Whether you are a hardcore yogi or a curious beginner there is no shortage of yoga classes in Buenos Aires. Walking around Palermo or Barrio Norte, it sometimes it feels like you see a studio on every block. But if you want to get in on action, yet still don’t feel confident following instructions in Spanish, there are now two classes on offer especially for English speakers.

“Hundreds of stalwart, hard-working men and women, young and not-so-young, who year in and year out give unselfishly of their time and their resources to help create in one or other of a dozen different ways the funds that are essential for the Argentine-British Community in Argentina.”

In anticipation of the opening of Buenos Aires’ international book fair on 22nd April, The Argentina Independent interviews writer and journalist Oliver Balch about his new book ‘Viva South America – A Journey Through a Restless Continent’. The vivid and energetic portrayal of South America is neither an historical account nor a travel book, as Vicky Gashe learns.

Diane Desjeux came to Buenos Aires in 2006 with no real intention of staying. Having upped and left her entire world in Paris she bought the first ticket to somewhere that seemed exotic. “I knew nothing about Argentina. I did not even know how much a peso was worth. But I liked the sound of Buenos Aires, how it rolled off the tongue”.

Ronica Sajnani is a chef and actress from Toronto who has been living in Buenos Aires for the past few months and putting on dinners at some of the city’s most popular puertas cerradas restaurants-closed door, reservation only and usually unmarked dining venues. Born and raised in India, Ronica mostly cooks Indian food with her own creative twist.

Cricket has a long history in Argentina. The first game was played in 1806, but the sport’s popularity waned considerably from the 1950s onwards. Toby Bailey, the Argentine Cricket Association’s latest recruit, is an ex-professional cricket player from the UK, who has come to coach the national side, and is passionate about developing the game.

Andrej Raider wears more than ten different pieces of jewelry around his neck and wrists. Each piece has an arts-fair look and each was given to him by somebody he met in his travels. He’s been given many more than he currently wears but he laughs that thankfully some have broken along the way and he doesn’t have to be weighed down by the gifts.

When I first heard about ‘Ladies Brunch’, I was reminded of a saying by the writer Henry Boye: “The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway”, that I had been told a couple of weeks before arriving in Argentina. And Ladies Brunch seems to be one of the easiest way to ease yourself into Buenos Aies life, meeting both Argentines and foreigners.

When Frank Almeida followed his girlfriend to Argentina in 1999, he didn’t realise he was on a one way ticket. With a casual shrug the owner of wildly successful cookie company Sugar and Spice explains: “She got homesick, brought up the possibility of moving to Argentina and I’ve always been open to living outside the US so I said sure.”

“Está Porteñosiendose” assure musicians when they explain the presence of a Californian saxophonist turned bandoneonist in their tango orquesta. The cultural oddity they are referring to is Ben Bogart, who alongside playing for the high-profile Orquesta Escuela de Tango Emilio Balcarce, gives bandonéon lessons to students based in the US or Europe over Skype.