Colonial Youth Hostel Buenos Aires

... start augmented by some guitar and brass and the berimbao player who had played with La Bomba. They perhaps made the wrong move, though, by including a samba reggae in the act, Olodum are practically the owners of that riff! And it proved so when Olodum took the stage. Placing the big drums (surdos) either side of the stage with one or two cortador drums centrally the impact was fantastic. The two big surdo players are such showmen, the wild hair ...

... into a banjo who kept a beady eye on us as we tucked into our succulent steaks...

Another interesting visit was to one of the graveyards near the hotel. The amount attention, effort (and money) spent on final resting places was spectacular, if not a little surreal (if you are used to seeing the humble cross or tombstone in Northern Europe).

Also - I feel at this time apples deserves a mention. Besides steak ...

... of the city again even without the added bonus of seeing a cowboy show. I got to ride a horse around the grounds, and then learn about the history on a guided tour around the castle. We had lunch and then a traditional dancing show was provided, all in traditional costume. This was the first time we felt a bit like proper toursts sitting there being entertained, but one of those things you have to do here. It was very interesting to see how proud they are of ...

After driving across the SE states without sleep in 48 HRS. Flying 24 Hours with no sleep...I arrived delirious.

Realized how poor my Spanish is. Can get around without too much of a problem. Speaking is not the issue...but these peeps talk so damn fast I cant understand half of what they say.

Exhausted...but still wanted to do the walkabout upon landing. City is amazing. And dirty.

... in Mexico where we will head directly after our short surprise visit to Florida next week. Late afternoon we decided to treat Jody and Niamh to a trip to the cinema to see "La Era de Hielo 3" (Ice age 3). I told everyone I knew where the cinema was and after the launderette we briskly marched for about 20 minutes to where I had seen the cinema, only to find what I had actually seen was a café called 'Cinema'. Jody and Niamh circled me like Velocer ...

... managed to understand some of the funny parts of the show! Another night we went to a drum show called Bomba de Tiempo. This was in a massive courtyard with a huge staircase in the middle where about 15 drummers sat and played, with big screens at either side. The courtyard was packed with people, about 500 people jumping and dancing around, enjoying the show. You could also buy enormous glasses of beer. The atmosphere was so good as everyone was ...

... of Florida Street. It was great! A few observations, now that I've been in Argentina a few days: The Spanish is much tougher to understand than the Spanish spoken in Chile. It's faster, and the accent is weird. My Spanish isn't nearly as good as I thought it was, and I think it's getting worse by the day. (On the other hand, my Hebrew keeps improving by leaps and bounds, thanks to all the Israeli travellers I keep meeting everywhere ...

... We went out for a great meal with our Spanish teacher and in fact we went again last night as it was so good. I can't remember the name of the restaurant but it was out in Las Conitas, apparently quite a trendy part of town. We had a parilla for 2 to 3 people, the food is cooked in the kitchen and then brought to your table on a sizzling grill. For someone who isn't a massive fan of meat I was suprised by how much I enjoyed it. It ...

... Meriam for dinner in an area with lots of cute restaurants and bars, lots of outdoor seating. We went for dinner at 9:30 so the restaurant was pretty empty when we arrived as that is early for dinner in BA! After dinner we met Meriam's roommate, Hosanna (she lives in NY but is from DC and went to Barrie Day School for preschool!) at a Cultural Center where they were having a tango night. It was great fun watching all the people tango. We got there late and ...

Buenos Aires 1st Dec - 3rd Dec 2008 Arrived into BA, first impressions; Does anyone work here?? there were hundreds and thousands of people walking the streets and it was so hot, I was so glad to have packed almost 20 kilos of luggage??!! Very nice city, and it has a very European feel to it. Seeing the Sights and the bars Puerto Madero, very posh waterside location, lots of swanky bars and hotels, obviously I was staying in this ...