la nataciòn.

sunday morning we headed to san telmo to check out the antique markets. the streets were full of people on the lookout for deals.. sensory overload.. every now and then i'd stop and look up only to be amazed by the surrounding buildings and statues.. then quickly swallowed up again by the thousands of nick-nacks on display. we stopped for lunch and were caught in a tumultuous downpour.. made a mad dash for the apartment which made absolutely no difference as we were all soaked to the bone upon arrival. loved every single unfrozen rain drop.. spent the rest of the day dry and playing cards with our 6 peso brews..

monday our agenda was finding water. we have all been itching to swim.. found an outdoor pool in the lonely planet and took the metro over to the 'club de amigos'. turns out it's for members only and we were denied the right to dip our sweltering bodies into their watering hole. so much for living up to it's name.. so, we opted for a day of museums and art galleries.. all of which were closed.. feeling rather oppressed we went to check out the cemetery and see evita's grave. [kidding, it just happened to be close].. we entered through a gate in the large surrounding brick wall.. no grass, only cement and marble.. tall elaborate tombs and narrow gridded 'streets'.. an intricate city built for the dead..

yesterday we took the bus a few hours out of ba to san antonio de areco.. showed up at 2pm, during siesta.. absolutely everything was closed.. the streets deserted. felt like a ghost town.. so we spent the afternoon prowling for a swimming pool once again.. asked and received directions from a local, in spanish - a language that we barely speak and understand even less of.. we wearily walked a fair distance out of town, every step feeling more skeptical than the last.. then in the distance, the sounds of summer.. laughter, splashing.. a utopia of gazebos and picnics.. only to be denied access because our plan was to go in our underwear and apparently that doesn't fly with the public here.. foiled again.

our spirits slightly crushed, we headed back into town. planning to siesta in the shade of a park, we noticed a river. shallow and opaque, but a river none-the-less.. asked a man sitting in the shade whether we could swim, he assured us it was safe.. danelle and i waded, cooling our feet.. mike and john getting down to their underwear, and john even heading downstream to where some local kids were diving off a bridge. packing up refreshed and on the lookout for lunch, we passed a sign that caught our attention.. 'no swimming, contaminated water'.. all of a sudden, not so refreshed? and about 20 feet further, a local watering hole with families and picnics and a lifeguard on duty, no fee.. [i must add, however, that under further speculation, the same river water was pouring into said pool, so.. who knows]. no one's sick yet..?

today we are celebrating scott's day of birth. mike, danelle and i scampered out in the rain this morning to pick up some groceries.. we feasted like kings and are organizing our things to take the ferry tomorrow to uruguay.