Buenos Aires

After a quick (10 hour) stop over in Madrid from London we headed South to Argentina's capital where we spent 7 days exploring everything the city has to offer whilst soaking up the piercing sun.
CITY
We did copious amounts of walking and covered the majority of the metropolitan area. The sidewalks can be at times, similar to the surface of the moon and many are lined with scaffolding that climbs up the sides of alot of the buildings. On some of the major city walkways there are permanent markets aswell as many others opening up on the weekends. These are great places to checkout. We gave the trainline and buses both a go. We wouldnt recommend either of these after dark but are fine during the day. We all enjoyed La Boca. An area that is well known for its bright coloured buildings and passion for football. The last lunch we had in Buenos Aires was in a La Boca beer garden which you walk past the massive BBQ (Kitchen) to get to. Amazing lunch and probably the most South American we have felt yet. Palermo was also a nice area. It gives off an up market vibe and the main square is a great place to enjoy lunch.
HISTORY
One morning we enjoyed a tour including a video that gave us a summary of the past 100 years in the city. We were then taken on foot to the streets where the protestors had walked and the buildings were bombed. We visited the "Pink House" where the president now works which was once bordered by a river. We learnt of the inspirational people that had come and gone which has left a very passionate city. People today still march the iconic areas to fight for both modern rights and justice from past atrocities.
PEOPLE
Passionate and kind although aesthetically challenged. We were all blown away one evening at about 5pm when we heard noises from our hostel. Over the following hour tens of thousands of people marched the Avenue De Majo (where many of the marches are held) for gay pride. We saw teenagers all the way through to a man of about 80 on crutches enjoying the festivities. All in all the locals are very welcoming to English speaking travellers. Coming from WA (probly one of the most beautiful populations in the world) you cant help but think some Argentinian's resemble our neanderthal primates and we did not see many lookers during our stay (note from Rhi - though many of the boys did fall in love with our tango teacher and walking tour guide!!!)
FOOD
Buenos Aires is said to be the 2nd most expensive South American city so dont get unreasonable ideas of how cheap the place is before visiting, however there are many times we bought things wondering 'how do they do it for the price'. It is cheaper on average than any place I have been in my life but not by as much as some people say. The food is fine though. every street has fresh cooking caramelised nuts and some awesome food can be found at the large weekend markets for bugger all Pesos. We cooked in the Hostel for several nights, but the nights we ventured out for a bite we were not dissapointed, nor really impressed.
HIGHLIGHTS
5. The complete BBQ experience in La Boca for our final lunch which included intestines, kidneys and every other part of a pig, cow, chook or sheep.
4. The weekend markets in Recoleta and San Telmo were great to explore even though all we ended up purchasing was Argentina bracelets (really need to clear space in our bags).
3. Tango night out which involved a quick lesson in which we all excelled followed by a 3 course meal and full tango show. The steak we had that night was one of the best ever we all agreed.
2. Drunken night drinking at the Louder Millhouse Hostel up the Majo from ours. Drinking games and ridiculously strong drinks resulted in many of laughs.
1. The unexpected stampede of gays right past our balcony. As the photos show it was nothing like any of us have seen before.
Gracias Buenos Aires.
MAH.   (for all the pics check out the flickr link and Rhi's pics on F.book)