Buenos Aires

I arrived in the capital of Argentina around 10:00am on Sunday morning following an 18-hour bus journey from Puerto Iquazu. The bus journey itself was surprisingly good. Huge reclining chairs, food and alcohol all for $290 Pesos about £45.00.

By the time I’d made it to the hostel, checked in, showered and changed it was getting on for 1.30pm. I spoke to the guy on reception and asked what was good to do on a Sunday. He pointed me in the direction of San Telmo.

San Telmo is a maze of cobbled streets and ageing colonial buildings. I spent the remainder of the afternoon walking around the busy antique’s market and watching the various street performers.

After changing hostels I spent Monday afternoon exploring the area of La Boca and Caminito. La Boca is situated along the old port and was built by Italian immigrants from Genoa. Caminito is literally a few short streets lined with brightly coloured corrugated-metal buildings and full of tango dancers, artists and restaurants, oh and a Diego Maradonna look alike you can have your picture taken with.

The houses were built using discarded wood and corrugated iron and were elevated from the ground to avoid flooding. They were then painted in a patchwork quilt of colours using leftover paint from nearby shipyards.

On Tuesday I returned to La Boca to do a tour of Boca Juniors La Bombonera (the chocolate box) stadium. Arriving on a Sunday meant I’d missed their last home game with San Lorenzo which they lost 2-1. With their next home game not until September, 19 and with me leaving Buenos Aires on September, 12 a tour of their ground was the best I could hope for.

The stadium has a very unusual look to it and is quite small so I was surprised when our guide told us that the capacity is 49,000. The pitch is actually the minimum size required under FIFA regulations.

More to follow...