Buenos Aires, Argentina

Today was supposed to be a leisurely stroll through the more leafy suburbs of BA. Wake up feeling like I have not had the best sleep may be the body just worked too hard digesting all that meat. We both really want to see inside the Palicio Barolo so head over there after a simple breakfast. It appears closed when we arrive so we stroll to Cafe Tortoni. This is a institution in the city as it was established in 1884. We drink coffee with a huge dollop of cream whilst admiring the wooden panels and stain glass ceiling panels, the bar even has an original cash register. Back at the Palicio Barolo we find it open but the next tour is full, so book on a late afternoon slot. We head north to the Botanical gardens, which has areas for different continents and a cute butterfly garden. Strolling back south we investigate Palermo, a district with wide leafy streets and uber cool shops. We enjoy people watching at a plaza over pizza before heading back to the subway for our Palicio Borolo tour. The Palicio Barolo reads as quite a eclectic building designed by Italian architect Mario Palanti who was commissioned to design the building by the empresario Luis Barolo, an Italian immigrant who had arrived in Argentina in 1890 and had made a fortune in knitted fabrics. The fear at the time was that Italy would not survive and so he wanted a part of Italy preserved in BA. The building has a twin the Palacio Salvo in Montevideo, Uruguay. The Palacio Barolo was designed in accordance with the cosmology of Dante’s Divine Comedy. There are 22 floors, divided into three “sections”. The basement and ground floor represent hell, floors 1-14 are the purgatory, and 15-22 represent heaven. The building is 100 meters (330 feet) tall, one meter for each canto of the Divine Comedy. The lighthouse at the top of the building can be seen all the way in Montevideo, Uruguay. They were conceived to join the cities via lighthouses a bridge of light but this never worked as the Palacio Salvo was not tall enough. When completed in 1923 it was the tallest building in South America. The tour took us all the way up to the lighthouse where you could perch tentatively sat on glass surveying the city. Tonight is our Fureza bruta show, I wasn’t sure what to expect- modern dance? Tickets do say prepare to get wet! Post a couple of beers we are herded into a dark room, about 100 people all standing and looking around expectantly. It starts with a roar of 5 drummers on big drums singing, works its way through an ariel fight between 2 girls tumbling round a curtain framing the audience, a running man who is shot, into swimming girls that are in a pool that has a clear bottom and is lowered onto the audience. We then had a polystyrene fight and a suspended wind tunnel walk before finishing with drumming and a water fight. If it sounds bonkers, it was but a total assault on the senses and great fun.