Buenos Aires
We left South Africa in 1997 with the plan to go to London for six months, earn some pounds and then go traveling in South America. We didn't get to South America that year or the year after that. Six years later we booked our ticket flying via Rome to Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Some highlights in Buenos Aires:

• Casa Rosada (pink house), the presidential palace where the Perons addressed the people from the lower balcony
• La Boca soccer stadium, where Maradona played as a junior
• La Boca, the area where the Tango was born
• Recoleta, the graveyard where Evita is buried
• The harbour area for the late night dining and great seafood
• San Telmo antiques market
• Bar Sur, a tango bar that I highly recommend. This is a tiny local haunt. You are seated around a small dancefloor, where the breathtakingly beautiful tango dancers perform.

Out of town:

• From the main train station catch a train to Tigres. From here take a slow cruise up the delta taking in the varied scenery - from homes of the wealthy to football games on sandy beaches.
• A 30-minute flight to Punta del Este in Uruguay, 'the St Tropez of South America'. It is on a peninsula jutting out between the Atlantic Ocean and the Rio de la Plata and is a popular holiday destination for South Americans. In March it was quiet and we had long sandy beaches to ourselves (much like Durban’s beaches minus the people). There are good waves for surfing and the city is geared up for the surfing lifestyle. Hiring a bicycle for the day is a very cheap way to see more of the fantastic coastline.
• The Iguazu Falls are a 2-hour flight from Buenos Aires and a must see. We thought we'd spend an hour or two there but they had to kick us out of the park at closing time (after 10 amazing hours looking at the thousands of views of the thousands - literally - of falls and animals and birds and butterflies and plants and and and).
  These incredible waterfalls stretch for more than 2.5km on the border between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina.
  The falls are in a subtropical rain forest, which is a national park, and you should plan to spend at least 8 hours here. There is so much to do:
  • View one of the 2,000-plus falls from above or below or any vantage point in between take a four-wheel-drive tour through the jungle.
  • Take an exhilarating and terrifying motor boat ride through the rapids and right up to one of the falls
  • Take a helicopter trip over the falls or just walk around and enjoy the amazing fauna and flora and the heat heat heat
  • Stay in the park at the Sheraton Hotel (highly recommended) in a room with a view of the falls, or at one of numerous hotels in or around Iguazu town. Buses ferry tourists to and from the park all day

I will never forget the thundering noise, the spray, the heat, the magnificent birds, thousands of butterflies, lizards, us discovering hidden paths with 'secret' views of smaller falls, walking across what seemed like miles and miles of bridges, friendly knowledgeable guides and clean toilets wherever we stopped.

PS. The Mission was filmed here.

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Links for South America

Uruguay: http://visit-uruguay.com/uruguay.htm

Iguazu Falls: http://www.greatestplaces.org

Accommodation in Buenos Aires: http://www.bytargentina.com/

Portenos, as the multinational people of Buenos Aires are known, possess an elaborate and rich cultural identity:
http://www.geographia.com