Week 1 - Buenos Aires

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Well, One week down, 30 or so to go and already so much to report.
We arrived in Buenos Aires around 11 o'clock local time last Sunday after a 3 hour delay and 2 hours on the ground in Sao Paulo, completely nackered, Day 1 was a write off but we managed to get booked in to our hostel, which is really good considering the 8 or so pounds a night it costs to stay, and got some sleep.

The next morning we were up early and met a friend of Joels whois living in BA for the year, studying at the university. We went to visit the cemetary where Eva Peron and Juan Duarte are buried, sounds odd but it was the best grave yard ive ever been to! The graves wernt graves like UK graves they we the size of small churches and extremely elaborate. Next we went to an area called Palermo and wandered round the streets and shops before stopping off for a few Quilmes' which is the local brew. That evening we went to a crazy night called Bombe de Tiempo where a 20 strong percussion band played for the whole evening. Then i had possibly the best stake ive ever had a 10 oz fillet with Matre D and chips, Gordon Ramsey aint got nothing on this. All for just shy of 7 quid.

Day two we went down to the stadium of Boca Juniors, the Manchester United of Argentina, perhaps bigger. We bought our tickets for the evening match against Liga de Quito in the Liborates Cup, the SouthAmerican equivalent of the Champions leauge against the current holders. You wouldnt of guessed it though, they defended worse that Watford on a bad day and Boca won 4-0, we were in the general section which is still terraced and the atmosphere was amazing. After picking up the tickets for the match we headed to the Zoo which was brilliant and we spent most the afternoon there, i saw some animals i hadnt realised existed along with baboons, lions, pumas, and even a polar bear. The weather was amazing, but i think the polar bear would have disagreed. After the match we headed home and hit the sack.

Day Three was a slow day, the inital trekking about the cityand the Jet Lag finally caught up and we spent the day in one of the local parks having a read and lazing in the sun. We still managed to get out that evening however and headed to a few bars. The Argentinan body clock is mad, these people dont go out to a club before 2 and places get busy around half 3.

Day Four. We had a nother chilled out day, firstly we went for a stroll down to the presidential palace in central BA where Eva Peron made the famous "dont cry for me argentina" speach. That was cool but the bestbit of the day was getting down to the docks. They reminded me of liverpool except they were twice the size, Bars, Restaurants and shops lined the sides and we stoped off for lunch which before no time at all became dinner as we relaxed in the 27 degree heat. That evening we headed out to a club called Cocoliche, we were the only tourists in there which was cool as it was a proper local place that only locals really seemed to know about, cant go wrong when a can of beer costs 80p really.

Today we went into San Telmo, a pretty little part of town with trendy shops and picturesque squares. We listened to a group of guys drumming away in the park and stopped for some food. We got home in good time to catch a nap before tonights festivities. Saturday night is the big one in Buenos Aires and the Argentinians certainly know how to party.

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