Buenos Aires

Dogs, dog poo on the pavement, banks, restaurants, pizza, tango, hooting furiously, oak trees, traffic, food, dog walkers, pizzerias, mosquitoes, eating out, walking, cosmopolitan, amazingly European, watch out for the dog poo, the obelisk (“the Penis” as we refer to it) in the middle of the biggest avenue in the world – seven lanes in each direction!

Buenos Aires means “good air” – but I guess that was before the traffic and the 10 million people in the centre. It is the most gorgeous city I have seen in South America and there are so many cosy, inviting, flashy places to sit, drink coffee (I wish I did drink coffee) and watch life passing you by.

The city folk seem suspicious of Chileans and are very proud of their city and country. The service in the eating places is great – but they don’t really seem to want you to interrupt their texting in the shops...

We have been fascinated by the indoctrination of the common man about Las Islas Malvinas. The postcards have maps of Argentina, with the Falkland islands on them, country maps have Stanley printed on them as Porto Argentina, there are books on the best sellers pile about the Falklands, the massive Falklands memorial has 2 soldiers standing to attention in front of it with a continuous flame burning and the weather is duly forecast for the Falklands too! We have created much confusion going through customs with Tim’s Falklands heritagee. The first immigration post they wouldn’t stamp his passport, the second they took a photocopy of his passport and excitedly shook his hand – no doubt he has been the subject of much dinner conversation this evening. He won’t let me tell anybody where he is from – so he is masquerading as a South African.