Introduction to Buenos Aires: Animales que hablan Espanol.

Now that the weariness of the fixteen or sixteen hour journey has worn off, I can begin taking in and appreciating the charm of Buenos Aires' hustle and bustle. My boyfriend Jesse and I had talked for one year about our shared hope to venture to the "Paris of the South" but things such as finishing up degrees, money and the time it takes both of us to make decisions, of course, deterred us until just recently. January 1st, 2010 was finally agreed upon as a departure date. Leaving the cold and wet in London was no hardship, however leaving behind family and great friends for an indefinite period of time was inevitably upsetting.

The first day here was a slight blur so we will wipe that. Day (pretend) one, January 3, 2010. Stepping out of our safety bubble, El Gran Hotel Argentino on Carlos Pellegrini street, we headed toward El Subte - the Argentine tube or underground. After crossing and re-crossing the same road several times, we finally deciphered which side we needed to be on to board the Subte to Palermo. Domingo was a good day to board the metro for the first time and yet a somewhat hectic day to choose El Zoologico de Buenos Aires as our first touristic port of call. Filled to the brim with families loaded with picnics and bombillas de mate, the zoo was clearly the place to be on this hot and sunny traditional day of rest. A picturesque park covering 44 acres in the Palermo disctrict is home to a total of over 2, 500 different animal species. Patagonian maras and nutrias however, seem to be the most popular inhabitants in this part of Buenos Aires. They mingle amongst the crowd, making friends with those who are lulled into buying buckets of animal feed at somepoint during their zoo adventure. We, sadly, purchased no feed and so befriending a particular nutria we encountered on the way to the gift shop was a rapidly shattered dream. The creature soon realised I had nothing of use to him and scampered off to his family in one of the little lagos.

Signs displaying the words "Prohibido alimentar a los animales" mean nothing here at the charming Argentine zoologico. I personally witnessed elephants, deer, tigers, monkeys and lamas all enjoying that same feed we should have bought a share of. So, day (pretend) one in Buenos Aires: total friends made: ALMOST 1 Nutria. Better luck this evening when we go dine with the Buenos Aires correspondent for the Financial Times and her family.