Our new digs in Puerto Madero

So for our last 2 weeks in Buenos Aires we decided to switch apartments and try our hand at living in Puerto Madero. Our new building is directly across from the entrance to the Faena Hotel on a nice, quiet street. While we loved the charm of our previous neighborhood on the Palermo/Villa Crespo border, we were looking to change things up a bit. There's an ecological reserve nearby to this new apartment with a path for running and we have a beautiful view of the river from our terrace. One of the other major perks: we have a real, fancy adult pool on the rooftop with a fantastic view--not our kiddie pool for those who know. Here's how it looks:It was also a pleasant surprise when we went out today and saw a big Sunday fair like they have in Palermo Recoleta. There was the typical Argentine arts and crafts, singing, dancing, and junk food. It didn't even feel like we were in Puerto Madero, which is considered more sterile than other areas and principally filled with business people. Everyone was laying around the park talking and having picnics or roller blading or jogging. Sundays are a great day to get out and enjoy the fresh air and people watch. Puerto Madero is already growing on us.

Temaiken Bioparque

We had been hearing for a while about this amazing zoo in greater Buenos Aires that was even better than the one we'd been to twice closer to our house. Yesterday we decided to try it out and we were not disappointed. Temaiken is a bio-park about 35 kilometers outside of the federal capital lines and the landscaping and layout of the animal exhibits are exquisite. They say that a bio-park is a zoo, aquarium, museum, and botanical garden that focuses on endangered species. We got really lucky with such a beautiful day with almost no humidity following a really horrendous thunderstorm the day before. A saleslady sold us on an aquarium event so we went in with a huge crowd of kids to watch the divers feed sharks, who, oddly enough, had to be essentially force fed because they weren't even hungry. They told us that these sharks eat about every 15 days in their natural habitat but that Temaiken feeds them 3 times a week. Go figure. The pictures in the aquarium didn't turn out well since we couldn't use flash. The park was so tranquil and the birds chirping and soft music playing reminded us of the spa! We definitely recommend this day trip to anyone visiting here.

This picture below shows two bats wrapped up together, a mom and baby we suppose. It was surprising to find that the bats were one of our favorite exhibits; they were so large and watching them fly around was creepy and interesting.