BUENOS AIRES (ARGENTINA)

Definately one of the most interesting cities I have visited, Buenos Aires gave off a real 'European flavour', not only because of its distinctly spanish, french and italian architecture and cuisine, but also in the behaviour of much of the local population, not to mention the fashion and shopping. I loved just walking around the city as there was something interesting almost every few hundred metres; various statues and commemorative pieces, museums, art galleries along with a multitude of plazas and parks. Added to this array of cultural and architectural sights was the the absolutely insane nightlife of the city and it was in Buenos Aires that I saw some of the largest and best nightclubs of my life. I guess it is no wonder that I soon began planning a return trip to the city for 2006. It was dissapointing that I was unable to capture more of this nightlife in my photos and in hindsight my reasons for not doing so (fear of having my camera stolen) were probably not completely justified. However, as with a number of other experiences from my trip, the memories of my clubbing nights in Buenos Aires are I am sure, something that will remain with me for a long time to come.

During my time in Buenos Aires I firstly stayed in a large hostel, which was good in that it had many friendly staff and a was ideally placed to explore the city centre. In taking a few tours organised by the hostel, I was also able to learn a lot more about the city and its history than I would have been able to on my own. After this I went to stay with some other travellers I had met whilst trekking in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, they were staying in a small flat in Palermo, one of the hip Buenos Aires suburbs. Whilst this also provided a cheap and convenient point to explore other parts of the city, it was somewhat removed from much of the good nightlife which restricted my first few nights out to rather substandard experiences. Having frequented 2 different pub/clubs I decided to venture out on my own to a club called 'Opera Bay' which had been recommended by a number of locals I had been speaking with. The decision certainly paid off as the club was fantastic... Not only did it have over 10 rooms filled with 500 or more crazy Argentines all dancing to every sort of music imagineable but also everyone there was extremely interested in what I was doing there and very friendly indeed. After many hours of dancing the night away I was left very happy that I had finally discovered what so many other travellers had been raving about - the amazing Buenos Aires nightlife.

My last few days in Buenos Aires I stayed with some Argentine guys I had met beforehand. These days were spent basically just chilling out, visiting the markets and a few other sites around the city such as the famous Recolletta cemetery. The ideal location of Palermo meant that weekends were particulary enjoyable, spent just drinking coffee in streetside cafes and watching the 'beautiful people' go by. As a day trip from Buenos Aires I also visited the Tigre delta, the second largest river delta in the world. With such beautiful weather outside, it was a very pleasant day just cruising around the thousands of tiny islands, taking in some really colourful scenery and also checking out some of the abandoned ships, left to rust...

Photos 1- 5: Various statues and buildings of interest in Buenos Aires.
Photo 6: View of a sailboat in one of the harbour docks.
Photos 7&8: Red and green tree foliage along the river banks of the Tigre Delta.
Photos 9&10: Abandoned cargo ships in the delta.