Buenos Aires Galleries
![Dogs in the Big City : Porteños love their dogs. There probably are not as many dogs as people, but it often seems there are, as we explore around Buenos Aires. What to do with your big dog when you leave your high-rise for work? Around our neighborhood of Recoleta the answer seems to be professional dog-walkers. Mostly very presentable young men [and a few women], we see them most often in early morning or midday as they collect their charges for extended walkies in BA's many parks. Our frustration has been the difficulty of capturing these fast-moving packs on 'film'. So today, Steve headed out at 0730 in search of the dog-walkers.
Clearly the Porteño's chosen dog-walker must be highly trusted, as they appear to visit the owners' apartments to collect their charges -- after the owners have left for work. The walker connects his abuilding pack to a nearby tree/post while elevatoring to collect the next dog. Invariably the waiting pack is quiet and well-behaved, watching the building doorway for the reappearance of the "alpha dog". When the pack of a dozen or more of similar breed are assembled, it's off to the park where the walkers and packs assemble into super-packs for socializing. We invariably see groups of packs and walkers when we explore the parks.
Joe commented "that dogwalker's in trouble if all the pooches decide to take off together after a cat!" I replied "These guys are real pros - we wish we could interview one [a stress test for Dorothy's espanol]. We've drawn some inferences just from observation -- e.g., I'm guessing they select/approve the dogs they accept for such as behavior with other dogs, obedience, ... They are working the dogs in an intense big-city world. E.g., a misbehaving new dog could put at risk some very expensive dogs owned by some powerful people."](/photos/random.mg?AlbumID=4020955&Size=Tiny&AlbumKey=6RRhE&rand=7792 "Dogs in the Big City : Porteños love their dogs. There probably are not as many dogs as people, but it often seems there are, as we explore around Buenos Aires. What to do with your big dog when you leave your high-rise for work? Around our neighborhood of Recoleta the answer seems to be professional dog-walkers. Mostly very presentable young men [and a few women], we see them most often in early morning or midday as they collect their charges for extended walkies in BA's many parks. Our frustration has been the difficulty of capturing these fast-moving packs on 'film'. So today, Steve headed out at 0730 in search of the dog-walkers.
Clearly the Porteño's chosen dog-walker must be highly trusted, as they appear to visit the owners' apartments to collect their charges -- after the owners have left for work. The walker connects his abuilding pack to a nearby tree/post while elevatoring to collect the next dog. Invariably the waiting pack is quiet and well-behaved, watching the building doorway for the reappearance of the \"alpha dog\". When the pack of a dozen or more of similar breed are assembled, it's off to the park where the walkers and packs assemble into super-packs for socializing. We invariably see groups of packs and walkers when we explore the parks.
Joe commented \"that dogwalker's in trouble if all the pooches decide to take off together after a cat!\" I replied \"These guys are real pros - we wish we could interview one [a stress test for Dorothy's espanol]. We've drawn some inferences just from observation -- e.g., I'm guessing they select/approve the dogs they accept for such as behavior with other dogs, obedience, ... They are working the dogs in an intense big-city world. E.g., a misbehaving new dog could put at risk some very expensive dogs owned by some powerful people.\"")
Porteños love their dogs. There probably are not as many dogs as peop ...
Updated: Dec 19, 2007 9:18am PST
The Buenos Aires Zoo was created in 1888. It occupies the land which ...
Updated: Nov 29, 2007 9:52am PST
Dancing horses! 114th Argentine Open - C: 4:30 PM Field 1 - Chandon Cup
Ellerstina Etiqueta Negra defeated La Aguada Arelauquen 18 - 11 Eller ...
Updated: Nov 27, 2007 6:56am PST
Dancing horses! 114th Argentine Open - B: 2:00 Field 2 HSBC Cup
Indios Chapaleufú II Culú Culú defeated Santa María de Lobos Casab ...
