Tango Backpackers Buenos Aires

Still getting over the fact that my much amended flight back to BA actually arrived on time - I thought it was an impossibility! It's nice to arrive in a city and actually know how to get around and where to go - haven't had that much over the last few months! It took a bit of getting used to the noise and pollution again though - the first day I was back my head hurt with all the noise!! It would have helped if the hostel had slightly better soundproofing in order to sleep better at night bu...

Das Abenteuer beginnt schon vor der Reise, oder was ist gefaehrlicher Schweiz oder Suedamerika??? Den Abend und die Nacht vor der Abreise verbrachte ich in Zuerich. Nach einem gemuetlichen Abend in Ronny's und Danny's neuer Wohnung fuhren wir nach Oerlikon zu Martina's Wohnung. Es war mir schon etwas unwohl, als ich sah, dass zwei Typen vor der Wohnung standen. Als wir dann aber die gigantische Blutlache, welche sich von der Wohnungstuer im 1. Stock bis vor den Hauseingang ergossen hatte sahe...

We have arrived! After a long but thankfully uneventful journey..we got here late afternoon. And guess what...it was lashing! U´s will love that! There was a big storm with lightening and everything. Talk about taking the Irish weather with us! We´ve just been catching up with sleep and getting freshened up and all is good this eve, skies are blue so hopefully we´ll have sun tomorrow. Gona do some exploring now and check out these famous steaks! Anne Spotted a celeb on the way over from belfa...

Zo he, in een nacht zijn we 10-20 jaar vooruit gegaan in de tijd. We zijn inmiddels in Buenos Aires gearriveerd en ¨this is probably as close to Europe as we will get.¨ Alles ziet er ineens heel modern uit, niet dat dat beter is dan wat we voorheen hadden, is gewoon een observatie. Gisteren hebben we direct van de tijdmachine gebruikt gemaakt, zijn naar de kapper geweest en onze benen laten waxen, tenminste de helft van ons. Tevens lekker gegeten in een soort van lounge cafe, vegetarisch zijn...

Buenos Aires, home to about 13 million gauchos will be my base until the end of January. The European touch and the tango music has been enchanting and I look forward to spending a decent amount of time in this thriving capital.

For the first few days in BA I couldn't stop humming "Don't cry for me Argentina". Irratating because I can only sing 1 line & hum about 4. I wish I had thought to watch Evita before heading here but instead I have been in search of her glimpses of her within the city now. 1st stop - Casa Rosado (literally the Pink House) - this is the Government House & has the famous balcony for all of those rousing speeches. The building is very impressive and looks out on Plaza de Mayo - which is...

Buenos Aires is generally a very beautiful city, with it´s wide, well designed streets & little parks & squares dotted everywhere but Palermo is particularly fabulous. There are miles & miles of parkland in Palermo - seperated into different themes with a Japanese Garden, zoo, lakes & a gorgeous Rose garden. I explored them by bike on a tour with http://www.biketours.com.ar/ing/index.h tml and as the only person on the tour that day got to mooch around at my own pace. The one ...

For the whole 2 & a half weeks that I was in Argentina I kept meaning to go to MALBA - The Museo Arte LatinAmerica Buenos Aires - from what I have read a really great museum of modern art, like the Tate Modern at home. Anyway for one reason or another I kept putting it off & suddenly it was my last full day in BA. So all excited I get up, check out the map & take a nice leisurely stroll through the parks to MALBA. By this time it´s maybe 1 so I stop at the (recommended by Time Out...

Who would have known that getting cash in BA would be sooooooo difficult. A surprisingly large number of places here (hostels, tour agents, restaurants etc) do not take credit cards (it seems to be credit crunch related but I´m not clear how) and I seem to be mounting a running battle with Egg & HBOS to use my own cards abroad. I have had endless phone calls with Egg & would have no doubt done the same with HBOS if only I had an overseas number for them. Today I have spent nearly 4 ho...

Buenos Aires is a fantastic city and has been a great place to start our trip - it feels quite similar to Barcelona. In the restaurants the red wine costs less that the UK's bottled water and the steaks are the best I've ever tasted. The undergroud, or Subte as they say, is 25p a go (take note Boris Johnson). On Saturday we went for a big night out as B.A. is a party city (the bars here start at 1am and the clubs from 2am!!) but the fuse box blew which cut out the lights and music for half an...