So we're finally here. We arrived on Friday at 5.30am. The flight was loooong and not that comfortable but we got dinner and breakfast and a tiny bit of sleep. We queued up to get our passports stamped for the first time ever and went through to baggage reclaim where maia had to wait for ages, to the point where she was really starting to worry her bag had got lost.

we got a bus from the airport and watched a misty sunrise on the way into Buenos Aires. By the time we got on the Subte (metro) it was morning rush hour and ridiculously full. It was quarter to 10 by the time we actually found our hostel. This wasnt made any easier by the fact that they dont have street names, only occasional sign posts on corners.

We didnt manage to get much done on our first day. Aislinn found out she couldnt use her card so we went in search of a sim card so we could call the bank. We stopped off for some lunch, a huge pizza and 2 large glasses of white wine. We couldnt figure out why the waiter was giving us such strange looks until we realised it was only 11.30. Webought a sim card but after about 5 unfruitful minutes on the phone to the bank we'd exhausted our credit.

We went to visit the Casa Rosada, the pink presidential palace, and tried to book our place on the free english tour but discovered that the tours have been suspended due to refurbishment so, disappointed, we headed back to the hostel where we were finally able to check in and promptly fell asleep.

We woke up hungry and went in search of some where local to have dinner, Following a recommendation from Aislinn's book, we found ourselves in a restaurant that felt like something out of the sopranos where we were served pork steaks 'the size of your face', as Ash put it, for about 3 pounds 50. With the jetlag kicking in hard (B.A. is 5 hours behind Spain) we cancelled our plans to meet up with Our La Swap friend Jamie Palmer whos studying in B.A.

The next day, after more confusing and pointless phone calls to Aislinns bank, we headed back up to retiro train station where we got on a ridculously rickety and clunky train to Tigre (35p return). It was about an hours journey filled with breakdancing street kids and an endless stream of people trying to sell us all sorts of things. In Tigre we ot a boat tour down the river and watched a strange mixture of posh resorts and what looked like tree houses with jettys.

Then it was the rides. We went to what is supposedly one of LAtin Americas largest theme parks. looked pretty small to us. We went on water rides, rollercoasters that turn you upside down and round and round and then backwards and went through a kind of walk through ghost trains where monsters and people with batons jumped out at us. Before we knew it, it was dark but it didnt stop when the rides did. There was a huge all-singing all-dancing musical spectacular thingy with magic and giant cartoon mascots and tango and glitter confetti and colured fountain displays. The huge coloured fountains to the tune of Queen songs where the finale and they were still going when we finally dragged ourselves away. We had a gorgeous dinner of homemade pasta and pesto at a restaurant near the station and then once again failed to meet Jamie and fell asleep fully clothed on our beds.

Today, after even more calls to Aislinns bloody bank, we went and explored the Feria de San Pedro Telmo in Plaza Dorrego, 2 blocks down from our hostel. Its a huge Sunday antiques market with zillions of stalls and all day tango shows in the squar. Maia bought a beautiful old watch on a necklace and Aislinn got a very cool carpet bag.

Later we headed to La Boca, one of the poorer barrios thats famous for El Caminito - a little street filled with colourful corrugated metal houses. We were intending to go to this supposedly amazing modern art gallery but, like the casa rosada, it was closed. The walk there was strange. The streets were completely empty and then we heard this strange noise and realised why. Boca Juniours, the local football team were playing a home game and EVERYONE was there. You could hear the roar from the stadium and the streets were full of police and crowd barriers in preperation for when the match finished.

Tonight we intend to finally meet up with Jamie, although once again our eyes are getting droopy. We'll let you know how that goes...

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Buenos Aires continued...

So after a nap we finally managed to haul ourselves across town to Palermo (the posher bit, full of expats) to see Jamie. We went to a few bars but sadly, it being a Sunday, hitting the clubs wasn´t really an option. For Buenos Aires its apparently just weird not to go out all night as we´ve learnt from all the other travellers we´ve met.

The next morning we checked out of our hostel an lugged our bags back across town to retiro bus station to stick them in the left luggage. We didn´t really have a plan for that last day but it ended up being one of the most interesting.

First off was the search for shoes. Maias tango-crazy mum had pleaded that we go to a shop in recoleta (the poshest bit) and buy her a pair of the best tango shoes in B.A to be sent back to London. The list of specifications was loooong: the colour, the type and colour of strap, the heel size, the shape of the heel cage, the shape of the front bit, the material... We knew it woulddn´t be entirely straight forward but we really weren´t expecting what we found. The address lead us to a small alley off a main street. There were signs indicating different (obviously luxury) brands. We followed the sign for ´Comme Il Faut´ up some stairs. It looked just like an apartment and we were a bit confused. we had to ring a bell and some one came to let us in. I had to explain to the woman that i was looking for shoes for my mum and tell her everything she asked for and then sat on a sofa in this room whilst she bought me boxes of beautiful shoes to nod or shake my head at. It was the poshest shopping experience I think I´ll ever have. It took a very long time. It was very difficult to fit all the criteria and find a pair that looked right. Eventually we found them: 7cm heels, red suede, beautiful shape. We headed off to fedex to get tham sent back to London, another very lengthly process.

After finally finishing with thoes and having a not very nice lunch in a nearby cafe, we went in search of some gallery or other that we found in Aislinn´s guidebook. Eventually we found it and found that it was closed so after much deliberation in the sweltering heat, we headed to Recoleta cemetery. It was in our guide books and everything but we hadn´t been that bothered about going to it. Its a cemetery, how interesting could it really be? I´m really glad we did go because its a vast crazy city of it´s own. It has narrow streets (with street signs, street lamps and everthing) with these bizarre and amazing towering tombs that look like houses in every style of architecture. I´ve never seen anything like it. There is nothing like it. families have bought a lot, built a ridiculous 3 storey crypt on it and then had generations of there families laid to rest. It was pretty creepy as the coffins were mostly visible through french doors or windows. There was also an extrodinary number of stray cats everywhere you looked. We listened in on a bit of some ones private tour and followed them to Evita´s grave. After a while it all got a bit too creepy and we headed off to our next cultural destination.

The MALBA (museo de arte latinamericano de Buenos Aires) is one of the nicest galleries I´ve ever been to. The modern building was really lovely and the layout of the gallery and selection of work was great.

After gallerying we had a tasty pasta dinner served by a very slow waitress and ran back to the bus terminal to catch our bus. And what a bus it was. It was a 17 hour journey but we got two meals, endless drinks (fizzy drinks, tea, water, even champagne!) Our seats were ultra wide, ultra comfy and reclined back so much that it was better than a hostel bed. plus we got to watch aload of films in english. it was a good journey to an even better location...