Buenos Aires

Cemetery of the very rich!
see all photos »

Buenos Aires is an incredible city.  Full of beautiful people, fanstastic atmosphere and brilliant nightlife.  I even managed to visit the main sights as well!  In Recolleta, there is the cemetery where Evita is buried.  Her tomb is actually one of the most modest in the place.  most of them are so ornate that they would not look out of place in a square in Rome.  Huge statues, craft work of the highest quality covers the memorials to Argentina`s wealthy elite.  The most awe inspiring cemetery i`ve ever seen.

see all photos »

The modern Art museum containing latin american art - the Melba, is also a really lovely building with some interesting displays inside of art from Latin American Artists.  Also visited the Cathedral where the liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru  - San Martin - is buried.  The outside of the cathedral is very classical, with a strong facade and coeloms. Inside it looks like a much more traditional catholic church with gold and doomed ceiling.  Kinda like they couldn`t quite decide in which style to make the church, so they put together they external fashion with a more traditional inside.

Me and Sammi infront of the tomb of San Martin - the liberator of most of South America
see all photos »

The Plaza de Mayo is where the Rose Place where Evita used to make her speeches, and where in the recent turmoil over the IMF loans and resulting restriction on withdrawals of money saw a week of constant demonstrations by the pissed off Argentineans.  Apparently they banged culinary equipment together 24hours a day.  The square also has a monument around which the mother`s of the disappeared kept their constant walking vigil throughout the dictatorship.  If they stopped and congregated together, this would be a demonstration and thus illegal.  instead they walked slowly around and around the monument, thus avoiding arrest, but making a very brave point.  Today the monument has headscarf painted around it in tribute to their dedication.

La Bocas colourful houses
see all photos »

Also visited La Boca, the rough part of BA where the Boca Juniors have their stadium which Maradona is a member of - big fan-chairman(?).  La Boca has a very distinct look - corregated iron houses painted in very bright colours.  or at least the 2 tourist streets still do - the rest of La boca is pretty much out of bounds for Gringos.

BA`s nightlife is supreme.  The clubs are fantastic (mostly) and the city never sleeps.  You can get a lomo complete (full on steak sandwich) at 6 am when even McD´s is closed! The bars and Clubs overlooking the river are top notch.  There is even one called Opera Bay which looks like a mini Sydney opera house and was fantastic. Also went to celebrate Australia day with the ozzies in a great transvestite club called 69.  The name should have given it away. yet there were still some people who when they got there suddenly freaked out (i.e. the very angelic looking canadian) because it was a gay club. hello!!! although there were way more tourists than anything else!

see all photos »

Also went to a very posh Tango and dinner - champagne reception with a full 3 course dinner after.  The Tango show itself relived the development of Tango from its roots in the brothels of BA and the immigrant cultures of Spain and Italy, through its refinement as the tango music itself became the heart and soul of BA.  It was a brilliant show, and we had two great tango singers to help the dnacers along.  A few days after i went to a tango lesson (after lots of wine to help limber us up) and then onto a Melonga which is where real tango dancers go to dance, rather than perform. Was really fun to dance, and i even go asked by a proper tango man - they flick their heads at you to see if you want to dance.  if you ignore them, then you don`t but if you get up, you dance.  Unfortunately, he didn`t realise until we were upthere that i`d only done 1 hours lesson.  but apparently i looked pretty good, and even did some leg kicking for good measure.  But i was gripping his shoulder rather hard.  and he had braces!

Park in Palermo
see all photos »

After Sammi went, i have been hanging out with a San franciscans called Matt, with whom i have become ultra patriotic and insisting everything that is every any good originates in UK.  I dont think americans bring out my best side!

Currently in Mar del Plata (on my birthday) so rather nice to be trying on bikinis on feb 5th.  deciding whether to buy one, which is rather complicated because they have the smallest bikini bottoms (without being a thong) here in the world (bar brazil)...so it is a choice of whether to bare my white bottom and get in there before it becomes relatively whiter, or to stick with my safe european bottoms...hmmm life is really complicated.