Almost home time - Buenos Aires

---

I don´t quite know how I feel about being in Buenos Aires. A sense of sadness because it´s only 5 days until I go home. A sense of excitement as I´ve wanted to come here for years. A sense of loneliness as I´m here by myself. I guess all of the above.

It´s good to be back in the familiarity of Argentina. The land where no steak is too rare, where people eat condensed milk on toast (otherwise known as Dulce du Leche) and everyone drinks Mate tea out of goblets with a silver straw.

Buenos Aires itself is as lovely as I expected. Wide streets are lined by cafes where the beautiful people sip Cafe con Leche. Crazy dog walking people take up the entire pavement with at least 10 pups a piece and couples dance tango under the crumbling eye of the grand architecture.

As anyone who has been traveling will know going home is not easy. It´s hard to end the best experience of your life to go home to the everyday hum drum and an uncertain future. So what´s the best distraction? Easy answer: shopping. Buenos Aires is therefore the best place to be. Shop after shop of exquisite but cheap handbags, boots and clothes - bliss for me, bad for Visa.

Day 2 - So now I´m spent out and need to keep away from the shops. I decide to head to La Boca - one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. Its first inhabitants were Italian immigrants who build their houses with wood and painted them as colourfully as possible with the left over paint from the ships they arrived on. On my map La Boca didn´t look that far from where I was staying, so I set out on foot. Ten blocks later and the housing started to look like a bad Lewisham council estate. The motorway flyover was towering above me and I spotted a teenage mother playing with her toddler on the roundabout of a 10 lane intersection. I picked up my pace and started to wonder why the hell I had brought out my vitally important cash card with me.

Then two ladies in exercise gear started to walk in-front of me. I thought they would be a safe bet to stick near to, so I followed close on their heels. Another ten blocks and they turned into an apartment block and I was left with no choice but to continue. A few more twists and turns and I was on a long road lined by cargo containers and lorries. All the drivers sat outside beside their vehicles drinking Mate with shirts off enjoying the sun. I was suddenly aware I was the only girl for miles, wearing a bright red dress and putting on my Í know where I am going´face. I pulled out my mobile phone and had Mum on call ready, but wasn´t quite sure how she could help. I guessed how the conversation would go...

Me - I´m about to be killed by murdering Argentinean truck drivers and packed into a refrigerated cargo container

Her - Where are you?

Me - I have no clue, but there are lots of truck drivers and cargo containers - help!

Then, thank God, I spotted a taxi. I got in with such a sense of relief. Soon the cargo containers were gone, but replaced instead was a shanty town. The road had descended to mud and I found myself with Mum on call ready again.

Me - I´m going to be killed by a murdering Argentinean cab driver and buried in the middle of a shanty town.

Her - Where are you?

Me - I have no clue but I´m in a taxi in the middle of a shanty town.

Then suddenly I spotted some colourful buildings and, bless the Lord, what looked like American tourists. I was saved!!

So, now my adventures and misadventures have almost come to an end. Hello London Heathrow, 7am Wednesday morning. Goodbye travels and struggling to remember what day-month-year it is.

Next stop: London. Next blog: My highlights.

---

Photos

Very Buenos Aires
Very Buenos Aires

La Boca
La Boca

Tango, La Boca
Tango, La Boca

How many dogs have you got there?
How many dogs have you got there?