Buenos Aires. Saturday 18th November 2006.

This morning I met up again with Carlos Roberto Da Silva Almeida and after checking in to my new hotel, the Castelar Hotel and Spa we headed off on the subway for Buenos Aires most upscale neighbourhood, Recoleta.

We take the subte and then stroll through this barrio's streets stopping off first at Plaza Rodríguez Peña. I get my first sight of a paseaperros the famous dog-walkers of Recoleta (people here are too posh to walk their own dogs!!).

The highlight of any visit to Buenos Aires though has to be the cemetery. By this I mean the Cementerio de la Recoleta, arguably the most exclusive real estate in the city.

I have never seen anything like it. Once inside the high walls that surround the cemetery you are transported to a miniture city where the elite of Buenos Aires come to rest.

It is strange to think that in a city where so many are homeless these small buildings could infact house living, rather than dead, families quite easily. Some mausoleums have stained glass windows. Looking inside you see coffins and caskets on display, staircases down to vaults, and in the well maintained mausoleums there are silver candle sticks, small altars and even chairs.

I am fascinated to discover that, unlike most cemeteries in the world you find that most tombs here are well maintained despite the obvious age of some of them. This is due to the fact that many are maintained by family trusts of investments that generate annual incomes solely for the purpose of mausoleum maintenance. So even when a family has "died out" so to speak their tomb will continue to be maintained.

Other tombs have fallen into poor repair simply because they do not benefit from such trusts. Maybe their inhabitants spent all their wealth to by a place with the elite in death; maybe the family members are all dead or simply no longer care...who knows?

It was wierd looking down steps on to coffins, but even more real when I witnessed a funeral currently in progress. This cemetery is alive and not simply a museum.

Quite simply this cemetery is a town in its own right with tombs like small houses and streets laid out on a grid plan.

The highlight though is the visit to the tomb of Evita, and possibly the many stray cats that make the cemetery their home.

After the cemetery we visited the neighbouring Basilica Nuestra Señora Del Pilar. This church was inaugurated in 1732 and it was built by the Jesuit monk Jesus Andres Blaqui who followed the principles of classicism in his construction of the facade. The Basilica has the only double belfry in Buenos Aires.

This is another stunning colonial church, yet the gilt here does not seem so over done, set, as it is, in a pure white classical framework. We visited the cloisters which house an interesting museum, but more interestingly they afford a fascinating overview of the cemetery.

Out into the Plaza Alvear we explore the market stalls and I bought my Mum a tango magnet for her fridge, before heading over to lunch at Frappé.

I love Buenos Aires. It has that wonderful cultured air of the continent. I love the whole café society atmosphere.

This afternoon I get another treat when I take a local bus back to my hotel.

An interesting twist is that this is not the hotel I originally booked. It was a replacement for a previous booking, but it is proving to be a treasure trove. In terms of its furnishings, it is stuck in a 1930´s timewarp and it could easily serve as a set for Thoroughly Modern Millie (drama departments take note).
At any moment, you expect Humphrey Bogart to walk through the door.

It is the sort of place that should never change, the 1970's bathroom is a testimony to this fact.

An even greater treasure is the hotels Baños Turcos, where I will sample my first ever Turkish Bath. Not only is the complex an architectural monument to the past, but so are the relics of fat old men who lounge on the day beds or sit at the bar reading the newspaper and smoking cigars.

It is appropriate that my changing room (number 58) is named after Pascual Peréz; who like my paternal grandfather, was a professional boxer.

Its Saturday night in Buenos Aires, so it must be Tango. I am heading out with Bob & Di and Paul & Viv for one last fling before they leave town.

Mark & Beanie are on their way back to London, but not before taking care of me. People can be so kind and they are so concerned that I am not robbed again that Mark leaves a special wallet with wire construction that I can hide and that will hopefully prove more difficult for attackers to steal.

Our destination is to be Bar Sur located in the centre of the two foundations of the city in the area of San Telmo, a hub of cultural and artistic acitivity.

This bar sits on the site of the mythical Union Bar and developed as one of the first Café Concert venues back in 1967. Bar Sur promotes Argentine culture and thus it is a treasure to the Porteña's (city inhabitants).

The Bar is particularly intimate. Whilst it is obviously a "fake" of small café life as was, and whilst it is designed for tourists, it still has the atmosphere partly due to the building itself but mainly because of the characters like the decrepit old man in the corner and the almost drag queen like singer who is most certainly mutton dressed as lamb!

We finish our night with dinner at La Casa de Esteban de Luca named for the Argentine poet and soldier born on August 2nd 1786. An outstanding scholar at San Carlos College he excelled in literature and language and graduated aged 21. In 1806 he carried the flag of the patricios regiment during the British invasions of Buenos Aires and he was appointed Director of the first arms foundry in 1816 where guns were manufactured that were used by General José de San Martin during his South America independence campaign.

In the field of literature he wrote the lyrics of Marcha patriótica the first Argentine national anthem. As a founding member of the literary society he wrote for newspapers for sometime before dying on March 24th 1824 the victim of a shipwreck in the Rio de la Plata.

Oh and the wine tonight was a Septima Malbec-Cabernet Sauvignon in Mark's honour!

My time back in South America has restored my faith in human nature and made me realise that whilst there are bad bastards out there, they are infact more than outweighed by the good.

I have particularly enjoyed Buenos Aires and I have had a fantastic day today, with fantastic people and I have made some real good amigos on my trip through Argentina and Chile.