“[America’s] first settlers were emigrants from different European nations, and of diversified professions of religion, retiring from governmental persecutions of the old world, and meeting in the new, not as enemies, but as brothers. The wants which necessarily accompany the cultivation of a wilderness, produced among them a state of society, which countries, long harassed by the quarrels and intrigues of governments, had neglected to cherish. In such a situation man becomes what he ought. He sees his species, not with the inhuman ideas of a natural enemy, but as kindred; and the example shows to the artificial world, that man must go back to nature for information.”

– Thomas Paine, Rights of Man

Buenos Aires – It’s hard for me to believe that it’s been more than two years since I set foot in the Reserva Ecologica, but there you have it, times flies, and my posting on my one and only visit there is from January 2006! It helps, I suppose, that Buenos Aires has so many parks and green spaces of one sort or another, because I love spending time away from the city streets – though it does seem like I’ve done less of it here than anywhere else I’ve ever lived. Something to rectify. This last Sunday I just went and spent a couple of hours wandering around in the reserve, snapping photos, chatting with people, and enjoying the sunshine and the plants, birds… you get the idea. A few of my favorite photos from the day… though I snapped a bunch of general views, mostly I was taking closeups on various things that caught my eye.