Televisions: Argentina has 29TVs for every 100 people,compared with 84 for every100 people in the UnitedStates.

Fun fact: Condors — enormousbirds with10-footwingspans— areconsideredendangeredin most partsof the world.But not inArgentina andneighboring Chile.That’s partlybecause ofscientists who help raise babycondors in zoos beforereleasing them into the wild.Julieta’s aunt works at a zoo,and Julieta helped with thebaby condors. “They were inan incubator, and I helped givethem food.”

SPEAK OUTTHIS WEEK’STOPIC

Zoo AnimalsWith the weather warming up and school being out soon, it’s a

good time to check out all the animals (not just the baby cheetahs)at the National Zoo. But before you head off to the zoo, go to www.washingtonpost.com/kidspost and tell us: K What’s your favorite animal at the zoo?

A. PandasB. Seals and sea lionsC. CheetahsD. MonkeysE. Naked mole-rats

BY JAMES A. PARCELL — THE WASHINGTON POST

Be candid: Are yourfavorites thepandas?

Last week’s survey asked kids:If you could read just one bookthis summer, what would it be?

More than 350 readers responded.“Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment” 43.7%“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” 31.7%

“Eldest” 16.5%

“Gossip Girl: Nobody Does It Better 5.6%

“Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception” 2.5%

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SOUTHAMERICA

JulietaMy name is . . . This is the sixth in a series of KidsPost Journeys around the world to show readers how children in other countries and cultures live and play. Today we JOURNEY TO BUENOS AIRES. Next month, travel with us to Africa.

BUENOS AIRES,ARGENTINA5,200 milesFROM WASHINGTON

Buenos Aires is

Spanish for “good

winds.” Buen perro

means “good dog.”

DAILY 05-31-05 MD RE C12 CMYK

TODAY: Shower,then partly sunny.

HIGH LOW

77 60TOMORROW:Partly sunny. High 74. Low 57.

ILLUSTRATION BY MADDY WILLIAMS, 11,KENSINGTON

WEATHERTRIVIAWHAT’S THE

WINDIEST PLACE?ANSWER: MOUNT

WASHINGTON, NEWHAMPSHIRE (231 MPHWINDS IN APRIL 1934).

WEATHER

TODAY’S NEWSHey, We’ve Spotted the Baby Cheetahs!K Nobody could blame the National Zoo if they renamedthe place “Cheetahland.”

Washington’s zoo is now home to 14 cheetahs. Thereare five adults and nine babies, called cubs, from two lit-ters.

The four cheetah cubs born in November, the first to beborn at the zoo in 116 years, are getting more in-dependent but still squawk if they get too far away fromtheir mom, Tumai. (Sadly, their father, Amadi, died short-ly after they were born.) Earlier this month the cubsweighed 30 to 33 pounds each. Zookeepers have shaved adifferent spot on each cat so they can tell them apart.

Keepers report that the cubs like watching the zebraand oryx in nearby enclosures. (No word on how the ze-bra and oryx feel about this!) You can see the cubs from 8a.m. to 2 p.m. daily.

The zoo’s newest cheetahs can be seen online. The fivecheetahs were born on April 14 and as of last week eachweighed about six pounds. The cheetahs aren’t on publicdisplay, but the zoo has two “cheetah cams.” Go tonationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/AfricanSavanna. We’vecaught them jumping, eating and cleaning themselves.

BY JESSIE COHEN — NATIONAL ZOO VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

The newest litter ofcubs can be seen on“cheetah cams.”

WRITE KIDSPOST, THE WASHINGTON POST, 1150 15TH ST. NW, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20071. K E-MAIL US AT KIDSPOST@WASHPOST.COM K FAX US AT 202-496-3780. PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR NAME, AGE, ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER.

C12 Tuesday, May 31, 2005 R www.washingtonpost.com/kidspost

BUENOS AIRES — In this city, you haveto watch your step.

That’s because the residents of BuenosAires, Argentina, love their dogs, and thecity’s sidewalks are full of them. Veterinari-ans work out of street-front stores that of-ten are sandwiched between businessessuch as coffee shops and clothing bou-tiques.

Professional dog-walkers — called paseaperros here — regularly paradethrough the traffic on crowded sidewalkswith as many as 15 dogs at one time, all ofthem leashed together.

