Street Art, San Telmo, Buenos Aires © Tony Redhead

Argentina has been on my bucket list for years and I finally found myself preparing to land in Buenos Aires for the first time on the 13th of December 2016. It was a quick whistle stop for just one night before flying to the town at the End of the World, Ushuaia and my expedition cruise on the Great Austral Loop. New Years Eve found me back in Buenos Aires, this time for six days of exploration and wonder in this great city.

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic[A] (Spanish: República Argentina), is a federal republic located in southeastern South America. Sharing the bulk of the Southern Cone with its neighbour Chile, it is bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay to the north; Brazil to the northeast; Uruguay and the South Atlantic Ocean to the east; Chile to the west and the Drake Passage to the south.

With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2 (1,073,500 sq mi), Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second-largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands (Spanish: Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The country is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires, which is the federal capital of the nation as decided by Congress. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system.