-2C..... in March.... Ridiculous

Exiting T5 at Heathrow a little after 7pm three weeks ago it struck me that I'd been a bit hasty in offloading my llama jumper! It was ridiculously cold and I can't help thinking that I must have looked a little bit ridiculous walking through the airport in flip flops and a little cardigan carrying my enormous floppy sun hat.......

After a welcome home dinner with my Mum and Dad I got back to my flat to find every room filled with flowers and plants thanks to my amazing Mum.

Much like the weeks leading up to my leaving, since getting home I have been on what feels like a never ending 'welcome home do' and that just goes to reaffirm something that I already knew, I have the best friends in the world.......

In the past three weeks I have....

• had a lovely weekend walking in the Cotswolds (I can highly recommend The Old School House B&B) 

  

  The lounge in The Old School House 

• been ever so slightly thrilled at the fact that it's snowed since I've been home, thanks to my Dad I still see snow as being magical and fun, not disruptive and inconvenient  

  

  Snow in the Cotswolds

• enjoyed an Irish Gin & Tonic served, as Harriet would say, in a 'mahousive' balloon glass with cinnamon & orange at The Port House which has just opened on the Strand, a Gin & Tapas bar - an odd combination that really works 

  

  Marc's G&T had Rose petals in it.... yep... 

• had a hot mulled wine (cleverly disguised as a takeaway coffee - genius) whilst walking round Borough Market with my Mum after visiting Somerset House for the Wool House exhibition

Somerset House

• eaten a delicious roast dinner at Hawksmoor Sevendials with my 'Urban Family', thoroughly recommend the restaurant which is renowned for its beef, be warned though, the Chataeubriand is considerably more expensive than the roast much to the surprise of Marc and Elliot, and the amusement of the rest of us!  
• come second in a pub quiz at Retro Bar, not a bad result considering how little Marc knew, 'We are OutLate" was pretty much a one man team

  

  A nervous reaction to being asked if he actually
  knew anything that might be helpful in a pub quiz

• had Libertine cocktails at Red Hook with Pat, it was great to catch up on all the gossip
• eaten Thai with Ad and Ian - so pleased that Ad is coming home for good in a few weeks, after four years in Hong Kong
• sipped Earl Grey tea in The Soho House hotel followed by a lovely supper in Soho with John
• walked in the park in the snow with Jane, I struggle to get my head round the fact that we've known each other for 37 years, but I love that we have
• started my journey to becoming a domestic goddess by baking cupcakes and cooking from scratch.... 
• Note: to those of you who don't know, I don't cook.... well I didn't cook. Truth be told I thought I couldn't cook and had  convinced myself that along with my fear of spiders this was something that I'd inherited from my Mum. But no, it turns out the actual cause was lack of time and not owning a magimix - and at the moment I have both. So please don't be alarmed if you start receiving food parcels from me just accept that it's not possible for me to bake one cup cake at a time. 

I don't know why I feel that I have to
evidence this to you....

Hot & Sour Soup - Nigella neglected to mention that it would 'blow your head off'; 
turned out to be the soup equivalent of eating a spoonful of horseradish, 
mixed with english mustard, sprinkled with wasabi

Oh god, too much time on my hands - not only have 
I started photographing my food I've
started gift wrapping it!

Oh... and I've had an interview, volunteered to work for a charity, started speaking Spanish to the barista in Starbucks, found a 'man who can' to do some odd jobs around the flat, booked train tickets for a girls weekend away to the Peak District in two weeks time and signed up for a couple of 10k runs.

But, as they say all good things must come to an end and from next Monday the 'holiday' is over and so too my career as a 'blogger'. The routine of cycling, running, volunteering, CV writing and job hunting beckons. 

It's been great fun writing sporadic updates about where I've been and what I've seen and I'd love to do more - it's so enjoyable taking some time out to reflect and to share the experiences - but I think you'll agree we'd all quickly tire of me writing about finding a handy-man, booking train tickets and my trips to the supermarket!

