We arrived in Buenos Aires on Friday night after a short flight from Santiago. We were met by Juan , a man too tall to drive cars for a living who looked like he would be more comfortable looking after a vineyard . As he drove us towards the city he told us of the 17 million people who live here, lamented the economy was bad and complained the traffic is also terrible. The normal gripes of people living in a big city-none of which mattered to Sylvie and I , we were already in love with Buenos Aires.

It’s busy for sure and somewhat gritty, the buildings in San Telmo, where we are staying, are little frayed at the edges. Buenos Aires could be the once beautiful auntie of Paris, sitting at the table smoking and swearing in the confidence of her past beauty.

The city has the same feel of life being lived on the street that we experienced in the summers of Shanghai. Kids playing soccer, people eating and drinking, dancing in the squares – a mess of humanity.

After the lengthy instructions of how to use the washing machine, which key unlocks which door- for their are four to get in we finally got out into the city. We were directed to the main square of San Telmo. The weather was warm low 20s and we got a little drunk on the night air or possibly the Malbec and ate pizza as we watched people go by.

By the end of the meal I was trying to work out how to live here permanently. I felt the same excitement as the first time I was in Paris 30 years ago. Not only did I want to be here but I want to be a part of the city.

Saturday we walked into central Buenos Aires to see where our school was located. As we approached the Plaza de Mayo we were surrounded by 100s of dancers in colourful dress and dancing down the street. It felt like south America was putting on a show to welcome us!

It was a parade of Bolivian dancers. We are still not sure why they were there but we watched for a couple of hours until we were dizzy with Bolivian pan pipe music and smiling people.