Eva Peron

Hi all,

The tango show last night was so much fun! We were picked up from our hotel and driven for about 15 minutes. We had a huge table with unlimited wine (dangerous!) and yummy food. I had a meat empanada, pumpkin and ricotta pasta and a brownie for dessert. 

In between the main and dessert we were taken into a dance studio and given tango lessons. I can't dance to save my life, but four glasses of wine in and I was ready to become a professional! We had a really funny half an hour learning the steps, stepping on each others' toes and perfecting our 'tango face'. Because we didn't have many boys at all I volunteered to be a boy and Courtney was my partner. By the end of the lesson we had our tango faces down pat!

Then the show started. It was great! The dancers were really talented and they pulled Hannah (whose birthday it was!) and Anthony up to dance at one stage. We all had a fantastic time and drank a LOT of wine. We also had cheesecake for Hannah's birthday!

Once the show ended we got back on the bus and everyone was very happy and loud, even Josh who is usually really quiet! He and Anthony were the most drunk out of anyone and were absolutely hilarious. 

We had a quick stop at the hotel and then went out to a nightclub. Being a Monday I wasn't expecting much, and when we arrived the place was fairly empty. Anthony was so drunk he invented some kind of ninja breakdance type move which went on for a little while before he literally dropped to the ground and fell asleep, after which he was kicked out! Even just typing this I'm laughing so much I'm crying, I wish I had a video!! Anthony says he's glad I don't haha. 

We danced the night away at the nightclub which filled up very quickly from midnight onwards, and due to my heavy wine consumption at the tango show I only bought one drink so it was a very cheap night out. I ended up staying until 3.30am, then Anne, Daniel and I walked back. Got a little lost but made it eventually. 

Woke up this morning and was a little worse for wear, but compared to Anthony I was practically skipping around and singing haha. He had to throw his pants out because they had red wine all over them, and he was very ill to say the least! I wasn't feeling too crash hot myself though, so me, Anthony, Rachel and Courtney went to McDonalds for a typical hangover cure breakfast. 

Then we came back to the hotel and said our goodbyes to Rachel who left for the airport. It was sad to say goodbye but we've decided I'm going to stay with her in Bath for a few days before Dublin, so won't be long until I see her anyway :)

Due to one part of the tour ending and another starting, we ran into a girl called Elizabeth in the lobby who's Austrian. She decided to join Anthony, Courtney and I to walk to the Recoleta cemetery. It was about a half an hour walk and was quite nice seeing another suburb of BA!

We arrived at the cemetery and wandered around a bit before we finally found the tomb of Eva Peron. It was hard to find because I was expecting lots of people to be around, but we were lucky enough to have 30 seconds by ourselves before a huge crowd appeared! Who's Eva Peron? She was married to Juan Peron who was the president of Argentina from 1946-1955. She did a lot for women's rights and to help children, the elderly and poor people. The upper class said she was ambitious and selfish but the poor and those in need absolutely loved her. She died of cancer at age 33 in 1952. Her tomb is made of concrete and steel, because when she died her body somehow went missing and was found in Milan, Italy in 1971. Up until then her family couldn't give her a proper burial, but now her tomb is impossible to get into. It's surrounded by lots of plaques and also had some flowers on it. For anyone that watched 'The Amazing Race Australia' last year, the teams all had to come here and get a clue!

Afterwards, Courtney and Elizabeth headed off and Anthony and I walked another half an hour to the Eva Peron Museum. On the way we saw a church and some nice parks. I really love it here, it's a nice city!! The museum is housed in a building that belonged to one of the women's foundations Eva set up. It was really well set up and documented her life from early childhood to death. It was here we learned about her body going missing, and we also learned about her short acting career and saw some of her belongings, clothes etc. 

Afterwards, we walked to the zoo but decided we were too tired to go in. We had a quick peek through the fence and then got a taxi to the shopping centre near the hotel where we had lunch. 

When we got back to the room my new roommate had arrived! Courtney had been chatting to her because she's crashing in our room tonight. Due to being robbed in Potosi and being unable to claim it on insurance she's a bit short on money for the last few days of her trip, so we are smuggling her into our room like a fugitive and she's sleeping on a blanket on the floor - probably more comfortable than our inca trail bedding situation still!!!!

My roommate's name is Maria and she's 24 and from Washington DC in the USA. I only talked to her for a short time before she headed out for something to eat but she seems super friendly and I think we will get along really well :)

Tonight we have our group meeting as we have twelve new people joining us and a new guide (who is apparently Australian!). Then we're out for dinner. After dinner we have decided we will go and see 'Taken 3' because we've finally found somewhere that has it on in English! Anthony's plane leaves at 4am tomorrow morning for him to go back to Australia so it'll be a fun last night for us to spend with him. Sometimes I forget he's a year and a half younger than my brother and only 18, he's very mature and interested in all the culture and history I am too! I'm going to miss him. Will definitely have to make a trip up to Brisbane to see him and Courtney one day. 

Overall another great day in BA, one more tomorrow! Going to do a football stadium tour and go to a history museum. 

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox