Reserva Ecologica. On Sunday we went to the ecological reserve in Puerto Madero. Puerto Madero is the old port district in Buenos Aires that was redeveloped with office buildings, restaurants and luxury condominiums and hotels. If you walk along the boardwalk you'll see office buildings for Oracle, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft and the like. It's on the very edge of the city, beyond downtown from me, and I've only been there a few times. Just the other side of the redeveloped part of the port (the last strip of land before you hit the river) is this boardwalk and an ecological reserve pictured to the right of it. The reserve is an open wetlands type space that has been left as is with indigenous growth, iguanas, etc ... and there is a 5 mile loop that runs around it which you can run or bike. Rosana's dad and I ran it while she hung out in the park. It was sunny and beautiful, and an iguana ran across our path. Afterwards we found her in the park. Right near where she was, the Ministry of Health had set up a tent where you could get your weight, height, blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol checked by medical students from the Facultad de Medicina. 

We wandered over there. I'm here to tell you that eating beef, cheese and ice cream everyday actually lowers your cholesterol by 25 points, or so it would seem (actually, I think it has more to do with the 'how much' than the 'what' you eat). Argentines eat richer than I am accustomed to, but eat less and walk more. There's obesity here too, but by and large they are smaller and slimmer. The ironic and entertaining this about the tent is that it was set up right next to one of the grilled steak and sausage sandwich stands than line the boardwalk and park and look just like this.

They really good, especially the grilled sausages or 'choripan' with chimichurri sauce, but not as good for you as boiled beets and salad. Having run for almost an hour, Rosana's dad and I had 'bondiolas', which are steak sandwiches with grilled onions, lettuce, tomato and a fried egg on top.