And so it comes to an end.... October 30/31.

Right now I am sitting in the Air Canada lounge at Toronto - yes I have joined the self indulgent status of the frequent flyer. Free lattes are my reward.

So I left Buenos Aires at 9:30pm last night for Houston, then another run to Toronto and now on to home in about an hour. Of course I won't have to ever pay for a cup of coffee or some nibbles and booze now I have access to the lounge, but it has still been a long day. By the time I get home it will be Halloween night, which is somewhat amusing as I imagine some of you will be at doors asking for candy and other out on your broomsticks looking for mischief and getting IN THE WAY OF MY PLANE. Watch where you fly please...

Yesterday was a pleasant day, the rain storms had eased up overnight, no more thunder or showers, but one moment it was blue sky, the next getting cloudy... nothing like New York had, but a couple of downtown parks had flooded.

The side of Buenos Aires I stayed at on my return, Recoleta & Palermo, is the posh end, you would not believe the city is ringed with slums while being here, and you would not believe that a few KM away, where I stayed before, the cobbled streets and older homes where in the same town either. Recoleta has shops selling trinkets and thousands of dollars for Italian leather sofas. San Telmo, from my first pass through here sells, meat, booze, it does have antique shops, but everything else is what's needed for life. Recoleta is all the stuff you don't need for life.

That said, the contrast blends well, although the residents are obviously doing very well for themselves, BMW's, multi million condos, there is some old stuff here like the cemetery. Famous because all the old BsAs families are here, but also because Evita Peron is buried in one tomb. Yes, 'don't cry for me Argentina' (a line she never actually said but she could have easily)  has new meaning, because the Peronist movement, a fascist party, still lives on today. Politics is core to Argentina, they are always struggling, fighting something - and part of it is a game, the Falklands/Malvinas thing a prime example. The preseident says she wants to win the islands over for Argentina, so she blocks their ships and makes demands of the UK she knows full well they can never agree to. The fact is, she hopes the UK will hold onto those islands, because then she has the enemy everyone will support her against. And that detracts from the crumbling value of the Peso, infrastructure, security issues... If the islands were suddenly handed over, she might have to explain more why the economy is rocky and the IMF and global banks won't loan her any money.

Las Malvinas oddly enough is also the name of a chain of stores selling washing machines and kitchen appliances... kind of cheapens "the cause."

That said, here's some lovely pictures of my last little while in Buenos Aires, stuffing my face with tasty food, making the locals suffer with my awful few words in Spanish, and still wondering how Italians came to be talking Espanol and living in French buildings.

In the cemetery most of the names on the lavish tombs are Italian. There's some English and some Spanish, but most are definitely Italiano.

 The Recoleta Cemetery gates

 It draws a lot of visitors

 As it is somewhat stuck in time. There's one in Havana that looks very similar.

 And some of the occupants have been here so long they are trying to break out..

It's Halloween so this is creepy!

 The Duarte family gave rise to Evita

Nut job gold digger or skilful manipulator, she was a character.

 All these monuments to the passed are a sort of guilty pleasure if you ask me, everyone misses those they love..

 But spending so much on the dead seems very wasteful

It's a mini city of tombs.

 Some of the tombs are very well kept, this one has a ring, flowers and jewellery changed every day.

 KISS are coming to town.

 Public art is disturbing in BsAs, half people filled with numbers.. is it a cry against capitalism? DNA encoding? I can only guess.

 The UN tulip flower used to open during day and close at night, but now it's fixed open.

 Glorious buildings..

 Below is the embassy of Haiti. Should they come around with the begging bowl asking for charity, tell them to move to less posh digs first. This is Palermo, the most expensive place they could find. Some of their own people living back home are in tents.

 Below is the Spanish Monument

 Very European parks

 And the famous Teatro Colon.

 it truly is the Paris of the South.

It has been a great trip, hope you liked the pictures, I don't have time to share absolutely everything, this one turned into a lot of flying and a little stressful for a few hours because of the storm Sandy.

Oh well, in less than a month ever longer flying legs await, to go mushroom picking in SHANGHAI!

Chairman Mao's legacy meets Dave - who forgot to buy himself a new wallet. Will do in China.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!