Buenos Aires

We were all sad to say goodbye to Chile and have decided that we will definately go back some time. The flight from Santiago to B A was impressive in that it took us 40mins to cross the Andes and the skys were clear so we got to see how vast they really were.

We loved B A! It is a beautiful city with lovely colonial buildings and wide avenues. The main road through the centre is 9 lanes each way and they don't drive slowly. We crossed it a few times with the help of pedestrian crossings...... it took a while! We had booked a hostel ahead and found it to be very central. each morning we went back to the same cafe and had coffee, hot chocolate and Medialunas (croissants). We managed to find our way to the presidents palace which was lovely and I told the boys about Evita and of course finished with singing "Don't Cry For Me Argentina"! (Not too loudly).

We thought the Chileans loved their meat, but they have nothing on the Argentians. We ate at a couple of places, the second of which had a mixed grill for 2 or 4 on the menu. Graham was keen to go for the 4 person version, but I suggested perhaps 2 person would be enough. Well it arrived on its own bed of hot embers and we couldn't finish it. Steak, chops, sausages, ribs, kidneys, black pudding, liver, chicken and pork. (We didn't tell the boys what all the offal and black pudding was until afterwards!)

We wandered the streets at night and there was so much going on from street markets to demonstration marches which are apparently occur on a weekly basis and nobody really seems to know what anyone is demonstrating about. One man offered to braid Graham's hair. Until he took his hat off.

We had a day at a very old fashioned zoo. But at least were able to see some of the South American wildlife up close.

A word about the Argentinian drivers......
I had a terrifying drive from the centre of B A to the airport (26 km). One of the driver's techniques was to drive down the centreline between the fastest 2 lanes. This gave him the option of going left or right as he hit the traffic ahead. We are not sure what the speed limit was but at times in heavy traffic we hit 140kph. Oh, and there was a red engine light on and the petrol gauge read E! No seatbelts in the back either! Graham had one in the front and was oblivious to my terror in the back. That was until we exited at the airport and I had a meltdown!