With the days cultural exploration done, my cultural activities didn't stop there. That evening; Margot (an avid fan of musical theatre), Rodrigo, Brendan and I head to a studio theatre to see "Los Últimos 5 Años". A musical portrayed as a series of monologues between a failin couple, starting from her point of view at the end of the relationship working back to the day they met and his role working in the opposing direction. Despite the entire thing being in Spanish, it was easy to appreciate the emoion within the songs and the feelings which were trying to be expressed. I was incredibly impressed and it made me think about my life and how different people perceive the same situation. We went for a drink after the play and were home by 11.30P.M., despite a Milhouse party, we went to bed and chatted into the night. I've met myself a really nice group of people!


The following morning involved a bus ride to 'La Boca', an extremely poor port district of Buenos Aires. Regardless, it is home to the Tango and the Boca Juniors! I had heard some real horror stories about muggings and the crime in the area so I was quite nervous about visiting. We wandered down the colourful cobbled streets lined with a cute craft market and brightly painted buildings. After a quick stop for food, we visited PROA - a modern arts gallery with an exhibition on Futurism. Brendan being well read in the arts was very up for the whole thing, I wasn't against the idea but my understanding wasn't as deep. I still found the exhibition very interesting, different from any others I have seen! A bus carried us back into the centre of town where we walked through a plaza in which we found the "Madres de Plaza de Mayo", a charity comprised of mothers and grandmothers campaigning to have 'lost' sons who disappeared under the dictatorship returned. Apparently they can be found every Thursday afternoon simply carrying a banner round the plaza holding placards with photos of their lost relatives, it was truly harrowing! From here, we continued walking to 'Puerto Madero', a recently renovated dockland which truthfully could have been anywhere from Sydney to San Fransisco! The evening was passed with a Milhouse party and a trip to 'Club 69', Buenos Aires' best drag club...very random. I managed to arrive in a taxi with a very random group of South Americans. Unfortunately, I missed the majority of the show due to my first experience of crime struck and Ellie had her camera stolen. That was a definite mood killer!


The following day, after a suitably Argentinian start to the day, I had arranged to meet up with one of Matthew's friends from Russia; Charlotte. Late as ever, I jumped on a tube (first time alone in SA!) and head to Palermo. South America is spoiling me with friendly faces, despite the potential for some obvious awkwardness, Charlotte was very sweet about the whole situation and treated me to a Starbucks 'dulce con leche' - a South American obsession which was like heaven on earth with all the calories you'd imagine. After a long chat and some BA tips, I head back to the hostel and met up with everyone and we had another Milhouse party. I had planned to go out with the Hong Kong Girls but they totally abandonned me (Alice!). Later in the evening, Liat and Alice returned after Liat had had her camera stolen. South America struck again! I ended my evening by hiding Rodrigo's recorder which over the past few days he has insisted on whipping out at every opportunity to play some rendition of 'The Corrs' (crazy Mexican!).

My penultimate day in Buenos Aires was fairly unstructured as I attempted to decide my next destination. After speaking to the HK Girls (Hong Kong Girls from here on in!), I decided to join them north to the Brazillian border. With some resemblance of a plan made, the day slipped into evening and we set out for 'Grab Cafe Tortoni', a supposedly world famous tango show. If I'm honest I wasn't particularly enthused about the whole experience, it seemed to me to be an extremely exploited and touristy spectacle so let's just say I had my doubts. I was soon proven to be way off the mark. The entire show was nothing short of epic. The musicians, the singing, the dancing - everything was beautiul. It is one of my favourite experiences since travelling! Being my last night in Buenos Aires I wanted to go out Argentinian style so back at the hostel, despite 'Team 307' not up for a nigh out I head out with some other guys from my hostel and we had a blast. The night slipped into day and I slipped into bed for three hours sleep. Check out and gradual farewells to my Buenos Aires possé as we all went our separate ways and I found myself at the bus station with the HK Girls on a 17 hour bus to Puerto Iguazu...