Thank you all for the blog comments and emails while I was away and for the hugs since I got back.

Lots of love,

Raine x

The girls from Ipanema

Wow! Rio with it's population of 6.5 million was something of a culture shock after a week on Boipeba. 

I am a self proclaimed city girl but I can say with some certainty (as this is my second visit) that Rio doesn't do it for me. I don't really understand why because all of the component parts of the city are amazing, Christ the Redeemer, Sugar Loaf, Corcovado all around the Harbor of Rio; which collectively make up one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the world, and of course Ipanema and Copacabana beaches. I found it to be a hot and noisy city best enjoyed from a distance, on a boat in the bay or from a vantage point like Sugar Loaf Mountain. 

Abby and I were lucky enough to enjoy the city from both of the afore mentioned and preferred perspectives.

Helene a school friend of Abby's who lives in Rio had just bought a 38' sailboat and invited us to go sailing which we did twice - I had the best time. I made friends with 'Invisible Ingrid', Helene's ridiculously cute daughter who I nicknamed Invisible Ingrid because she was sure that if she covered her eyes it made her invisible to the naked eye - which may well have been the case had she not been wearing a luminous orange lifesaver! 

Invisible Ingrid - too cute.

The end of a long day......

Sailing regatta Rio harbour

In between the two days sailing we took some time out to experience the city beach of Ipanema - a throng of thongs and budgie smugglers and of hawkers selling very small bikini's, drinks, street food, knock-off sunglasses and ice creams; a complete contrast to the beautiful and deserted beaches of Boipeba - but it had to be experienced.

On the Saturday night we went to Rio Scenarium a nightclub in Lapa, we went with Richard who we'd met in Bolivia last year and had a great night listening and dancing to live Samba music and drinking too many caipirinhas.

The famous Selaron stairs in Lapa

We took the cable car up to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain on Monday, our final day in Rio and the final day of our amazing trip. The views really are very impressive but I have to say, for me, not as impressive as the views from the boat. 

Whilst I'm not sorry to leave Rio going to the airport for our flight home will bring this incredible six months to an end and I'm not sure that I'm quite ready to come home just yet, not least because I have seen that the temperature in the UK is sub-zero which is ridiculous.

Talk soon.

Raine x

Paradise found

I had expectations of Morro de Sao Paulo being a really idyllic island which I'm sure it was 20 years ago, it was a bit too 'resorty' and not the idyllic island retreat that Abby and I had envisaged for the penultimate stop of our trip and so we decided to take a boat to Boipeba a couple of days earlier than planned. 

Great decision!

There were no roads, no cars and no tourists just long stretches of sand to lay our sarongs on for the day.... which we did pretty much every day. It was the perfect island untouched by mass tourism and so safe, there's very little crime there which meant we were able to walk around safely at night - well as long as we had our head torches with us.

Paying the 'bus' driver

We drank some great caipirinhas and ate some wonderful food,the Moqueca was one of my favourites, it's a traditional Brazilian fish or seafood dish, a delicious casserole/curry combo served with side dishes of rice and manioc flour or paste and in some instances a piquant sauce that was a little more piquant than I was expecting which resulted in some unexpected eye watering and coughing fits. I was quite surprised to find very little spice or heat in food across the whole of Latin America, the African influence in the Bahia region has brought not only vibrant colours and terrific music but great food too, may well rustle one of those up when I get home (crikey, one cookery lesson and I think I'm Delia!).

We stayed at a lovely Pousada a short walk from the beach called Casa Irene, not altogether surprisingly run by a lady called Irene. She fell in love with the island some 30 years ago when a local fisherman offered to take her and a friend on a boat ride around the island of Morro de Sao Paulo but when the boat started to let in water she and her friend were 'rescued' by another fisherman from Boipeba who took them to the island where they stayed for three days..... After years of holidaying there she bought some land a built a small Pousada. She was a lovely host who made a mean caipirinha and who told some great stories about her life and the life of the island, she seems to know each and every one of the 3,000 islanders.

