DESTINATIONS a, heart stealer ARGENTINA | TOURING & ADVENTURE


Tracey Davies is bowled over by Buenos Aires and Bariloche on her first trip to South America


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ego-bright shanty houses, dogs drunk on the smoky barbecue scent of asado and silver- tipped porteños practising a smouldering


tango on the street; if anywhere is going to banish my impending jet lag, it’s La Boca, Buenos Aires’ liveliest and most colourful neighbourhood. Now a snapshot of life in Buenos Aires, La Boca was once the poorest barrio, historically where immigrants settled. Established by Spanish colonists in 1536, it turned technicolour in the 19th century, as Genoese fishermen daubed their shabby homes with paint left over from decorating their boats. The birthplace of tango and home to the


legendary Boca Juniors Football Club – where Diego Maradona rose to fame – it’s impossible not


to be swept up by La Boca’s love of the beautiful game. It’s also where I found the best alfajores, the chocolate-dipped biscuits sandwiched with dulce de leche (which, frankly, should be illegal). Mere hours into my first foray into South America,


and already it’s captured and kissed my heart. And I’m not the only one who’s enamoured. Our fam trip group of four travel agents – Lisa, Hannah, Toni and Isobel – led by Latin Routes head of sales Gaynor Atherton, is quickly falling head over heels.


PARIS OF THE SOUTH Already Buenos Aires is proving to be quite the charmer. Shimmering under a sky as bright as the blue and white of the Argentine flag, ²


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PICTURE: Shutterstock/Jess Kraft


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