Santiago, Wednesday 25th February

As I was saying before a flight interrupted me, BA was full of amazing contrasts. They just love their monuments and we saw a mini Big Ben (donated by the Brits) and a marble confection (donated by France) and of course one of the sainted Evita. She seems to have been BA's answer to Robin Hood....

Our lovely guide Alex took us to the most famous coffee house in BA - this is where we could have been in one of the Art Deco districts in Paris.........

Sorry folks but drinks beckon so will need to catch up with you all again tomorrow - we have a free day.

I'll also download the pictures I took crossing the Andes - spectacular!

Buenos noches, queridos/queridas xx

Buenos Aires, Wednesday 25th February

Just a quick update now as we are in the airport ready to jet off to Chile.

We had a packed few days in BA and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a very interesting mix of European culture and architecture and as we went around on our city tour, we could have been in Paris or Rome or Madrid. We went to see a little church biult in the 1640s, Spanish colonial style.

As a complete contrast, we then went to visit a very colourful area called La Boca - had a drink and watched the tango dancers.

As you can see from the photos, I haven't quite mastered the insertion technique!

More later, from Chile!

Buenos Aires, Monday 23rd February

Here we go! The flight was not as bad as we expected – both of us managed to sleep for most of the 10+ hours to Sao Paulo. We stopped there for about 30 minutes but weren’t allowed off the plane. Arrived in BA to be met with rain! It did clear later.

I was very brave and had my hair cut - no mean feat when the hairdresser's command of English was limited to one word - "fine?" Luckily I am still recognisable.....

While I was in the hairdresser's, Mike had a look round the local restaurants and was fascinated by one that seemed to sell every part of a bull/cow going – from the testicles to a 1.25 kg steak............ but we settled for Sushi. Everything seems cheap here - a bottle of wine is about £7.

Now, it’s Monday (Feb 23rd) and we have a whole week of enjoying to do. This morning will be spent in the back of a car, being shown the sights of BA with Alex as a our guide. Yesterday there was virtually no traffic but today from our hotel room window, it's like a scene from the Grand Prix.

Apparently there are a lot of Italian influences here, including Italian driving skills!

Hope to get some pictures of BA to show........