We arrived in Buenos Aires at 5:30pm the next afternoon, starving having had 1 biscuit the whole day. Extremely fatigued and grumpy with each other we failed to understand the metro system to get us to our hostel, and instead jumped in a taxi across Buenos Aires to 'San Telmo', the oldest colonial area of the city. Stumbling through the door of the 'America Del Sur' hostel with minimal energy, we were then told that there was no electricity in the rooms at the hostel, and we were welcome to get a refund and move somewhere else if we wanted...we couldn't have cared less at this point so dragged our bags up the 3 flights of dark stairs, with dangerously placed open candles on every other step, and collapsed into our room, tucking ravenously into a free lolly pop we had been given at reception. At this point there was only one thing for it...to McDonalds!!! (and then to the local bakery for apple strudel)! After feeling a little more human we headed back to our private hostel room, had a shower using more dangerously placed candles and collapsed into a very comfy bed.

Breakfast in the hostel started at 8am...we were there at 7:55, and proceeded to stuff ourselves with cereal, toast and cake. That morning we joined a free walking tour through Recoleta, a downtown residential area full of great historical and architectural interest. During the tour we were shown monuments depicting Argentina's independence, and lots of extravagant Parisian style buildings built by the rich in the economic boom around 100 years ago, when the country tried to emulate wealthy European states. Our last stop of the tour was to 'La Recoleta Cemetery', which contains the graves of notable people including Eva Peron, presidents of Argentina, Nobel Prize winners, the founder of the Argentine Navy, and a granddaughter of Napoleon. The overly ornate cemetery was full of enormous elaborate mausoleums, but we couldn't help thinking it was a complete waste of money by an extravagant elite, in a country where poverty is still rife with an unbalanced distribution of wealth. After exploring the affluent, Parisian inspired area, we made our way back to our hostel on foot taking in the mix of modern skyscrapers interspersed with old colonial buildings along the way.

That evening it was time for Argentinean steak in the capital...and having already sampled some amazing cuts elsewhere we had extremely high hopes. We decided to 'splash out' in travelling terms, and go to one of the best-voted steak houses in the area; 'La Brigada'. We were not disappointed; for £20 each we shared a delicious bottle of Malbec, bread rolls, chips, a mixed salad, and the most amazing steak we've ever tasted. We chose a sublime buttery-soft 'Lomo steak' (fillet) and 'Asado Especial', which was a cut along the ribs with a thick layer of tasty crispy fat on the top, both cooked over an open charcoal grill. The lomo was so tender the waiter cut it with a spoon in front of us, and we ate the meal, commenting on every mouthful of steak, until we were well and truly stuffed and the 'meat sweats' began. Next morning we allowed ourselves a little more of a lie-in before miraculously still being able to have our fill of breakfast. That day we wandered around the San Telmo area of the city, sampling different 'alfajores'; two soft cookies held together by 'dulce de leche' and covered in chocolate; a traditional South American confection with Argentina being their largest consumer. We also needed to change some more money on the 'blue dollar market', and having been directed off the street up to a small room on the 8th floor of a high-rise building, hoping everything was going to end well, Sophie was told off menacingly when the illegal money changer sternly barked 'do not touch my calculator'...it was clearly his prized possession. Having successfully survived another dodgy dealing, we begrudgingly waited until 8pm for restaurants to open in this night-time city, and enjoyed a 'picada'; a tasty tray of cured meats, cheeses, olives, tomatoes, and breads, and of course more Argentinean red wine...being cultural and sampling the local cuisine as always!

On the 19th September, with only 12 days before we were due to fly home, we spent the day shopping for various gifts and souvenirs, and a large sports bag to carry them all in! Our 'souvenirs' included 3 bottles of red wine from a small local boutique, which were grown in the three regions of Argentina; Mendoza, Patagonia, and a high altitude wine. Sitting outside on a small pedestrianised sunny street in San Telmo, we also sampled some tasty 'media lunas', a small sweet croissant-like pastry, again having been influenced by the longing to live as the immigrant French did, in a city known as 'The Paris of the South'. With our last evening in Buenos Aires upon us, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to return to 'La Brigada' and sample some amazing Argentinean steak once more. We had truly eaten our way around this city!

