Ok so here is my blog entry from Buenos Aires. The photo attached is actually Bariloche, the town that we stayed in before arriving in BA. This website apparently doesn´t think that BA is important/most likely beautiful enough to deserve it´s own photograph.

Anyway, I have been in BA now for just over a week or so and I have loved every minute of it. I am due to join another GAP adventures group tomorrow evening, and we will begin our journey up through Argentina, via Uruguay and finish in Rio de Janeiro. Fingers crossed the group are a good bunch!

My time in Buenos Aires has been akin to Freshers Week at University. That is the only way to describe it really. It started off pretty civilised, and with the group of people I had travelled through Chile with... we did an open top bus tour of the city and dined out at a paradilla restaurant. I then send my goodbyes to the group the following day, and checked myself into the Milhouse Hostel. This hostel was recommended to me by all, and I can see why. It is amazing, and I have had the best week. It is by definition, a party hostel but it has a really friendly family vibe to it. I have made some amazing friends, who I will definitely stay in touch with. The first day, I was downstairs waiting to check in, and began chatting to 3 Irish Girls Laura, Niamh and Ruth. We really hit it off, and it so happened that they were actually my roommates. We had a 4 bed dorm, which was so convenient and couldn´t really have been better. I feel so lucky to have met these guys, as we have been pretty much inseparable since day 1. I am actually pretty gutted to be leaving them today, but I guess all good things must come to an end. We have been out pretty much every night, but I will run through a few highlights. One night, we went to an Argentine fiesta called La Bomba, which was in a warehouse with samba and reggae music. This was great! We had a surprise birthday party for Ruth, and bought some drinks, party food and invited a few friends from the hostel to come up to our room. We also went to see Sex and the City 2, followed by cocktails and the most amazing meal EVER. I had already mentioned that i was a steak convert. Well, there is a great restaurant in BA called La Cabrera. Here we shared 3 steaks between 5 (They were HUGE), sides, lots of red wine, champagne, a chocolate volcano dessert and amazing service all for less than 20 pounds a head. Before you say anything Mum about my spending this was a one off for a special occasion, and is my only of 2 meals I have eaten out in BA!

Buenos Aires is a city that really comes alive at night. It is usual to head on to the club at 3am and party until 7am or so. Hence, the hostel is pretty dead during the day and sleeping is a must. I have had a few early nights, however. I am getting old afterall, and I cannot do all these heavy nights! Gosh, I really am 21 going on 60!

I had an interesting day out the other day, and went to see the Recoleta Cemetery. I cannot wait to upload these pictures, as I am sure they will cause much debate. It is bizarre, and totally contradicts our idea of a cemetery. I can only describe it justly as a city of the dead. I went alone, as I had been busy the previous day when the other went. Now this was a mistake. Most of you will know, I have a bit of a thing about cemeterys in general, and find them very creepy. It has been know for me to cross the road or run through them... Anyway I was very brave and went alone (most of the time following random people and clinging to them, I foudn a lovely group of OAP American tourists who looked after me). This cemetery is one of the highlights for tourists in BA, the burial ground of many famous Argentines i.e. Evita. It is pretty surreal to see queues of people lining up to have their photo taken next to a huge tomb vault and there were a few huge grins and thumbs up. It made me question the behaviour necessary in such a situation. Instead of the coffins being buried underground, they are in huge cabinets and you can see them. There some new ones, and some very old and the condition varies immensely. I actually saw one coffin that had fallen out of the cabinet and onto the floor. I was horrified thinking of what lay inside. I cannot wait to upload that photo! It really is bizarre and there are streets and streets of coffins just in the open! grounds were overrun with cats, which was extra creepy and there were literally 8 surrounding one tomb. It began to get dark about 4.30 or so, and I had finished my wandering and decided to leave. To my horror, however, I realised I couldn´t find the exit! It was literally like a maze! I started to panic at this stage, and I really was getting scared. There were so many deadends. My mind started to flash with the stories I had heard at the hostel of people glimpsing hairs coming out of the coffins etc, and at this moment I actually saw a real funeral in process. It was all too much and I had to run up to the nearest person and beg for directions!

Yesterday was a big day for Football fans as you will all know. It was the Argentina match first, followed by England´s kick off. The girls and I all bought Argentina jerseys (fake I might add Mum!), and we headed off to watch it. We were 20 minutes late, however and actually missed the only goal of the match as we failed to hail a cab for 30 minutes (despite being on the busiest road in the WORLD!). It has 16 lanes, and because of the dedication of the fans here, there was not a cab in sight let alone one that wanted to do business with us. BAD TIMES. Oh and then it started raining. Anyway, we made it there eventually and enjoyed what was left of it with the Argentine fans. A great experience! Then England came on and let me down... I was watching this match in an American bar and was the only one of 3 English people there. The Irish girls were backing America... traitors. Oh and lots of our friends from the hostel were American anyway. England let me down (well actually the goalie did), and I sulked for an hour or so following the match. It was a great day anyway, and such good atmosphere here. Latin America really is the best place to be to watch the World Cup. Football appears to be life here! Looking forward to round 2...

I best be off now, as I want to go to Cafe Tortoni for lunch. It is in all the guidebooks and often has queues outside so I want to see if it is worth the trouble. I am also killing time, waiting for the girls to wake up! It is 2.50pm in the afternoon, and I want to say my goodbyes!

Ciao! All my love

Em xxx