Ribera Sur Hotel Buenos Aires

... what we thought was apple juice and it turned out to be DIET apple-flavored milk (see foto Jbelow). Who has ever heard of apple milk? It was AWFUL! Last year we thought we were buying orange juice and we ended up with orange milk. Now that was good—much like a liquid dreamsicle.

I am staying in my condo with two other women, Katerina and Gail. Katerina was on the trip last year too. Gail was here once before five years ago ...

... performance by the Teatro Colon dancers in the Eva Peron Ampitheatre. I've never been to the ballet before but it was quite enjoyable, especially the 2nd of the 3 performances where the only accompaniment that the dancers had was a drummer - absolutely brilliant! The final part was a bit strange, more of an interperative piece - not my strong point!

On Tuesday Liz and I went to Recoleta Cemetery for the guided tour in English (my Spanish really isn't up to standard!). It was ...

... the objects hurled from above. Despite the match being drawn, there was no lack of atmosphere and the drums never ceased for a moment.

We followed our night at the football with 2 days of retail therapy as we wandered around Palermo, with its fashionable boutiques, great restaurants and bars, and beautiful terraced buildings.

We drank coffee while reading the Buenos Aires Herald newspaper (BA`s English rag) and had the most delicious gelati after long ...

... dogs are here. A woman was out walking her big sized dog (like a greyhound in size and stature) He stopped by a tree to do his business but instead of just doing it on the ground like most dogs, up goes his 2 front paws onto the tree in front of him and the owner places a bag under his ass before he does his business. How well trained is that. It was gas-we just happened to be passing when we saw it and we looked at each other in amazment-couldnt imagine our dogs at home being so good!

... 8217;s (sort of...)

On our last day we headed to La Boca, a notorious district of BA that i was very excited to see. Famous for its brightly coloured buildings, street Tango, and infectious spirited atmosphere, it was great to visit.

And it was time to move onto the next far away place. On our last night Clau asked each of us to choose a word to describe Buenos Aires. Spirit. Colour. Passion. Vibrant.

It had been a great start.

Fortunately, we have not had any more near drug busts in the last few weeks. However, things have not gone exactly smoothly...especially on the nature front. Having finally got away from the cold of southern Patagonia, we were keen to start birding and otherwise being nature-y...especially on the Valdez Penninsula. This is the place that´s famous for having Right Whales come really close to the beach, and also where Killer Whales come onto the beach to try and eat sea ...

... Thursday to raise awareness of the terrible things done during the dirty war.  We also went to one of the most prominent churches next to the plaza, where the new presidents are sworn in over the bible and where San Martin is buried.  Friday night, I got to take tango lessons, which were fun, but I definitely need to get used to dancing in heels, (Tacos, as they are called here) because my feet hurt a lot after we finished!  I ...

... wait before we could leave the stadium at the end of the game and due to a hitch with the transport back to the hostel, we were treated to a beer and pizza - dinner sorted was then. On returning to the hostel, I got chatting to a couple from Adelaide, Australia, who had actually found Conor´s bag when they´d arrived in the middle of the night - & they were pretty certain the Peruvian guy they checked with, handed it in to reception. This ...

... het had me wel supermooi geleken een wedstrijd mee te pakken! Nou ja een andere keer welicht. De eerste dagen van 24 tot 29 december was Suzanne hier (zij gaat een week of 5 door Argentinie reizen) en we konden dus mooi samen kerst vieren, wel zo gezellig. Nou ja, kerst vieren, een echt kerstgevoel heb ik niet echt gehad moet ik zeggen. Daarvoor moet het toch onguur en koud zijn heb ik het vermoeden. Kerst in een korte ...

... boasting the latest stuff from young Argentine designers; large squares with loungy terraces packed to the brim; art markets with a myriad of trinkets, jewellery, individually-designed clothing, glassware, ceramics and antiques; and trendy restaurants with fabulous interiors and folksy cafes and bars. We had a beer and a (HUGE) olive/cheese platter    at a terrace, watched the world go by and we were totally captivated. That evening, we went to a fantastic ...