Updated: Nov 27, 2007 6:25am PST
![Dancing horses! 114th Argentine Open - A: our favorite pics :
On Sunday 25 November we attended two polo games, the HSBC Cup and the Chandon Cup, at the Palermo polo grounds. We were so lucky to get back to Buenos Aires just in the nick of time to see the culmination of the Argentine season by the 114° Campeonato Argentino Abierto Movistar. We have never before paid $100 per seat for a sporting event -- this one was worth at least that. And not least for the opportunity to see a cross section of fashionable Portenos at play.
Ellerstina Etiqueta Negra took the Chandon Cup by beating La Aguada Arelauquen 18-11, in what was to our uninitiated eyes the most exciting polo game ever.
Each player fielded up to twenty-two remarkable horses [yes, that is one rider for 22 mounts -- horses which are swapped in a couple of seconds of fluid movement from one saddle to the next]. The majority of these horses were identified as the Polo Argentino Breed, dryly described by the The Argentine Association of Polo Pony Breeders' as follows:
"This is how at the present time we have achieved a polo pony biotype that is highly efficient as regards its skills.
"The origins of this breed are to be found in the criollo (native) horses that already existed in the area and were used to play the game and which were selected for breeding. Simultaneously–and brought in specially by Anglo-Argentine players–the introduction of thoroughbred racehorses (S.P.C.) began, which accelerated crossbreeding and began slowly to absorb the original criollo.
"In time the Quarter Mile and Arab breeds were incorporated, though in a lesser degree, to make the most of certain special characteristics of each breed. This great genetic variability, added to a rigorous selection generated by the game itself and to the naturally favorable conditions of the area, are what make Polo Argentino unique in the world."
Take a peek at the following photos of what we can only describe as "the dancing horses". Do you agree?](/photos/random.mg?AlbumID=3894448&Size=Tiny&AlbumKey=zpvUT&rand=4832 "Dancing horses! 114th Argentine Open - A: our favorite pics :
On Sunday 25 November we attended two polo games, the HSBC Cup and the Chandon Cup, at the Palermo polo grounds. We were so lucky to get back to Buenos Aires just in the nick of time to see the culmination of the Argentine season by the 114° Campeonato Argentino Abierto Movistar. We have never before paid $100 per seat for a sporting event -- this one was worth at least that. And not least for the opportunity to see a cross section of fashionable Portenos at play.
Ellerstina Etiqueta Negra took the Chandon Cup by beating La Aguada Arelauquen 18-11, in what was to our uninitiated eyes the most exciting polo game ever.
Each player fielded up to twenty-two remarkable horses [yes, that is one rider for 22 mounts -- horses which are swapped in a couple of seconds of fluid movement from one saddle to the next]. The majority of these horses were identified as the Polo Argentino Breed, dryly described by the The Argentine Association of Polo Pony Breeders' as follows:
\"This is how at the present time we have achieved a polo pony biotype that is highly efficient as regards its skills.
\"The origins of this breed are to be found in the criollo (native) horses that already existed in the area and were used to play the game and which were selected for breeding. Simultaneously–and brought in specially by Anglo-Argentine players–the introduction of thoroughbred racehorses (S.P.C.) began, which accelerated crossbreeding and began slowly to absorb the original criollo.
\"In time the Quarter Mile and Arab breeds were incorporated, though in a lesser degree, to make the most of certain special characteristics of each breed. This great genetic variability, added to a rigorous selection generated by the game itself and to the naturally favorable conditions of the area, are what make Polo Argentino unique in the world.\"
Take a peek at the following photos of what we can only describe as \"the dancing horses\". Do you agree?")
Dancing horses! 114th Argentine Open - A: our favorite pics
On Sunday 25 November we attended two polo games, the HSBC Cup and t ...
Updated: Nov 27, 2007 1:09pm PST
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
The most important fine-arts museum in Argentina. An enormous collecti ...
Updated: Nov 04, 2007 1:02am PST
One of the most serene Japanese gardens we have visited -- recommended ...
Updated: Oct 30, 2007 6:43pm PST
