Lluvia en la ciudad

¨Raining in the City¨is what the TV screen said as Chris and I were already out walking this morning. But it was only misting, sort of like a nice Seattle morning so we were ok. We were headed for Barrio Norte/Recoleta area to see this really nice bookstore and thought we´d be OK. We flirted with the idea of getting an umbrella several times today (I didn´t bring one on my trip just in case I wasn´t allowed to bring it on board) but then decided why bother, it wasn´t that bad. We stopped at the Galeria Pacifica, which was a very fancy looking mall with gilt edged staircases, fancy stores, and a cathedral type ceiling with a large mural on it in the center! After walking around for a bit and drying off, we headed for El Ateneo, our destination.

I read about El Ateneo in one of our guidebooks. It´s an old theater that has been restored as a large bookstore with a cafe on the stage! I thought it sounded like the perfect place to hide out on a rainy day. And it was! It was so incredibly beautiful! It´s such a neat idea - Chris and I thought briefly about quitting medicine and trying to do this in the US! But really, words can´t really do it justice so here are a couple pictures (sorry - haven´t quite figured out the formatting thing):

We had a nice lunch in the cafe on the stage, explored the bookstore a little, then decided to head home. One of the reasons that we stayed as long as we did (besides the fact that I love bookstores and this was a really really cool place) is that it started pouring during lunch. So we waited it out a little but it was still raining. We didn´t think it would take us that long to walk back...I guess we weren´t thinking. We could have taken a cab....or gotten an umbrella...or taken the subway. All reasonable things any normal person would have considered. But we just zipped up and charged on. After a while, Chris commented that an umbrella wouldn´t have helped that much as it would really only have kept our heads dry...our legs and feet were still going to get really wet. It was a somewhat soothing thought as we accidentally ran through some large puddles and got our feet sloshed! An hour later, we made it back to our hotel pretty darn wet and a little cold. Que idiotas! But really, a little water never hurt anyone. Our biggest concern is to get everything, i.e. shoes and jeans, dry for tomorrow....another rainy BA day. We´ll be taking a taxi tomorrow...if we even leave the hotel!

Now we toasty and dry and checking the Internet, trying to decide if we´re willing to brave the rain again for food. As a last resort, we can always gorge ourselves on our executive lounge happy hour, where there are plenty of eats!