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At last the polo final

We returned to Buenos Aires for the final of the polo having collected Lauren who took a bus from Santiago for a happy mother and daughter reunion. The game was the first maximum handicap in the history of the competition with all eight players holding a perfect 10. Despite the clouds threatening rain, it remained […]

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Wine, glorious wine

We fly to Mendoza, a city of 800,000 people situated 1,100km west of Buenos Aires at the foot of the Andes. We have come here to taste the wines from the largest wine-producing area in Argentina. Besides wine, Mendoza is famous for being the point at which the liberator, Jose de San Martin set out […]

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Tango, Candombe and Polo

We went looking for street tango. I had thought that there was plenty of tango available to watch and so we went to view in San Telmo, just a short walk from the centre of the city. It turned out that it was a 10 block street market that sold every kind of tourist trinket […]

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Bienviendo a el cuidad grande

Hurrah! We have arrived in Buenos Aires. We have both been looking forward to coming to this great city that we hope our great expectations will not lead to inevitable disappointment. But as we glided into the port on the ferry we were bathed in the bright sunshine of late spring, lovely warm temperature and […]

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Living in the past

We caught a bus to a small town called Colonia del Sacramento on the west side of Uruguay. Situated on the sandy banks of the Rio de la Plata it was an important centre for smuggling British goods across the river into the Spanish colonies during the 17th century. Wreckers also used to light fires […]

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Uruguay elections

The day of the Presidential elections seemed like any other Sunday until early evening. Around 6.00pm onwards the roads began to fill with cars adorned with flags of red, white and blue, passengers leaning out of the windows shouting, drivers leaning on the horn. Many cars were subsumed with flags of their party and of […]

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Montevideo — noise and rain

After a plane trip via Buenos Aires, we touched down in Montevideo, Uruguay. Thankfully, the temperature is down the scale and so is the humidity meaning that my shirt does not stick to my back after five minutes walking. It certainly feels fresher. Uruguay is famous for winning the first World Cup in 1930 (in […]

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