Perfect....

Sundowners exist for a night like this

Whilst our days on the island were mostly spent on the beach we did exert ourselves last Sunday by taking a boat ride around the island, it was such a perfect day. We visited some of the natural swimming pools around the island, had a caipirinha at what must be one of the most idyllic beach bars in the world and then had a delicious lobster lunch at Estrella de Mar.

In one of the natural swimming pools

Island life

Delicious

I'm surprised and I have to say delighted that so few people seem to have discovered Boipeba and hope that it remains the way it is for as long as possible.

Heading to Rio via Salvador on Thursday, I can hardly believe that my South American adventure is almost over.

See you in Rio.

Raine x

Don't worry, they don't carry guns!

Whilst I was a little sad to be leaving Buenos last Friday I was excited to be meeting up with Abs again and to be going to Brazil. 

The flight to Sao Paulo was uneventful - my favourite kind of flight! I arrived a few hours before Abby and Sarah and had planned to go for a bit of a wander, but it's the rainy season and it rained (a lot) when I arrived so I didn't get to explore as planned.

On Saturday after Sarah had checked in for her flight to the UK and we'd said our goodbyes, Abby and I boarded our flight to Salvador in the Bahia region. A lot of people had told us that they loved Salvador but I have to say the drive from the airport through some very deprived looking areas didn't endear me to the place... 

We arrived at our hostel Galeria 13 and were greeted by Paulo the very dour owner of the hostel who originates from Norwich, I can only imagine that  Paulo Martinho was once Paul Martin. Paulo gave us a brief intro to the city using a map of the area marking on it where we should go and circling a place where we absolutely shouldn't go, to quote Paul(o) "you will get robbed by the kids on crack - but you won't get shot, don't worry they don't carry guns".... What?!?! It's fair to say I wasn't falling in love with Salvador.

Strange to think that Salvador is known as Brazil's capital of happiness, it's fair to say I wasn't feeling particularly happy. However, as is often the case, once we'd been for a walk and got our bearings I was feeling a lot more comfortable. The part of Salvador that we were staying in, Pelourinho, is another UNESCO world heritage site and a couple of streets have beautifully maintained colourful buildings lining them, unfortunately though so much of the rest of the city is dreadfully run down.

Such a contrast between the high road and
the low road.

Preparing for the street party

There was a music festival on while we were there and having missed carnival in the other places we'd visited this felt like an extension of the celebrations and having spent two nights listening to some really great (and some not so great) music on the streets of Salvador I have to say that my impression of the city was greatly improved. 

Jorge Vercilo, he's big in Brazil

Abs having a Skol

On Monday we took a boat to Morro de Sao Paulo for a little bit of beach time.

See you there.

Raine x

Never go back - Back in Buenos (2)

Once I'd established that I didn't have to wear a bikini I hopped in a taxi to San Telmo to meet Elliot at the pool party. It was a very funny night - we drank too much vodka, didn't eat and I got asked out for a drink by a young Argentinian guy, a young Argentinian guy who was almost young enough to be my son - like I said a very funny night. Unfortunately because of the amount of vodka we drank (too much) and the amount of food we ate (too little) we both woke up on Monday with a hangover...... Quelle surprise!

One of the 'too many'

The rest of the week was pretty much spent eating, drinking and taking in some culture.

We had some great meals and some even better wines, it was kind of Elliot to consider me something of an expert when it came to choosing the wine, something to do with the 30+ wines I'd tasted in Mendoza I guess.

On Tuesday we met at MALBA the Latin American art museum which it turns out is closed on Tuesdays and so we walked to the national museum of decorative art, we got there at 1pm and it opened at 2pm.... As we weren't far from Recoletta we visited the cemetery which was open, there were two funerals underway which made touring a cemetery feel very strange. We discussed the relative merits of being buried in a tomb or being cremated, Elliot opted for a tomb but I've got a funny thing about my eyes and so it's cremation everytime for me....

