Another capital city? Yes. The same as all of the others? Very similar. Yet different.

It's a very large city. I saw that flying over it on my way here and seeing the massive expanse of lights that just never seemed to end. Looking on a map gives a hint to the cities size as well. I was based in the San Telmo neighbour. An area that had been recommended to me by other backpackers. And it was a good place to be based. On my first day I walked around San Telmo, with one of the free walking tours. We saw the oldest cafe in Buenos Aires (only from the outside), the building that has two sculptures of Evita, one of her giving a speech to the people (although it looks like she is singing!) and one on the other side of the building where she is smiling. I also had lunch at a Uruguayan cafe and headed to the old harbour area. It was all a bit CanaryWharf like, only here there were lots of people walking around. Lots of cafes and restaurants on both sides of the docks. Lots of people watching opportunities. The area has been regenerated and is now considered the most expensive of all the neighbourhoods property wise. I can see why. Old buildings have been renovated into, what I can only imagine, now trendy lofts. Google even has an office here, apparently. The next day I walked to the Recoleta and Palermo areas. Recoleta was probably my favourite neighbourhood to walk through. There was this massive park at one point that had been built around a very, very old, massive tree.So old, its branches were being held up by iron statues.

I was walking for about 6 hours in the end (and 15km so my iPhone tells me!), only stopping briefly to get some lunch.

Buenos Aires is my last stop in Argentina so I thought I´d make the most of that and treat myself to a(nother) steak! Turns out that ordering a rare steak in a restaurant here is not an easy feat. Especially since I was trying to order in Spanish as well. It seems, Argentinians like to eat their steaks well done, so even when I asked at the hostel how to say rare steak, they didn’t have a clue. Anyway, I was trying to explain to the waiter that I wanted my steak cooking rare. He said the word was ¨jugoso¨ and not knowing any better I agreed. Turns out jugoso isn’t rare enough for me. It was more like a medium-well done in my view. It was still a lovely sirloin steak though.

I ordered a glass of red to go with it, although what came was more like a jug of wine… And that for €2! In the spirit of being in a nice restaurant I also ordered a dessert. They had something called ¨guilt pie¨ on their menu, so I had to try that!

It was a slice of brownie with chocolate mousse on top. I’m a dessert person, but I could only made it half way through! It took me a while to get through my ¨jug¨of wine and when I finally did I was waiting for the waiter to come over and collect my glass so I could ask for the bill. Only thing was, he snook over when I wasn’t paying attention and instead of collecting my empty glass, he brought me a glass of champagne. On the house! And then walked away before I could ask why. I guess he felt sorry for me. Being the only person in the whole restaurant that was eating alone!

Next day I went to a ranch, with the idea of experiencing how a real gaucho lives and works. I did some more horse riding, saw a demonstration on how to make empanadas and mate, watched a demonstration of gauchos and their horses and of course there was a BBQ for lunch!

While we were eating lunch there was a music and dance show. The guy gave us a quick tour of Argentinian music styles and then proceeded to sing songs from the countries we are from. He sang ¨Tulpen uit Amsterdam¨ for the Dutch guy and ¨Yesterday¨ for me. Then there was a tango show!

Today was my last day in Buenos Aires. And my last day in Argentina. I am typing this while I am waiting for the taxi to take me to the airport. I spent my last day in La Boca. Another neighbourhood in Buenos Aires.

I went there because I heard there was a market that was worth seeing. Well it was meant to have lots of souvenirs, something that I hadn’t seen at all in the city. It was about an hours walk from the hostel and souvenirs it did have! I managed to pick up a couple of things. Not cheap, tacky souvenirs but nice things. Mostly for myself. Sorry guys!

Anyway, next stop is Brazil. Or Rio de Janeiro to be more precise. I am flying overnight and via Sao Paulo. My plans for Rio are spending a few days on the beach relaxing… After 3 months of doing the touristy thing I just want to take it easy and drink some caipirinhas…