The adventure begins

My last night in Miami is spent at a Drum and Bass festival in the hotel next to mine on South Beach. I am a great fan of Douglas Coupland. My son gave me JPod for a Christmas present and since then I've started reading his books in sequence. The Drum and Bass night was typical post-modernist generation x consumerism. I had assumed that people would go to the digital disco to dance but that was not the case. The only people who were dancing or remotely moving were the four DJs. They were obviously passionate about their work while everyone else just stood about trying to talk to each other above the noise. Yet people had paid to get in: it seemed to me that the consumers were paying for the suppliers to have a good time. I suppose it just cuts out the middle-men of capitalism.

I arrive in Buenos Aires with slight trepidation. It does not get a good press. I've never been to the place before and I speak very little Spanish. Within 24 hours all those feelings were gone. I suppose it was the fight in the bar which helped acclimatise me. Suddenly I could have been in Coleshill on a Friday night. It was quite a spectacle to watch. A young woman was being nauseous to everyone in the bar. Someone said something. The next thing that took my attention away from Bryson's Made in America was the noise of shattering glass from the wall next to where I was sitting. She had thrown her fall bottle of Quilmes in the general direction of the people she was arguing with. She ran away but was caught and threatened with the police. She didn't seem to care. She went off and half an hour later returned with two younger men presumably her family. This was when it could have got interesting but it all diffused and her the young men joined in drinking in the bar and sent the aggrieved woman home. A good first night.

As with all cities there is a pecking order with the traffic. In London it is a close call between Black Cabs and White Vans; in New York there is no possible competition for the Yellow Cab. In Buenos Aires it's a fight quite literally to the death between buses and motor bikes. Being a pedestrian in this city can be a very dangerous thing - not only because of the traffic but because of the state of the pavements. In spite of these hazrds the city is extremely walkable 

just use the Obelisk as your touchstone and you can't get lost. As well as the all pervasive traffic in the downtown area of the city is the all pervasive presence of football. The Argentineans love it. I walk over to the Boca to look at the stadium and this extremely poor part of town lives for football. The stadium seems a bit weary now but it is still the reason for living for so many people who live around here. I have tickets for a game on Saturday so I'll see what it's like from the inside. As I said parts of this city are extremely poor. At the end of every day the garbage scavengers come out all over the city looking through the discarded rubbish of business and commerce before it is collected by the city workers. Hundreds are engaged in this daily ritual. It seems that what they collect most is cardboard: this is extreme ultra- recycling.

It's true what all the books say about this city - it is very European and extremely catholic. My second day here was a holiday so most of the streets were empty but a lot of the churches were full. I spent an interesting hour in a church having the different versions of The Annunciation explained to me in broken English. The favourite of the woman doing the explanation was Van Eyck's; I think it is mine too. Gabriel's face of peace and Mary's unquestionable acceptance are unequalled in the many other versions of this story. Apart from the centrality of the church the architecture is very European: broad avenues, narrow streets and siesta. The catholicism though doesn't stop it from being a fun city: tango, fur coats and lots of non-PC action. This city is at ease with itself.

A theme which is appearing on this tour apart from cranes is protest. The journey from the airport to the hotel which should have taken 40 minutes took 2 hours. This was because the public sector workers were protesting against the government before the elections: banners and fireworks everywhere along the Avenue of 9th July. What was it with all these independence days in South America being in the summer? Did Spain just go on holiday in July and forget about her empire?

So far I haven't felt any antagonism about being English in Buenos Aires. One of the most popular bars in the city is The Gibraltar an English pub though it can be a bit disconcerting as you pass one of the central subte (subway) station Belgrano. One of the funniest sights I have witnessed so far is two English businessmen trying to get a receipt for a purchase in The Gibraltar. They spent 10 minutes trying to get a receipt for two beers: the total cost of which was less than two quid.

I go to the Igazu Falls: they are magnificent. I have been to Niagara a couple of times but these are so much better - impossible to describe. Almost as impossible as desc

ribing a Bocas Juniors game. I enter the cauldron of the Boca and WOW. This is football but not as I know it. This is the Holy Grail of football. Slums all around the stadium - the inhabitants of which walk to the city centre to beg. Mainly it´s the kids who beg in Buenos Aires and after a couple of days it does get to you. This is a divided city but it is a great city. If the falls are the best natural sight I've seen then the Boca is the best man-made sight I've seen. It was built in 1940 and is too small for the supporters of Boca Juniors. There are 20 teams in the Argentina premier division and 15 of them are from Buenos Aires. That's a lot of local derbies. Boca are playing Banfield, a suburb of Buenos Aires. The game is pure theatre with the Boca crowd - their 12th Player- singing throughout the game. I've been to great stadiums: the Millennium; Wembley new and old; Bernabeu; San Siro; Nou Camp and St Andrews but I've never been anyw

here like this. This is real football: only 10 stewards; very little in way of seat designation and a great experience. Boca recover from 1-0 down to get a draw. I decide at the beginning of the game when there is a one-minute silence for the fallen of the Malvinas that it is time to accentuate my Irish heritage and cover up my tattoo.

On Sunday I walk to Place Dorrego which houses the Antiques and Art market. This is Buenos Aires at its best: sun, light, streets, tango, music and Qilmes. I love this city - I will be back.

On IPod: Sawdust

Reading: Made in America

Published: Shirt of the Villa Part Two: Argentina