Our final stop in Argentina was Buenos Aires. After two months, off and on, we’ve finally had to call time on our relationship with this country. Luckily for us, it turns out that finishing in BA means we can go out in style!

Arriving on Saturday, we found our Airbnb. For the weekend, after Tom had watched the rugby, we left to wander around Palermo, the area where we were staying. We found beautiful cobbled streets which were decorated with either brightly coloured flowers or street art. All of the shops and cafes were independent and cheerful, and we both thought it reminded us a little of some parts of Melbourne, or a prettier version of Gloucester Road in Bristol. Annoyingly though, we forgot to take any photos! Seeing as Sunday was my birthday, we went to a highly recommended restaurant called El Preferido where we ordered a steak – easily the best one we’ve had, certainly in Argentina if not ever!

On Monday, we turned our attention to the nearby parks. These were numerous although the only one that was open was the Japanese Garden. We paid our entry fee and in we went. It was unbelievably peaceful and pretty and we spent a couple of hours walking over the bridges and around the perimeter. Even if Japan hadn’t already been on our list of places to visit, it certainly would be after that!

Tuesday was earmarked for the historical centre, so we decided to walk the hour and a half journey. In hindsight, this may not have been the best idea as it was hot and humid and the underground would have taken us minutes! Nevertheless, we made it in and took refuge in an air conditioned shopping mall for ten minutes to try and cool down. Once we no longer felt at risk of heat stroke, we headed back out and found a place for a beer and an ice cream, for purely medicinal purposes!

We bumped into a friend we’d met in Ushuaia so headed to a bar for a couple of drinks. As we parted ways – him to go out and meet more friends for drinks, us to pick up our laundry and make a dinner that included vegetables – we stumbled across a street tango show, or a milonga. The dancers were just warming up so we hung around to watch them for a while before, very sensibly, taking the underground home.

The next day was our last full day in Buenos Aires so we planned to visit the botanical garden before going to San Telmo, another area of the city, in the evening. The morning was perfect for us; it was hot but not unbearable and the garden was just over the road from us, with lots of trees to shade us. The afternoon, however, decided to grace us with a heavy summer rainstorm so we stayed in Palermo.

On our last day, we visited the EcoParque where there were plenty of indigenous animals roaming around, and a few which weren’t quite so local.

We caught the ferry across from Buenos Aires to Colonia on Thursday evening. Arriving late, we found a hot dog stand (typical street food in South America) before falling asleep. In the morning, we walked up to the beach but were caught in a downpour on our way. We decided not to stay on the beach and walked back to the town centre. As we squelched our way down the high street, the rain picked up even more and we took refuge in a bar to wait it out.

Once the rain had more or less stopped, we continued our walk to Plaza Mayor and on to the waterfront. The town wasn’t huge, so by lunchtime we had seen the majority of the sights.

Eventually, it was time for us to catch our bus to Montevideo. Again, we arrived late so we went straight to bed after a dinner of instant noodles. In the morning, we walked down to the waterfront and along la rambla enjoying the cooler weather and the breeze. We managed to walk to the centre before we had to turn aroind and get back to the hostel for lunch as the rugby was on, though! Our stay in Uruguay was short and sweet, but we didn’t feel the need to stay much longer. We’re now back in Buenos Aires for a couple of hours before we make our way to Paraguay for the next stop!