Dogs in Buenos Aires

One of the things I’ve noticed since arriving in South America has been the sheer numbers of dogs here. Everyone seems to have a dog, and when I say dog, I mean WOLF! I mean, these dogs are huge… One of the first things that I saw my first morning in Buenos Aires was a professional dog walker… Since then I’ve been walking every morning since I’ve been here and at least once a day I see a person draped in leashes and surrounded by dogs. The most I’ve seen attached to a single person was between 12 to 15 dogs, but I kept losing count as the dogs moved around so I’m not sure exactly how many there were. Every family seems to own a dog, and the bigger the better.

I used to think this was charming... something distinctive to this place, that makes it unique and different… But that was until I found myself attacked by two of these ferocious monsters! I seriously do not know how I get myself into such situations, but if there is trouble to be found, I somehow manage to find it…

On the weekend went on a day trip to a town called Tigre. It is a beautiful town, almost a suburb of Buenos Aires I think, but built on the river. It is just gorgeous, with old colonial houses and a whole section of the town on the riverina where there are no cars, no streets, the only way to get around is by boat. The feel of the place is laid back and peaceful, in sharp contrast to the hustle and bustle of the city.

I took a boat out to a little island and the lovely lady at the information office showed me a circular path that would take me around the island in a couple of hours. Fantastic, I thought, and set off. After wandering for about an hour, often lost in thought, my head full of Spanish past tense, I suddenly realised that I had lost the track. I was almost knee-deep in mud along a trail that had spider webs all over it…

Spider webs are always a bad sign! Not so much because of the spiders, as I’m a country girl and totally fine with all manner of insects, but more because it means that humans do not often traverse that particular area of town! So I turned around and tried to backtrack through the forest back to civilisation. I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but through this process I somehow ended up in the back yard of someone’s holiday house and face to face with two of the biggest dogs I’ve ever seen protecting their territory.

Of course, I was well and truly in the middle of the garden before I noticed the dogs, and had nowhere to go. So I backed up, keeping my eye on the dogs the whole time but they started barking like crazy. One bit me on the ankle, the other went for a softer target and bit me on the bum!

The owner yelled sharply at the dogs, which made them calm down, so I kept on my way, all the while trying to work out when my last rabies shots were, and whether I should go to a doctor to get antibiotics… I imagined presenting the doctor with my bottom, and couldn’t help but cringe at the embarrassment of the thought! As soon as I got back home, I inspected my wounds, and to my surprise… I couldn't even work out where I had been bitten! There was no blood, nothing! I put on some antiseptic essential oil mix, and no sting… It turned out that I was wearing jeans, henceforth to be known as 'wonderpants', and consequently, the teeth hadn’t even broken my skin! I was extremely relieved to find no risk of rabies or bacterial infection, but a little disappointed to find such little evidence of my adventure… But now, a few days later, I have a discovered a very sexy teeth-shaped bruise on my right buttock that I carry as a war scar from my travels, and I must confess, that I am a little bit proud of!