22nd August 2012

We get up early to make the most of our time in Buenos Aires and decide not to move into a dorm as everyone in the hostel seems to be a 50 year old man and Mark is nervous!!!! First stop on our list is La Boca, which is a half hour bus ride from the hostel and one of the poorer districts. It was established by Italian artists. When we get there it instantly makes us smile, the buildings are brightly coloured, caricature statues are in doorways and hanging out of windows. With music playing there is a good vibe here, not venturing far from Caminito (the main tourist area) we take pics and buy some tango souviners then as we were about to leave we notice some 'tango dancers' in the street posing with tourists....we obviously get straight in there to get our picture taken. Mark wants to get his with the brunette dancer but she looked angry, hungover and was arguing with her dance partner, so he has to make do with the blonde....she seems much nicer but less sultry.
We then have our picture taken on a picture board. The photos were brilliant. It excels our mood. We decide to take in the city and walk back to the centre. The lonely planet tells us that if we are lucky we will see some professional dog walkers....we have already seen 2 on our walk back but they only have about 6 dogs each! We pass through a huge protest which mean the police have blockaded most of the roads...and eventually we come across the pink presidential palace where Evita gave speeches from the balcony and then it's onto Catedral Metropolitana where we see the tomb of José de San Martín, the liberator of Argentina and more protestors outside in the Plaza de Mayo.

After a small detour down the wrong street we are back on our sightseeing track and heading towards the Palacio del Congreso, which is modelled on Washington's Capitol building!....As we begin to walk to the next destination we hit the jackpot....a dog walker with about 1000 dogs (it was 16 to be exact but it felt like more). Yessss!!!!

At the Teatro Colón we missed the guided tour and it's a few hours wait till the next one so we opt out and head to Galerías Pacífico for a bit of light window shopping in Buenos Aires 'most gorgeous shopping mall'....it is pretty impressive as all the ceilings are painted with large murals however as Mark points out 'it's no lakeside' ha!

Outside the mall we bump into the Belgium's from the salt flats tour and catch up before that moment when we all stood there in silence before someone said goodbye.....awkward!!!!!
They said it was a Belgium tradition that if you bump into someone 3 times you have to buy them a beer, as there was 4 of them and funds are low we made sure we avoided seeing them for the rest of the day.

Back at the hostel we booked a tango show for tonight....we will be having a lesson, dinner and then the show....excited much?
....the bus picked us up an hour late and when we get into the dance studio the nerves start to kick in...although I don't know why, we both have such natural rhythm!
The class starts and it's brilliant....we learn six basic steps and a finishing pose....Mark gets to dance with the group hotties and I get extremely close to the semiprofessional Iranian who keeps telling me to 'relax I'm going I try something different'!
We get a certificate at the end and during the 3-course meal we get a free bottle of vino each and by the time the show starts we are already slightly smashed (especially Mark who goes on to his second bottle of wine). Mark's steak is huge and tastes delicious! We can't not wait to try the steak in a steak house if this is what free steak is like.

The whole evening was amazing. The dancers perform routines from various eras. The venue is small enough for us to get an intimate feel and a great view of the stage.

On the ride back to the hostel we decide to carry on the party with the others from the group at their hostel as it has a busy bar. Not before we go to their room where they want to show us that they can get onto the top bunk with no use of their legs. It was so weird and random!

We all then went onto a club that's full of gringos, one of the guys we were with brought a whole bottle of vodka and we all ended up wasted, it was a good night!....I get stalked all night by a random which I had no idea until Mark showed me photos the next day. The same guy is over my shoulder in every shot and Mark abuses the taxi drivers for over charging us (unfortunately he speaks English so understands everything!!!!!). By 6am-ish we collapsed in our beds!!!