Tango has been called many things by many people. It is “the soul of Buenos Aires”, managing to be simultaneously “vertical sex” and “the three minute love affair”. George Bernard Shaw referred to his tango teacher as “the only man who ever taught me anything” just as Jorge Luis Borges remarked “tango can be discussed and we do talk about it, but like everything genuine it conceals a secret”.

A sea of flags ripples through Rosario’s Parque Nacional a la Bandera. Set on the shore of the Paraná River, the park pays homage to the Argentine flag in the city of its birth. The blue and white glow emitted by the looming national flag memorial illuminates the scene, providing the backdrop to Rosario’s biggest annual festival: ‘El Encuentro y Fiesta de las Colectividades’.

The several translations for the word ‘chueca’ are ‘bent’, ‘twisted’ or ‘not exactly straight’. The word also happens to be the name of a restaurant in Montserrat, thus seems to be the perfect location for ‘Otras Letras’, the first gay bookstore in Latin America.

Almost half a century since the image’s creation, the iconic portrait of Argentine revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara has become the inspiration to global groups as diverse as East Timorese freedom fighters, fashion designers, South American presidents and even neo Nazis. Here in Argentina the mythical face, dubbed “the most enduring political brand of our age”, populates workers protests, homages to the disappeared and souvenir shops alike.

“We were a group of students who wanted to put into effect our right to communicate. We figured we had the right to emit information as well as receive it, and we couldn’t identify with any radio on the air. So we created our own.” Ernesto Lamas is talking about La Tribu, the Buenos Aires-based community radio station that turned 20 years old on 19th June.

In the last months of 2007, Buenos Aires got pinked. A pink chaise longue, pink awning, pink shop fittings, pink tables and chairs, an entire clothing collection and a pink Volkswagen Beetle were moved to their new home: the very first Barbie store in the world.

From the delicious pizzas brought over by the Italians to the teahouses introduced by the Welsh, it goes without saying that Argentina has an eclectic mix of cultural heritage. This never ceases to surprise me, especially as I arrive at the docks of Puerto Madero to a collage of kilts and the sound of bagpipes piercing the air. It is a surreal experience; what are the Scots doing here?

By all realistic accounts, the spirit of Falun Dafa should have been stamped out ten years ago below the boots of the powerful security machine that is the Communist Party of atheist China. But both sides will be celebrating this year. On one side there will be handshake photo-ops and champagne toasts to 60 years of Communist rule; on the other, the quiet meditation of a resilient group that for a decade has become one of the biggest international symbols of challenge to that Party’s rules.

While dancing is generally a popular form of exercise, it is now medically proven that dancing, and especially the Argentine tango, has a great effect medically. People of all ages flock to the milongas and the sound of Gardel fills the air, might this be the fountain of youth long searched for?

A fleeting glimpse of red flags out a bus window; a tiny shrine littered with car parts and water bottles on the road towards Chile; a queue of pilgrims passing through a remote town.