Having checked that MALBA was open on Wednesday we met there at lunch time, there was a real mixture of art work there none of which I particularly liked. There was also a Tracy Emin exhibition which was made up of five movie shorts - what a strange lady she is.

Me through the eyes of an art installation 

We'd agreed to have a lazy day on Thursday and met in the early evening for sundowners in San Telmo before going for dinner at ILatina, another delicious wine paired meal. After dinner we said our goodbyes as I was flying to Sao Paolo on Friday morning to meet up with Abs for the final few weeks of our trip.

Torrontes sun downers in San Telmo

Elliot and I agreed that a weeks holiday in Buenos was a great way to get to know each other, we'd met at Sainsbury's a year or so ago when we were both part of the corporate leadership development programme which resulted in him being promoted to Director and me to Senior Manager - that all seems like such a long time ago..... 
We had such fun and a few 'you had to be there moments',;one of which has resulted in me having spontaneous fits of giggles almost daily when I think about it, most embarrassingly when I was sat on my own in the departure lounge at Buenos Airport and I ended up crying with laughter and couldn't stop - and I think Tracy Emin's strange!

I do maintain my position on revisiting places however I suspect that I may well find myself in Buenos Aires again, some time soon I hope.

Raine x

Never go back - Back in Buenos (1)

I have said a number of times before that I wouldn't choose to revisit any of the places that I have previously been to solely for the reason that there are too many other places that I would like to visit, I decided to make an exception for Buenos Aires.

Having visited Iguazu Falls when I travelled in Brazil a few years ago I decided to leave Abby and Sarah to experience that absolutely awesome natural wonder for the first time - whilst it may not be possible to see such a wondrous sight for the first time twice, it is entirely possible to feel excited for someone else who will be seeing it for the first time. 

Abby at Iguazu Falls

I headed back to BA because I wanted to suck up some more of the atmosphere and to see some more of the city, I just didn't feel as though I had done the city, that had so moved and excited me when I first arrived, justice.

So comfortable was I in this city that I returned from Uruguay without having anywhere to stay which wasn't a problem, I took the taxi drivers advice on a hotel and when he dropped me off at a cute little boutiquey hotel in Palermo Hollywood I took my chances, offering $50 USD for a $120 USD room, success... The room was at the top of the hotel but lugging my bag up the four flights of stairs was worth it for the $50 'penthouse' (with balcony and late checkout - god I love boutiquey things).

The view from my boutiquey balcony....

I went for a wander around Palermo Hollywood (apparently named because a number of  television companies have their offices there...) it's only a short distance from Palermo Soho (named after the boho district of Soho in New York) but has a very different feel, it felt perfectly safe but was a bit run down by comparison.

It feels so exciting to be travelling on my own, I am having to try harder with my Spanish and whilst it feels uncomfortable I have done a deal with myself not to let the first thing I say to anyone be "lo siento, hablo un poco espanol" the result is I am listening harder when someone first says something. Many of the situations that I find myself in are predictable and so not too hard if I'm honest (in a taxi: where are you from? is it your first time in Argentina? and in a Supermarket: would you like a bag? do you have 25cents?) but I do hope at some point to move from transactional dialogue to conversation - one of the things I plan to do when I get home is to start Spanish lessons.

After one night in a hotel I was able to move back to the apartment that Abby and I had stayed in, Mariano was a great host and Eva the housekeeper was very generous with her time which allowed me to practice my Spanish.

I spent the first couple of days wandering around the city with no real plan to go anywhere, it was fun to have no particular place to go and to not worry about getting lost, what's the worst that could have happened? I may have got lost but taxi's were plentiful so if I needed to I could always have flagged one down to take me back to Malabia 1577 - I didn't.....