Julieta Kesel, 7, has grown up watchingsights like these occur every day on the

sidewalks outside the condominiumbuilding where she lives. She

has learned to recognizeall different breeds of

dogs — Labra-dors, golden re-

trievers, poodles and Dalmatians. And ev-ery day she asks her mother for a dog ofher own. (Julieta’s parents think she prob-ably needs to be a little older to have a dogof her own. Plus, their house is small. Butneither of those reasons keeps Julieta fromasking!)

For now, she owns only the stuffed kind.Her bedroom is home to more than 25 toydogs. “On vacation once, we found a dogthat was lost, and I took care of it,” Julietasaid. “We found the family, though, so wehad to give the dog back. Its name wasSpot. Now the name of the black-and-whitestuffed dog that I sleep with is Spot.”

In addition to her 25 stuffed dogs, Julie-ta lives with her mom, dad and 4-year-oldbrother, Santiago. Julieta’s mom makescrafts and games for kids and her dad is afurniture designer.

When schoolchildren in the UnitedStates are getting ready for summer vaca-tion, Julieta is getting ready for class.South of the equator, the seasons are re-versed, so winter comes in the chillymonths of June, July and August. Andsummer doesn’t heat up until December,January and February, when the tempera-ture usually hovers around 90. Julieta be-

gan second grade two months ago, inMarch.

Julieta gets up at about 7:30 most morn-ings to get ready for school. Like most stu-dents in Argentina, she wears a school uni-form. Her mother or father drives her the15 minutes to school, where she takes herseat alongside the 25 other students in herclass. She studies Spanish, math, art andtechnology, which teaches her how thingsare built.

“Last week we made a seesaw, and to-day we made a toboggan,” she said afterschool one day last month. After lunch, Ju-lieta’s classes include music, theater andEnglish.

She doesn’t speak much English yet —Spanish is the national language of Argen-tina — but she hopes to continue to learnit. Because Julieta attends a Jewish school,she also has classes in religion and He-brew. About 4:30 p.m., the school day endsand Julieta goes home with her mother.

Before she goes to bed, she usually playswith her brother. And before the lights goout for the evening, she almost never for-gets to do one more thing: She asks hermom for a dog, again.

— Monte Reel

How many people: About 39.5million people. More than 10million of them are 14 oryounger.

How big is it: A bit more than 1 million square miles. Thatmakes Argentina a little lessthan a third the size of theUnited States.

Religion: About 92 percent ofArgentines are RomanCatholic, the country’s officialreligion.

Capital: Buenos Aires, whereJulieta lives.

Language: Spanish is the officiallanguage.

Economy: Since Argentines eatso much meat, you won’t besurprised that food processingis a major industry. Thecountry is also a majorcar-maker.

Crops: Sunflower seeds, grapesand corn are some major crops.

Inside Argentina

Favorite TV show: “Floricienta” —which is about a teenage girl whoselife is a lot like that of Cinderella.Julieta loves collecting FloricientaCDs and stickers. Her notebooks forclass work are covered withFloricienta stickers.

Favorite animal: Dog, of course!

Favorite thing to do for fun: Go fishingin a pond in a Buenos Aires park.

Favorite sport: She’s about to takegymnastics classes and she loves todance.

Just for Fun

At lunch, Julieta — like many Argentines — loves meat.Argentina is famous for its beef and the many ways of cooking it.

On average, each person in Argentina eats a whopping 149.6pounds of meat every year, which is more than any other country inthe world. According to an article that appeared recently inBuenos Aires’s biggest newspaper, the most common way to eatbeef is in the form of a milanesa — meat that is usually fried inegg batter and bread crumbs. Almost nine out of every 10Argentines said they regularly eat milanesas, and Julieta is oneof them. “Milanesas are my favorite food,” she said. “Also applesand fried spinach fritters.”

Meal Time Is Meat Time

BY SILVINA FRYDLEWSKY FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

TELEFE INTERNATIONAL

Florencia Bertotti is the star of “Floricienta.”

BY DIEGO GIUDICE — ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pablo Blanco, a paseaperro, walks a pack of dogs home after a visit to a park in Buenos Aires.

BY SILVINA FRYDLEWSKY FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Julieta Kesel, 7, with her bed full of toy dogs.

REUTERS

Condors areraised inArgentinaand Chile.