Buenos Aires

Spent nearly a week in Buenos Aires. Didnt really do much more than wander about the place but it's a very easy and enjoyable city to be in. No hassle, felt quite safe (I didn't venture outside the nice parts of town), attractive buildings and good atmosphere. Very European in looks.

Was the 1st of May when i arrived which is 'Workers Day' in Argentina and hence some big union type parades around the city centre. A parade rather than a protest, although I would have put it down as a protest if I hadn't known otherwise, but there are daily protests happening in BA.

Didn't see the best of Buenos Aires nightlife. Followed the crowd on an organised bar crawl in San Telmo one night which was as bad, if not worse than you might expect. A bar crawl for 200+ people... You can imagine we saw the best bars that San Telmo has to offer. Did wander off for a bit and caught the end of a spoken word gig. Didn't understand any of the words but the passion was easy to appreciate. We eventually all got bussed off to some average club and after a while there, a group of us left to try and find a better venue. Only slight problem being, once outside, no one knew where we were! We eventually made it back to the hostel around 4.30, at which point everyone else had lost their drive to party. On a desperate hunt for techno however I went in search of an apparently nearby club. An hour or so later, after repeatedly searching the same streets and finding only a metal bar, I too had to give it up. Cocoliche where are you??!

Had a good night out at La Bomba de Tiempo, a big, live percussion group.

Some BA street art

Being in BA after all, I also went to a Tango show. It didn't bode well however when, upon arrival at the theatre, we were shepherded through the shop to see the great deals they had on offer. And the rest duly disappointed. Sabor a Tango was indeed a taste of tango. Just a taste, along with a whole meal of cabaret pish with alot of singing and a few permed guachos showing off their ball swinging skills. Even got a rendition of Don't cry for me Argentina, complete with projected photos of Evita. The tango parts and the accompanying music were excellent, shame about the rest.

San Telmo flea market

Also pretty much wasted one day trying to collect some money. The office was already swamped when I arrived so I took my ticket and went for a wander.  had a good steak sandwich at a small local parilla bar I found, with a load of old men getting tanked up and one old guy fully kitted out in the Brazilian football strip, complete with blond curly hair and a headband. Still a massive queue when I back so I tried another office, queued in the wrong line for a while and by the time I realised it was too late. Managed to salvage something from the day by getting a much needed haircut. The hairdresser said I was handsome (at least that's what I understood) and I didn't come out with a mullet; so all good.