The journey from London wasn�t as long or as bad as I�d been expecting, although the hanging around at Heathrow was tiring and frustrating � I�d hate to be there during a strike or in very hot weather, I think I�d go a bit mad!

The veggie food on the plane was pretty much as expected � a few bland vegetables and some cheese. Watched two films on the way over, Peter Pan and an Italian romantic comedy about a woman who hires a boyfriend. I guess I�d never thought of Peter Pan as an allegory before, but it is an interesting story about development from childhood fantasy to adulthood and the nuclear family ;)

Felt a bit overwhelmed by looking at the worldmap on the plane about where we flying over � places like Marrakesh and Agadir and then Sao Paulo, places I never really contemplated visiting, yet I was thousands of miles above them in the air.

Arrived in Buenos Aires at about half-six. No problems with the baggage or with immigration. Walked around the outside of the station once before being pointed towards the Tienda Leon bus, bought a ticket and then climbed aboard outside when it turned up.

I got off at the Tienda Leon office in the centre, but didn�t realise quite what a hike I had in front of me. Vaguely following the map, I walked down past San Martin, found Florida and Lavelle and then Avenida Corrientes. I followed that until I reached the Obelisk then managed to confuse myself while walking in the right direction towards Belgrano.

After checking in at my hostel El Aleph, I rifled through my stuff and then went out for a walk

First of all, I headed down towards Plaza del Mayo where I walked through a group banging drums and tambourines with a heavy police presence, and then through another group which were collecting signatures for Falklands War veterans to see the Plaza itself, the outside of the Casa Rosada then the Cathedral on the same square.

From there I headed towards the shopping streets as well as spotting some cinemas � Shrek 2 in Spanish seems quite appealing as at least I already know the story!

I went up past the Obelisk, crossing 9 de Julio, the very scary road with 22 lanes of traffic. Hearing them revving up was another experience altogether. Other than that, the traffic is very much like London, they stop, you walk; you stop, they drive � no need for traffic lights!

Wandered around a few streets, found a music shop with some familiar titles, the first thing I saw was the Franz Ferdinand album staring back at me, then I stumbled upon the Chubut Province Tourist Information.

Unfortunately, it seemed to have disappeared later on when I tried to re-trace my steps after having a siesta for a few hours.

I did manage to find the music shop though, and bought the Franz Ferdinand album (which is ace, by the way).

I went back through the shopping streets again, which were filled with people shopping and going home on a Friday afternoon and came across the Parliament building which no longer had tambourine players outside, just video cameras and lots of police and broken windows.

After getting hopelessly lost in the dark on Belgrano, I finally found my way �home� to El Aleph where I saw what they had been filming, some kind of attack upon the Parliament building after a street protest by some of the unions.

The weather outside is fine, cold like it is in November, or a fresh Spring morning.

Walking around busy streets with chestnuts roasting reminded me of walking around London or Amsterdam in the run-up to Christmas, a sort of crispness and anticipation that I associate with the holiday period � quite ironic in mid-July.

Outside I�ve had no problems, although everyone else is clearly freezing cold.

Inside, it�s a different matter.

Whereas houses at home are centrally heated because of the �normal� weather, the hostel isn�t and my room is absolutely freezing, with the huge bay windows acting as a big hole for the air to come in.

I�m sure it�s fantastic in the hot weather in December, and I�d love to be here at Christmas time, but right now I�d love to have a bit of masking tape to cover all the gaps!

Other than the lack of heating, the hostel is lovely.

The people are really friendly and putting up with my poor attempts at speaking Spanish.

Where it comes into its own, though, is the art on the walls.

The one room looks like it should be part of a gallery rather than a youth hostel, with paintings on the wall and then arty-style black & white photographs on the tables.

Supposed to be going to a party later on tonight with everyone else here, celebrating the return of someone�s brother from Belgium.

The party starts at midnight � which, with my bodyclock still on Welsh time, is about 4 in the morning. Just the right time to go out!....ummm