sticky fingers.

after unintentionally playing real-life frogger through 8 lanes of traffic, we had a beautiful day walking around and checking out the sights. buenos aires is a vibrant city. i was surprised at the number of trees.. parks, shops, cafes.. it truly is the paris of south america. we went down to the government house.. crossed the canal and walked around a rather ritzy area and essentially out to the edge of the city. still a distance from the water, we came across a huge marsh area that looked so out of place with skyscrapers looming in the distance. felt a bit like we had made it to an abandoned civilization at the edge of the earth..

that night we discover that 1L bottles of beer are 6 pesos.. equivalent to $1.50. we decided to explore a bit of the town as it was a friday evening.. turned down a walking street close to our apartment and were almost immediately sucked into a crowd watching street performers. after a few minutes i noticed that danelle's bag was unzipped a little, so i told her i was going to close it because it looked too easy to slip a hand in. i was too late.. the damage was done, her wallet gone. we searched the crowd, both knowing the culprits were two ladies that had bumped into her while passing, but they were nowhere to be seen. went to the police station and filed a report, our feelings of adventure quickly diminishing. cash, credit card, debits.. and the only keys we had to the apartment. we cancelled her credit card, tried the landlord several times to no avail, and spent the night in a hotel down the street.

the next morning we woke and tried the landlord again after breakfast.. he said he'd drop off another key. we got into the apartment, cleaned up, and in much higher spirits decided to try our hand at the metro. we lunched and walked around the japanese gardens.. had a siesta in the park.. and returned home to find our security guard anxiously waiting.. a wallet in hand..

the police had found it ditched with andres' [landlord] card inside, so they called him, and returned it. the cash was long gone, but the credit card, debits, keys.. all intact. unreal. danelle and i were so excited when we saw that i think she all but kissed the security guard.. went out for a celebratory dinner before packing it in for the night.

today we are heading for the sunday markets.. tomorrow, swimming.. no word from martin unfortunately, but he left on vacation this morning so i can only imagine he's been busy. we are all happy and healthy.. ready to explore more of this wonderful city.