What’s new, Buenos Aires!!! City of tango, Evita´s rise to fame and some of the rockiest politics in recent history, Buenos Aires has been my home for 3 days now and I am completely smitten! It’s a city of massive divides – slums sit uneasily next to the most expensive hotel in the city and political slogans jostle for wall space with chic theatre posters and regular graffiti. Somehow, however, this ragged mix is what makes the city gel. You cant put it in a box marked “developed” or “third world”, “South American” or “European” and porteños seem to pride themselves on this singularity that is a incomparable any other city I know.

Having said that, this is not, generally speaking, a pretty city. My hostel, right in the heart of downtown BA, is wedged in between grey dilapidated office blocks and thick clusters of drifting rubbish. People sit on street corners with a hopeless glaze in their eyes, or walk from table to table of the nicer restaurants thrusting young babies in your face and begging for help. It’s a strange reality to be faced with after living your life in the clean streets of a Wiltshire town.

On my third day I decided to escape the smog and head out into the outskirts of the city to visit Hipico Don Torcuato – a riding stables that had happily accepted my scrawny seven-year self and taught me to ride all those years ago when my family first arrived in Argentina. I took a train to the stables – an experience in itself, with no doors or windows to speak of and people hanging out of any aperture whenever they should feel the urge. On arrival though, I was amazed by how little my stables (and adopted home) had changed. My riding teacher, now sixty, looked identical and greeted me like I had never left, immediately landing me with a horse to groom. We had a traditional Argentina asado (barbeque) and lazed about in the sun as horses and dogs flicked the flies from their faces and basked in the beauty of the day. This evening I head to Cordoba on an overnight bus. I opted for the semi-bed rather than full bed. It’s a ten hour journey. I will let you know how that works out…