Watch out for the dog shit!

5/6/2007, Tuesday


Ok, so just a little side note about South America. One thing that I've noticed in all the cities that I've been, is that there are tremendous amount of stray dogs. I am talking about all kinds, you've got your little yappy dogs, to your, wholly crap I don't want to mess with that dog, large dogs, German Shepards, etc. And they are everywhere! In fact in Salta we had one of these dogs follow us for about 15 blocks before it just disappeared. Now along with the dogs, comes all their dog shit. Some believe that most people (tourists) will step in it sooner or later and that's probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you. So far I think I've dodge most of it.

In Buenos Aires it's a bit different, I haven't seen as many stray dogs, but they have these dog walkers, or paseaperros. These are professional dog walkers, who usually walk dogs for those living in apartments, that like to own pets, just don't want to walk them. They are everywhere, but usually in the nicer areas, such as the Palermo or Recoleta. You can see them with up to 20 dogs at a time. It's totally insane. They also have these 'dog parks' it's in quotes, because I wouldn't consider what we would call a dog park in the states. They consist of these fenced in areas and contain around 50-60 dogs. They are in the park, but are in a small area, the whole park is not dedicated to the dogs.