On the Thursday I joined a free walking tour of the city, we set off from Plaza Italia. The tour was really interesting and in the main we visited parts of the city that I hadn't been to before, the tour guide also explained how the buses and trains (sube) worked which was brilliant as I used them regularly for the rest of the time I was in Buenos.

Carlos Gardel's image is everywhere (famous tango singer)

The tour finished at the Pink Palace, I'd been here before but being there on a Thursday afternoon meant that I got to witness the incredibly moving weekly ritual where mothers of the children abducted during the 'Dirty War' (1976 - 1983) walk around the Plaza de Mayo in their memory.

30 years on......

After the tour I took the Sube home and after a quick change I jumped a taxi to the Argentine Experience - I had a great conversation with the taxi driver once he'd stopped trying to practice portuguese on me - once we'd established that, whilst yes I was brown I wasn't Brazillian I was in fact English - I spent the rest of the evening telling people that I wasn't Australian! The cookery class (yes, really!) was excellent, I learnt how to make empanadas a delicious snack which is best described as a very small (and considerably tastier) Cornish pasty. Don't worry if you can't imagine it, rest assured I will be making some for you to taste when I get home! After the cookery class I had a really great meal and too much Malbec.

I can't believe you need proof!

On the Sunday I met up with the tour guide, that I'd met on the walking tour earlier in the week, and his girlfriend for brunch at Malvon, a restaurant that I really wanted to visit, the fruitilla (strawberry) butter was extraordinary.... 

Malvon for brunch

In the afternoon I got an email from Elliot to say that he'd arrived in Buenos from Rio and did I fancy going to a pool party......

Back in BA - Week two to follow......

Raine x

Accelerating the ageing process in Uruguay

Uruguay sounded like it was going to be an amazing place to spend a week or so on the beach, we'd spoken to a number of people who'd told us about Punta del Este and Jose Ignacio and we were really looking forward to it especially as Sarah, a friend of Abby's, was coming out to meet us.

The reality though was a little different, it was incredibly expensive with the price of our accommodation more than doubling and the quality of the accommodation being less good than we have become used to (a bed in a dorm being the same price as private room in other countries). To be honest I think it was just bad timing, we arrived in peak season and during carnival and so sadly no sooner had we arrived than we were planning our exit.

We started our short Uruguayan adventure in Colonia which is where the ferry from Buenos Aires arrives and after dumping our bags at our hostel we were able to satisfy ourselves that the guide books are correct, it is possible to get to know Colonia thoroughly in less than three hours. It was a cute place with a lighthouse, I think that may well be all I remember of this short stop over.

Me, pre sunburn in Colonia

The following day we took a bus to Punta del Este (PdE) renowned for being one of South Americas most glamorous resorts and as you can guess one of the most expensive. As we drove along the coastal road toward PdE all we could see in addition to the actual sea was a sea of white high rise hotels, we had been able to find a really good and not phenomenally expensive hostel in a part of the town where there were only low rise buildings, which was perfect for us and was only a short walk from the beach. This was our first beach stop since Colombia which seems like such a long time ago and so knowing that we were going to be here for the next few days we found a spot that we liked and each day carried our beach chairs and brolly to the same spot and fried ourselves; I quite literally did fry myself.

Having become accustomed to the heat over the past few months it just didn't register that my tummy and my eyelids had not been exposed to such direct sunlight and that the 15spf suntan lotion just wasn't going to cut it and it didn't. I currently have the eyelids of a 150 year old tortoise and a tummy that I hope will look very young following it's non chemical peel - very foolish (it won't be repeated as Sarah arrived on Sunday with fresh supplies of SPF30 Clarins and Piz Buin, oh and Marmite - I love Sarah).

Sunset Punta del Este

On Sunday morning Abs and I took the bus to Montevideo airport to meet Sarah who I have to say looked pretty amazing after 25 hours of travelling. 

