Buenos Aires - Argentina

The Waldorf Hotel was conveniently located in downtown Buenos Aires or BsAs and despite it being above our budget we thought what the heck - at least for a couple of days. It took no time to realise that we were in a very vibrant city as we ventured into new territory on Av. Florida. The dances were tangoing in the streets (Marie, they don't tango with a rose, so no need to worry about the thorns) the suave males and foxy females confronting and beckoning our attention for their special leather product. The Av. was humming with music, activty and every now and then your assurance was broken by the scream of the siren.

Robby was struggling to ward off a two week cold and Paul was struck 'down' by a virus that grounded him for two days. So the inside of a hotel room was not the way to see BsAs. However, knowing our time here was ticking by we both did our best to regain the energy to experience this place we had been looking forward to.

We were not disappointed. Our experience was heightened by knowing a local. Well, she would hardly claim to be a local yet. We met Lyne, a French Candadian way back in Santiago, Chile. She had been to Bs As a number of times and was moving there to work (in May). She offered to take us to a local Parrilla or BBQ restaurant (more on that later) when we reached Bs As.

Bohemia isn't dead in Argentina. Lyne pointed us in the direction of art galleries, tango exhibitions and restaurants. So here are our stories...

Art galleries exist all over Bs As however a large number of them are located in one burro, Recoletta. They are mostly small and focus on particular schools from pop, to fine arts, to abstraction, to more quirky and ecclectic works. We also found one gallery that focused on late European 19th to early 20th century works (at Argentinian prices!). This burro was also lined with more exclusive shopping. A con gas aqua (water with bubbles) was our limit.

So off to a local tango exhibition (thanks to Lyne's advice). We are captured by this dance which they say is the 'dance of the emotion'. It is also about the music and singing and the passion that each person contributes to their part of the tango. Like a true artform it never stops reinventing itself, this first experience was a contemporary tango. It was very different to the street tango where the rhythm has much more of a gypsy feel. The Sunday markets at San Telmo provided yet a different slant on tango where the bandoneones (like a concertina) together with violin and believe it or not a piano is rolled into the park or street corner and the music provides a platform for tango dancing for young and old. We just can't get enough of this dance - it is the passion that all put into it plus the cultural proudness it seems to exuberate. Although, many locals are not as passionate about it as others, so we are told. Another evening was spent at a malingo dance hall. This was a different experience. The hall was like I could imagine the old dance halls of the 20s - large, ornate, tables around the edge of the dance floor and a stage at the front. We arrived around 10 pm to find a tango class in action. At 11 pm about 100 people changed shoes, music started and before long the floor was full of tango dancers of all shapes and sizes and ages and strutting their own interpretation of the music. It was quite moving given the age differences from around 20 to 80. At around midnight, a full tango orchestra arrived, played for 10 minutes then played cards? Still wondering whether they actually returned to the stage. We left at 1.30 for a very brisk tango walk (around 5 degrees) back down Florida Av. to the hotel.

There is no such thing as a bad restaurant in Argentina (at least in our books). Range of food was diverse; service second to none - even if you're the only person in the restaurant plus you generally receive a small treat at the beginning or end like a pate and/or liquor or champagne for free; quality - well, we thought Australia had excellent steaks but here they are extraordinarily tasty and large portions - the fish is great too; wine is particularly good on the palette, no matter what time of day; and price, well, with 2.6 Arg pesos to AUS $ that makes meals around half to a quarter of the price we pay in Australia. Only our colds prevented us from wining and dining at very good restaurants everyday.

There are a couple of Argentinian specialities - empanadas which are like meat pies except smaller and eaten as snacks or meals and the parrilla. We waited to have a parrilla with Lyne – she had first hand information about the best places to go. A parrilla is a meat feast. You actually see a picture of the cow and decide which bits you'd like to try. They are then bbq'd and brought to the table sizzling. Our first parrilla consisted of sweet bread, local sausage called chorizo, skirt steak and sirloin. They were all just medium size dishes shared between the three of us. Great 4 those on protein diet.

We didn't spend much time searching out museums and buildings, although Bs As is a mosaic of huge avenues with old charming neo classic buildings blended with modern highrises and skyscrapers of the 21st century and plazas all with sculptures marking various historical events.

After a week in the city we headed to the delta area about one hour from Bs As. The river Tigre is the main river. With just an overnight pack we found ourselves on one of the delta islands called Tres Bosca in a charming hotel which provided both a home cooked dinner and breakfast. It was a very crisp winter day just perfect for the two hour walk around the island. This area has similarities to Venice without the buildings but the charm of boats on the canals and rivers and piers of all shapes and sizes leading to colourful homes surrounded by pickett fences and large blocks of land. A path takes you around the island through a forest. No cars, just the sound of dogs and boats. This short retreat was just what we needed as we were still struggling with sniffles and coughs.

Back in Bs As we had a shopping list. Will we buy leather shoes, bag and/or jacket? Robby had a haircut, we replenished supplies ready for the next part of our journey and finished our stay with a night at a Parilla and a final tango show. This time our meal of sweet breads, kidney and patagonia lamb was followed by a Special Taramisu. Over the two hours we were entertained by a tango singer and dancers. This was topped off with a free champagne. A perfect way to end 12 days in Buenos Aires.

So we are now in transit at Madrid airp0rt on our way 2 Athens. We both thoroughly enjoyed South America and would love to return to Argentina as there is so much to see (preferably in summer). Greece awaits us. We are spending the first two nights in Athens, thanks to our host Jennifer and then on to the Island of Lesbos.

Adios South America and Yassous Greece.