A week in Buenos Aires

Can´t believe how quickly the time has flown by and yet at the same time feel I´ve been here for months I´ve done so much! Overwhelming amount to see and do here in the city and surrounding area. Thing I enjoy most though is just hopping on a bus or metro (any time expect rush hour that is!) and stepping out at a stop or station to discover a completely different barrio of Buenos Aires.

Have now taken in most of the main tourist sites. Highlights- La Boca, definitely the most touristy of all but still worth seeing the fun, brightly coloured houses and the equally bright Juniors stadium; lots of small, interesting museums to visit such as the Evita Museum, which is very well done; Fine Arts Museum, contains an impressive collection of works of art, but best of all don´t need to fight through the crowds to see the paintings, had the place almost to myself!; Teatro Colon, which was the largest theatre in the world until they built the Sydney Opera House. It´s undergoing renovation at the moment so unfortunately no performances on (good reason to return to BA!), but fascinating to see how they still make everything themselves from costumes, to wigs and shoes, stage sets etc deep underground below the theatre itself.

One thing that´s struck me is how green the city is, really nice parks to relax in and a bit of shade from the scorching sun. Favourites - Botanical Gardens and the Rosedal.

Yesterday, visited the Tigre Delta just outside BA, a different world from the noisy, mad city. An area of interlinking rivers and canals, very green and peaceful. The old, wooden houses are all on stilts as it regularly floods. Took a train to get there which travels along the coast, or rather the banks of the Rio Plata, which seperates Argentina from Uruguay, not so much plata (silver) coloured as brown and muddy.

Can´t not mention the food, which here basically boils down to white bread, cheese, red meat and icecream. Oh, and empanadas, sort of pie filled with, surprise, surprise, cheese or meat! Great if you´re on an Atkin´s diet!! Having said that, the icecream beats most of the best I´ve had in Italy, which is saying something! And have eaten the best steak ever, or to be more accurate it was more like half a cow, for the ridiculous price of 4 euros (and it was enough to feed at least two large adults!). Not a city for veggies! Very odd to be eating strawberries and peaches in season, just a week before Xmas!

Have of course taken hundreds of photos and included just a wee sample of them here, the rest will just have to wait til I get home.

Time is definitely flying past, too fast to be able to squeeze in everything, as I´m wont to do, before continuing our journey South.