Something quite magical happens in arrival halls of airports, I could see a million awe inspiring sights but none would fill me with the overwhelming mix of emotions that I feel when I watch people waiting for loved ones to arrive or when I see the look of expectation on the faces of people as they walk in to arrivals, it is brilliantly expressed in the opening credits of the film Love Actually (which if you haven't seen you must google Love Actually Opening scene and watch it on youtube immediately, infact if you have seen it you should also google it, I promise you that whatever frame of mind you are in it will make you feel happy on the inside - which is good because it may well make you cry on the outside). 

Any way, sorry I have digressed.... We were spending the night at The London Palace hotel in Montevideo (yep) and as Abs said in her very best 'cockerney'/Dick Van Dyke accent "it's just like a real palace in London (guv'nor)".

The hotel was in a great location just a few blocks from the old town and so after we'd checked in we walked one block to a small plaza and just as soon as we sat down the heavens opened, Sarah appeared to have brought the great British weather with her. We huddled under the umbrella and caught up over a few drinks before heading back to 'the palace' for a siesta. 

Abs and I were keen to treat Sarah to a great first night meal and so once we were all dressed we started walking towards the old town where we knew there were some good restaurants. The streets were incredibly quiet it was like a ghost town, the alarm bells started to ring when we walked past a McDonalds that was closed.... it turns out that it was a national holiday, something that the Uruguayans clearly take more seriously than we do at home. We did manage to find somewhere for food but as I'm sure you can imagine a restaurant called Don Peperone was never going to provide the fine dining experience that we'd hoped to welcome Sarah with. Instead we made do with toasted sandwiches and a tuna nicoise salad!

Then, before we knew it it was Monday morning and time for us to go our separate ways; at 11am Abby and Sarah took a taxi to the airport to fly to Foz Iguazu and at 11:30 I took a taxi to the port to take a boat back to BA - I told you that I liked it......

See you there.

Raine x

Buenos Aires a retrospective....

Yet again I have left it too long between blogs so we're running a little behind on 'the story so far', it'll only take a little while to catch up so here goes....

In just a few days Buenos Aires has become my second favourite city in the world (I am not yet tired of life and so London retains the top spot).

I have to say that I love everything about BA, it's a really atmospheric city one that I am enjoying just 'being' in if that makes any sense. It is of course a city and so there have been no 'Fitzroy' moments here but there is something about it, particularly in and around the area in which we stayed. As with all cities the closer you get to the centre the more cars and people there are but the whole of Palermo, not just Soho has interesting cobbled side streets, beautiful old buildings and some amazing graffiti which I think, as I did with Valparaiso completely adds to its charm.

Wonderful street art is everywhere

Our apartment in Palermo Soho was the perfect base for us, we were surrounded by the coolest cafes, bars, restaurants and boutique clothes stores; it's possible to keep yourself fully occupied without even leaving the district to see some of the sights of BA, however we did.....

El Ateneo is a chain of bookstores; some of you will know that I absolutuley love killing time in a bookshop (can't recommend Daunts on Marylebone High Street highly enough) which is increasingly difficult to do in England since the clever people at Amazon made book buying so easy online, however bookshops seem to be something of a phenomenon in BA. El Ateneo Grand Splendid on Santa Fe is definitely worth a visit as it's in an old and beautiful building that used to be a theatre. The majority of the books are as you might expect in Spanish so we popped in to have a quick look around the building but only minimal book browsing was done.

Having visited Recoleta cemetery we then visited the Evita museum to find out a little more about her, the museum is small and in the main is a display of her dresses and shoes with some video footage of her speaking and of her funeral. Portenos (the term used to refer to people from BA) seem to be split on the topic of Evita as to whether was she a force for good or not.... The information available in the museum didn't really help me to form a strong view though from what I saw I would suggest that she was incredibly self indulgent. Something that I hadn't realised was that she died so young, she was only 33.

We visited San Telmo on what felt like the hottest day ever, we visited La Casa Rosada (The Pink Palace) famous for being the platform from which Evita addressed Argentina and then we sat in a lovely plaza watching a couple dancing the Argentinian Tango, the music and the dancing evokes thoughts of days gone by, made all the more so as the music was being played on an old 8-track.....

