An urban hiking experience (Urban Trek)—low intensity, but filled with dynamism and keen observation. A route designed to enjoy the city through a lens that is both active and contemplative.
The Route
The starting point was at the corner of Ayacucho and Juncal, right in the heart of the Recoleta neighborhood. From there, the path continues straight along Juncal until crossing Av. Coronel Díaz, where you formally enter Palermo.
Continuing down Juncal, you reach the Botanical Garden, which you skirt along Av. Santa Fe before heading down Av. Sarmiento until reaching the Paseo del Rosedal.
The Experience: Picking Up the Cuttings
Today, July 6th, marked the first day of this year's rose cuttings distribution. Even though the activity started at 1:00 PM, I arrived at 3:00 PM to find a sizable line already formed.
The service gazebos were set up at the first access point on Av. Presidente Pedro Montt (the closest one to the lake, right at the first gate past the restroom entrance).
Looking back, it's incredible to see how this initiative has evolved. The first edition took place in 2014, and I first attended in 2016. Back then, pruned branches were piled up on the ground, and people gathered around to grab whatever they could—often branches over a meter long.
Today, ten years later and with a much larger crowd, the event is extremely well-organized: they hand you the stems pre-cut into ~25 cm (10 in) cuttings, accompanied by a small pot and explanatory flyers, all neatly presented inside a bag.
Once I got my cuttings, I took a walk around the lake circuit to snap a few photos.
My memory recalled having written something on my blog about the cuttings. Indeed, I had. The link to that 10-year-old post where I mentioned the cuttings is here:
https://reuniendoletras.blogspot.com/2016/07/esquejes-de-rosas-en-el-rosedal.html
It occurred to me to search Google to see if the entry showed up, and amazingly, after 10 years, Google hasn't indexed it—it has discovered it, but hasn't indexed it yet, which is why nothing appears. What caught my attention was the blatant falsehood—what in the era of AI is termed an hallucination. Upon searching the simple query "reuniendoletras.blogspot.com + esquejes", the search engine's AI hallucinated big time, stating:
"The blog reuniendoletras.blogspot.com describes techniques for plant propagation using cuttings, highlighting tool disinfection and selecting healthy stems. The guide details keeping cuttings in indirect light and moist substrate to ensure rooting. To watch the process on video, visit..."
All of which is a complete lie—a major hallucination. It then points to a YouTube video that, while decent and about plant cuttings, isn't mine, nor have I ever linked to it.
From this—yet another example of something I've been observing frequently—I can draw several takeaways:
1. Difference between AIs (both from Google): AI in Google Search (like AI Overviews) is a tool designed to index, summarize, and display real-time web results. On the other hand, Google Gemini is Google's full conversational language model and chatbot, built to reason, create content, code, and engage in open dialogue beyond a simple search query.
2. Both hallucinate. Not constantly, but they do.
3. Industry Evaluations: In recent independent industry benchmarks (such as Vectara's Leaderboard), the Gemini model family ranks among the highest in factual accuracy worldwide, boasting a hallucination rate of just 0.7% (99.3% accurate, data-grounded responses). When used within Google Search to query the live web, that margin of error drops even further.
(Vectara's Hallucination Evaluation Model [HHEM] measures how often an AI model invents or distorts information in direct tasks, such as summarizing documents without making up details outside the source text).
4. Stay Alert: You need to pay close attention or explicitly prompt the AI to avoid hallucinating to prevent getting misled if it makes something up.
Useful Information: 2026 Edition
• When: July 6–8 and July 13–17, 2026.
• Hours: 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM (first-come, first-served).
• Location: Paseo del Rosedal (Av. Presidente Pedro Montt & Av. John F. Kennedy, Palermo, CABA).
• Limit: Up to 5 cuttings per person.
Why Is It Done?
Annual pruning takes place every winter under technical guidelines to rejuvenate the rose bushes, stimulate new growth, and ensure a higher-quality bloom. Afterward, the soil is fertilized to strengthen the plants.
Beyond park maintenance, the initiative aims to engage residents in plant care and give them the chance to grow a little piece of one of the city's most iconic parks right at home. During the event days, volunteers offer advice on how to plant and care for the cuttings. (Source: https://buenosaires.gob.ar/)
The Rosedal in Numbers
The park is home to approximately 8,000 rose bushes across 93 different species. Between September and November, the park puts on one of Buenos Aires's most dazzling floral displays, peaking at over 18,000 blooms at its height.
Link to Wikiloc: https://es.wikiloc.com/rutas-observacion-de-flora/walk-through-recoleta-and-palermo-caba-rose-cuttings-at-the-rosedal-279630483
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