The Dog Whisperer

Today we checked out the Jardin Botanica and Jardin Zoological, and Parque Las Heras (all of these parks are right by each other) before making our way to the Las Canitas barrio. We felt obligated to spend time in Jardin Botanica because it was designed by Carlos Thays, a famous landscape architect from Buenos Aires. I guess you could say he was the Olmstead of Argentina, although this wasn’t quite Central Park. Anyway, there is a beautiful Art Noveau greenhouse surrounded by formal gardens, which is definitely the highlight of the garden. One thing to note about the parks in B.A.: people use them way more than people in the U.S. Actually, they use them to the point where some, like Parque Las Heras, are very worn looking because they never get a break. These parks act as the social centers for their neighborhoods, as the young, old, and everyone in between use them.

The best sight of the day was witnessing The Dog Whisperer in action. He was a dog walker walking 16 dogs of all shapes and sizes. You should have seen the command he had over these dogs. When one stopped to do their business all of the dogs, without a word from the walker, knew to stop as a pack and wait. While, we didn’t ever see another walker with 16 dogs, we learned this sight wasn't entirely uncommon. As it turns out, Argentineans love dogs as much as Americans.

All in all, we walked 6 miles on Day Two. With two stops for helados (ice cream, but like gelato) along the way, we are set to walk 3 more today!