Armas de la Nacion (Arms Museum). It has a huge collection of arms and military uniforms spread over 17 rooms some from as early as the 12th century. Can't imagine why we were going here can you. . . .

Now I don't mind weapons and war stuff but this was just overwhelming. Phil however was absolutely in his element and was in awe at times with items he hadn't even heard of or had never seen. Even more impressive was there was a room of bolt action rifles that half of Phil either had never seen nor could identify!

I thought the modification on a rifle (see picture below) was really cool. Phil being the font of all knowledge on this subject filled me in on what it did. The Australians in Gallipoli made a remote fiing device for their rifles using basically two billy cans to fire it basically to allow them to successfully escape from trenches while the billy cans kept the rifles firing giving the impression the troops were still in the trenches. Not to be outdone the germans overengineered and came up with this modification which gave the same effect.

Unfortunately for Phil it was all in Spanish. . . A blessing for me probably as I think that if it had been in English Phil may still be there!!

It was pretty impressive but after a while I think I was 'militaried' out and found a lovely cafe called the Torevato and Regina, had a coffee and read a US paper while Phil finished up. We headed to the Torre Monumental (de los Ingleses) was given by the British as a gift after the Falklands war. Phil finally managed to get a photo of the monument and guards without tourists walking through. It's actually a really nice monument.

Phil was trying to get me interested in the next gift from the British, the replica copy of Big Ben. Now maybe it's just me but I kind of feel it is a bit pretentious and almost rude to 'give' a replica of possibly one of the most recognised monuments in your own country to another country. Almost like a we know it's good and we don't think you can do better. . . . Also probably worse that the monument looks at Big Ben considering the monument is for the Argentinian soldiers who lost their lives to the British Soldiers. Kind of rubs salt in the wounds one could think . . .

Due to our hotel being booked out we had to move to a 'deluxe' room for one night. Basically very similar to what we had but a larger room with a balcony. The ensuite was huge. Our own bath and even a bedit! No bath plug (and they couldn't find one for us) we made do with some plastic and some soap and enjoyed a nice soak with a beer.   The view from the balcony was over Avenida 9 de Julio and we were happy the next morning to be moving back to our other room as the traffic literally never stops along this road!

We had decided that as neither of us were really interested in soccer and the game on this weekend was only a second level game that we would go to the rugby instead. Or so we thought. After booking at our hotel it turns out that the company who takes you to the game hadn't confirmed and by the time our hotel contacted them (after we waited an hour) the game was going to have started by the time we got there. Disappointed we just cancelled. 

After an unsuccessful look at the Santa Domingo Church the day before (it apparently has some british war flags which they captured in 1807 and refuse to give back - good on them) we headed back. The church as it turned out was open with services being carried out. Sadly the flags are kept away from the public upstairs and it wasn't to be for Phil.  The San Telmo markets are on every sunday and as it turns out start at the church. The markets are basically stalls or wares on blankets set up on the streets.

We were both impressed with the variety of goods on offer and the quality of the goods was amazing. One of the most impressive goods we saw were the coins. Basically they would drills small holes in the coins then use a small hacksaw to cut away parts leaving the animal, sun etc. Lots of intricate work and Phil is keen to give it a go. After a few purchases we headed back towards our hotel for lunch and a coffee. The coffee is much better in Buenos Aires and we do love that fact that they always come with a little something.

For our last night in Buenos Aires we had decided to go to a Tango Show. We figured it was going to be a good way to finish our trip away. It certainly was. We got picked up from the hotel and taken to the theatre. We were going to see the Sabor a Tango show and included was a tango lesson.

The lesson was good fun and the instructor was a great showman. We then went into the main theatre which was set up with tables and a stage at the front. Tea was included in the ticket and was really good with the dessert the highlight. It was icecream with a chocolate shell with the typical argentinian dulce de leche (very sweet caramel) inside. Now Phil and I don't actually like the dulce de leche but inside the dessert it worked. Wine and beer was free and our glasses were never empty the whole night. Next was the show. The dancers were amazing and I particularly liked the three Argentinian Gauchos who were great showmen and had a 'fight off'.

It was a great end to our trip.

Up early the next morning waking to a protest on Avenida 9 de Julio. Their protests are a lot different to here. They had set up in the middle of Avenida 9 de Julio, were beating drums and setting off fireworks (can't imagine why we were up early) but were surrounded by police and the traffic was still flowing. When we headed down for breakfast we were surprised to see a water cannon and another armoured verhicle. Guess they were expecting something that we didn't know about!!

After breakfast (if I never see another sweet croissant I won't be upset) and after managing to fit everything into our packs and close them it was off to the airport for our 15 hour flight home.

I can't believe our South American trip is all but finished. Looking forward to some of the normality of home but it has certainly been a wonderful experience we will never forget.