Eight years after spending a month there at the beginning of my year (and a bit out) I returned to Buenos Aires to find the city much as I remembered (late night dining, Dulce de leche, good ice cream, lots of walking, romantic tango, raffish architecture, bizarre modern art, corner cafes, beautiful cemeteries, crazy dog walkers) with some good bits added (cycle lanes, thriving street art, closed door restaurants, a giant metal flower).
We stayed in a comfy and spacious Air BnB in a high rise between Palermo and Recoleta which will forever be the place with the life size Storm Trooper helmet.
We pootled around Palermo, Recoleta, San Telmo, the Ecological Reserve with frequent cafe stops. I fell in love with the giant metal flower which opened and closed throughout the day and reflected the evening sunsets on our early evening jogs!

There were tango lessons and tango shows and enjoying tea whilst watching tango in the Plaza Dorrego in San Telmo. We immersed ourselves in the richness of Street Art in Buenos Aires and the amazing murals on two tours with graffitimundo.com (one of them by bike). We’re thoroughly unimpressed by such modern artistic musings as ‘Look at my Mango’ in MALBA.

We flew down to El Calafate in Patagonia for a few days for some fresh air and grand scenery. We stayed in the gorgeous  Hotel Esplendor with beautiful views of the lake and town, marred only by the birds chirping loudly at dawn in a nest above our window! We spent a day visiting the Perito Moreno Glacier and ice trekking over deep blue icy ravines and drinking cheap whisky with and a second a wonderful day horse riding  with  cabalgatasdelglaciar.com over the most breathtaking scenery and enjoying an asado in a forest glen.