The 'Pink Palace'

A very provocative dance

We also went to Tigre; we took the Tren de la Costa which, following an attempted scam by the lady selling tickets (accused us of taking our $AR100 bill back - which of course we hadn't), took us past some beautiful properties where I imagine the super rich live, dropped us in Tigre which was incredibly busy as it's peak season in Argentina. There wasn't all that much to see in Tigre but it's the place to take a boat down the river to Tres Bocas which we did. As with almost every day we've had so far the weather was perfect and whilst all of the waterways in the delta were busy with tourists boats and locals alike, it was a relaxing way to spend the afternoon. We had an asado for lunch a very traditional meal of several different meats (different cuts of steak, chicken, chorizo and black pudding) served on a mini hot plate at your table.

En route to Tres Bocas

We definitely ate well in BA, my favourite meals were at Osaka a Japanese/Peruvian fusion restaurant (not as unusual a combination as you might imagine) and I Latina which is a 'closed door' restaurant, a model which is increasingly popular in BA - I misunderstood the description thinking that it was the same as a pop up restaurant but it isn't. A closed door restaurant offers a set menu anything from 5 to 10 courses and it's necessary to book in advance as they don't accept passing customers. I Latina is run by two brothers from Colombia one cooks and one is front of house, in just a year they have made it to number one on TripAdvisor and having now tasted the food I'm not at all surprised, it was delicious.

It was so nice having a base for more than just a couple of days and I can't describe the pleasure that can be derived from being able to completely unpack a rucksack and to put clothes in to a wardrobe, a small and simple pleasure.

So, as I said no 'Fitzroy' moments but a definite moment or two of wondering if I could (with ever so slightly improved Spanish!) live in this city and after nine days I have to say that yes, BA is definitely my kind of city.

Raine x

I think I may up sticks and move here......

On the 26th, after a stop over in Puerto Natales, we did our final border crossing from Chile to El Calafate in Argentina to take a flight to Buenos Aires (thanks to Marc & John - without your very generous birthday present we would have been doing a 36 hour bus journey, with it we were able to fly to BA in just three - thank you x).

I had read a lot about Buenos Aires (BA), I am after all a city chick and from what I'd read I suspected that I might like it, but I was wrong - I LOVE it!

We have rented an apartment in the coolest part of the city, Palermo Soho. For anyone who's been to New York it feels a lot like the Meat Packing district, full of fabulous restaurants, cafes, bars and chic boutiques.

Our first couple of days in the city were spent finding our feet and having some down time, just pottering (I love that term). 

Yesterday we visited Recoletta, famous for being the home of the cemetery where Eva Peron (Evita) is buried. Whilst it's a complete contrast to the natural beauty we have experienced in both Chile and Argentina over the past three weeks I have to say that I thought the cemetery was strangely beautiful.

Throughout Latin America they celebrate All Souls Day (aka The day of the dead) taking gifts and flowers to the graves of their loved ones, the indigenous communities take a feast to the grave side and family members take time to honour their dead. We were in Ecuador for All Souls Day and I remember seeing the gifts and flowers on the graves in all of the cemeteries that we passed.

I don't get the impression that All Souls Day was much of an event at Recoletta cemetery. 

A high wall protects the city of the dead that is Recoletta cemetery but despite it's height you can see an assortment of aged stone cherubs, angels and weeping widows peering over the top.

What were, I imagine, once fabulously ornate mausoleums marking what must have been a golden age in Argentinas history are now in varying states of decay, many of them with broken windows, exposed coffins and cobweb covered doors, it's like a silent theatre. 

The state of the tombs adds to the 'romance' of the place but left me feeling sad that they lie apparently forgotten by all but those tourists keen to see the final resting place of Evita who lies embalmed beneath tonnes of reinforced concrete to protect her from body snatchers and desecraters.

One of many plaques on Evita's tomb

Raine x