Bienvenido a Buenos Aires!

• Buenos Aires has taken time to grow on me.
• Perhaps the problem is that I had such lofty expectations, after Brazil, Colombia and Peru - which have an earthiness to them all.
  
• BA feels to me like Europe, not South America. It lacks (in my humble opinion) the rawness... the realness... the passion... the fire... of the other countries I´ve visited here.
• I`ve heard it descibed as a mix of Paris, Rome and Barcelona. In a way, I suppose it is. The people are more reserved, slightly distant. Then again, that´s how it is in big cities, and I need to remember that.
• It´s also a city that lives strictly at night. All the people here go for dinner between 10 P.M and 1 A.M. After that, they go out dancing until the sun comes. Sleep all day, repeat ad infinitum.
  
• What Buenos Aires DOES have - in abundance - is music, musicians, artists, artisans.
• I´ve had some remarkable nights out dancing!
• There´s a regular Monday night event: "La Bomba de Tiempo", which is a drumming troupe that gets together and performs in a warehouse packed full of people, all dancing to the drums! Afterwards there´s an afterparty at another club which goes on until the morning, where anyone that wants to can get up on stage, get involved, make music.
• There are loads of live music nights, where you can listen to Afro-Cuban music, mambo from the 1950´s, salsa, samba, candombe...
• My favourite thing here has been the San Telmo market, which happens every Sunday. During the day one of the main streets is closed off, and lined with handicrafts, second-hand artifacts, antiques, and other bric-a-brac. As evening dawns, suddenly the drums take over the day! Groups of drummers march down the streets, making music, producing energy, creating MAGIC!
• They start at one end of the street, and walk down, gathering people as they go. There are loads of Brazilians in BA, and it is the amazing Brazilian girls who move like no-one on earth. They both lead the drummers and follow them. People join in as they go, shaking their asses, feeling the passion, getting lost in the moment. It´s ELECTRIC. You can either join a group that you like, and walk with them, or wait on the side of the stret and watch the different groups go by! I was dancing my heart out!!! Driven by the drums, my soul SANG.
• And THAT is what I take away from Buenos Aires with me. That and the giant, juicy delicious steaks. And fantastic red wine.
• Today is my first day in Uruguay, as I needed to escape to the beach for a while. But I´ll be back in Argentina soon to explore it further, beyond the capital city.
  
• Watch this space for more!

Love you all, and wishing you a new year filled with LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. xxx