The return of Buenos Aires

The first time we stayed in Buenos Aires I didn't particularly warm to it, maybe it was the peculiarity of trying to get a good deal on changing our dollars from the cambios on the street or maybe it was the fact I was coming down with a nasty cold at the time. Either way this time I like it much more, which Matt is pleased about as he loves it here.

Out first mission on returning from Patagonia was to post home souvenirs and our cold weather clothes; won't be needing them any more! Turns out we needed to go to the post Office Depot to post internationally and get our post checked by customs, all fun and games. Somehow my rucksack still feels no emptier, I have no idea how that works...

After that mission was complete we headed to Recoleta, a posh cafe culture type area with a few things we wanted to visit. A huge fig tree famous for being older than Argentina, it's immense!

A cafe where Fangio used to hang out

And a cemetery to the rich and famous, which was fascinating. Huge tomb/monuments where whole families get buried. Well I say buried, their coffins are stacked on shelves for all to see

Or it's set up bizarrely like a hotel reception, with a little table of flowers in front of stairs or a hole onto the crypt below.

Most people visit to see Evita in her last resting place

Evita is still revered in Buenos Aires with lots of art and museum space dedicated to her. I found her story interesting, but more so when you plugged her piece of the puzzle into the incredible complex Argentinian political history. They got through three presidents in 2 weeks once...

We spoke to a very friendly guide at the graveyard, whilst trying to find a map of the place. She was very frustrated with the current president, who she said was ruining the country and practically pleaded with us to come back in 2016 when they have voted her out. She's not the only one with that opinion if the graffiti is anything to go by. The Argentinians are proud people with a wonderful country, so I do hope they get the government they deserve.

Maybe that's why parliament square is permanently full of riot police on stand by...

We crept past some of the protest camp and it was slightly heartening that the British are held in very low regard alongside others (not just on our own); the Chileans, the Americans and their own president. 

Cafe Tortoni is one of the oldest and most famous cafés in Buenos Aires, and in the evening it turns into a tango club. It's a wonderful place with high ceilings, wooden paneling and stained glass. Oh and utterly brilliant waiters, a change from patchy South American service, where something usually goes amiss usually in my drinks order. We stopped by for a snack and some serious people watching, sadly too many tourists were doing the same

In search of more cafe culture we headed to San Telmo and found a wonderful area, huge antiques shops selling all sorts of crazy things from all eras and pavement cafés spilling onto the squares. We had come to search for street tango and found it in droves. Mesmerising to watch

Feeling utterly different is the port area of the city. The city was built solely to ship South American goods and products out of the continent by the Europeans, so this area has boomed and bust over the years. Now it's all redeveloped with offices, restaurants and hotels and feels very similar to the London docklands.

Palermo is the most expensive area of Buenos Aires with buildings of expensive apartments with doormen and well groomed dogs being taken for walks. It also has great restaurants and bars; where clearly more steak was on the agenda - they just get bigger and better

BA is very Parisienne in this respect, the well off folk looking, dressing and sometimes acting very French. Lots of sophistication and style, and they are out eating and drinking very very late. To be honest the city doesn't feel very Latin American at all in these well off parts. 

The other things that doesn't quite fit is their love of Polo, a British sport no...?! Sadly they only play public games in November and December and the polo days for tourists are, well, touristy and very expensive so we gave it a miss. 

I found BA a great city for people watching. Lots of parks are scattered around the city, all well kept and with lots of benches. The locals come to drink mate out of their wooden cups with silver straws, sharing a flask of hot water with friends. There are lots of kids playing, dogs being walked and little scenes being (sometimes flamboyantly) played out as snapshots of peoples lives. 

The most impressive park was the Japanese garden

Clearly no herons here as the koi carp were huge!

All this style meant I finally plucked up courage to get my hair cut, I was recommended a great hairdresser who wrestled three months of overgrown hair into a wonderful cut and gave me a new fringe. So I now feel I fit in a little better with these well dressed Argentinians :)