Avenida 9 de Julio, Buenos Aires

As promised, this week I’m continuing the trip through South America as depicted in my flea market photo album. The album contains over 100 images, split between colorful postcards and personal photos. In going through all these pictures, I’m already learning quite a lot — and also wondering I was never taught much about South America in school.

While I’m sure that as a kid I saw a few toucans in the zoo, the first thing that comes to mind even now when I think of these large-billed birds is “Toucan Sam,” the cartoon mascot for an excessively sugary breakfast cereal. That’s really too bad, since these birds are truly fascinating and beautiful. According to this postcard, Toco toucan (Rhamphastos toco) measures up to 60 cm, with the beak alone reaching 16 cm in length. They live in the rainforest and feed on fruit as well as small animals, including other birds.

Here is another instantly recognizable South American animal about which I know only the bare minimum. The tamandua is also known as the lesser anteater (as compared to its larger relative, the giant anteater).

I’m not entirely sure the cute little guys in this photo are coatis because many of the images I found of them online seem to show lighter coats and tails with visible rings. I wish the photographer had managed to snap more than one picture of this pair! Coatis are about the size of housecats and are related to the North American raccoon.

Casa Rosada (“Pink House”) is the office of the President of Argentina

Palace of the Argentine National Congress, Buenos Aires

Above, the Obelisk of Buenos Aires, located in the Plaza de la Republica. The caption under the image translates as, “My dear Buenos Aires… When I see you again, there will be no more sorrows or forgetfulness.”

Churches pictured above include the Metropolitan Cathedral (top left); the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar (top right); Church of Our Lady of Bethlehem (bottom left); Church of San Ignacio de Loyola (bottom middle); and the Basilica of Our Lady of Lujan (bottom right).

Buenos Aires Rose Garden