Next morning, and it was 'Feria de San Telmo', the weekly market well known throughout Buenos Aires. Nestled in San Telmo, the fair is bustling with unique artisans and antiques, trinkets, art, tango, and delicious food. The antiques part of the market is located in 'Plaza Dorrego', where items such as original matchbox cars, gramophones and old telephones, backgammon boards, soda siphons, antique knives and jewellery can all be found. Spilling out into all the adjacent streets are stalls filled with more modern arts and crafts and you find yourself constantly switching your gaze to try and take everything in. Coupled with this are various street performers, including musicians, singers, amusing puppeteers, and of course the fabled Argentinean tango dancers...which Sophie unfortunately didn't feel were up to scratch and were a rather gimmicky tourist act. Having bought a hand-knitted scarf and some steak knives we refuelled on 'choripans'; thick barbecued sausages inside French bread smothered in salsa and chillies...the smell of the cooking sausages wafting down the streets had been tempting us all day. To our surprise, the market had been fantastic; in fact we vote it as the best market we visited whilst away, and were thankful for the break from the usual alpaca jumper filled fairs we had become so accustomed to! Back at our hostel we packed up our bags with our new purchases and awaited our next 21 hour bus to take us to Iguazu Falls. We loved Buenos Aires; it was up there with our top 3 cities we visited during our travels, and we only touched the very surface of it, full of European style architecture but retaining a real traditional, cultural feel. There's always something interesting going on and captivating you wherever you look, the atmospheric old neighbourhoods are rife with romantic restaurants and beautiful colonial buildings complete with vines growing over their aged facades, while the cosmopolitan city is constantly bustling with excited energy; somewhere we would love to experience and explore more of in the future.

On arrival in Puerto Iguazu we realised we hadn't learnt from 11 months of making the same mistake, and wandered around the boiling hot town for ages attempting to find our hostel. Finally, sweating out more water than the waterfall we'd come here to see, we made it to 'Nomads Hostel' and checked into our room, where ironically the water wasn't working! After a cold coke, tuna pasta for dinner, finally having a shower, and Sophie getting bitten to death by mosquitoes, we retreated to bed. Next day we were off to see Iguazu Falls; waterfalls of the Iguazu River on the border of Argentina and Brazil. We'd had much debate around whether to see them from the Argentinean or Brazilian side, and eventually decided on the Argentinean for the closer view of the falls and to feel the sheer power of what are often called "the World's most amazing waterfalls". Stretching almost 3km long and 80m high, they are higher and twice as long as Niagara Falls, with a torrent of around 2,750 cubic metres of water tumbling over their clouded crest every second.

Having packed a few essential pate and tomato baguettes, we caught a half hour bus and entered the park. We decided to walk the 'lower circuit' of the falls initially for a couple of hours - the setting was beautiful, gradually spotting more and more of the formidable falls as we made our way around jungle-lined paths. There were islands full of vegetation spotted around the rivers and monkeys, kaotis, colourful birds, and giant ants all to be spotted. The rainforest delta surrounding the falls also boasts an enormous 2,000 species of plants. The waterfall started to sweep around our view as we emerged from the trees, and at certain points came gushing down the cliffs into the river below. Made up of 275 falls, the Iguazu really did live up to being the 'most majestic of waterfalls' as they came into sight. We approached one point where the footpath took you as close as possible to part of the falls, and the mist produced by the crashing water alone completely soaked us. We attempted in vain to get some good shots of us in front of the falls, with people once again focusing in on us, and cutting out most of the amazing natural wonder behind! The upper circuit then took us on a small train up to the main attraction of the waterfall; 'Gargantua del Diablo', or 'Devil's throat'. At this most scenic point of the falls, half of the river's flow plummets in 14 falls over a curved cataract into a long, narrow chasm; 82m high, 150m wide, and 700m long. With water thundering down from three sides, the power was an awesome spectacle, as it tumbled over the edge with immense speed and volume into a maelstrom of chaos below, causing mist to rise 150m up into the air and obscuring any chance of seeing the very bottom of the falls from above. At this point the falls roared tremendously before us, and walking up to the very closest edge we could go made us feel completely insignificant against the giant we were facing. It was a truly amazing sight with multiple rainbows reflecting in the water and mist below us. Walking the rest of the upper circuit afterwards, we were offered amazing panoramic views of the multiple falls in the area, and realised the sheer scale of the Iguazu Falls in total.

It was a great day wandering around in this stunning location, witnessing the tonnes of water pouring over the cliffs and the mist rising amongst the jungle, with the view filled with sparkling rainbows. Certainly a must see whilst in the area, and having spoken to others who had see Niagara Falls, this apparently beats it hands down on setting and beauty alone. In fact, upon seeing Iguazu, the United States First Lady Eleanor Rooseveltreportedly exclaimed "Poor Niagara"!