border crossing

The Librería Ateneo is a bit like the Argentine version of Barnes & Noble (nowhere near as comprehensive, much more expensive, but the café service is phenomenal). I always go there to have a drink and read a little bit of Harry Potter y las Reliquías de la Muerte (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), and one night I went there, a guard stopped me and insisted I needed to leave my backpack outside, the one where I keep my journal and Spanish dictionary. I was rather attached to that thing, and suggested he just search it now and when I got out. In the middle of the search, the hot guard intervened, and said no searches were necessary, and came with me upstairs. The next time I went there, he recognized me and told the guard working upstairs to make sure no one bothered me.

I called the Premium Taxi company three times to confirm a cab for 7 a.m. Sunday morning to take us from the Librería Ateneo to the Buenos Aires port, and so we rode, arriving with time to spare, and even managed to get pictures of the sunrise on the Río de la Plata, and there´s no point in trying to describe it. I´ll put it up once I´m back in the USA. The boat ride wasn´t bad, although I wish we could have stepped outside or upstairs, and I wish anyone could have broken my 100 peso bill, but they didn´t.

Instead, I looked out at the sea through the dirty windows, and dreamed of Titanic and the hot security guard who saved my dignity as Jack and me as Rose (Gulab, maybe?).

The pictures I took of Colonia, Uruguay will do a far better job of describing it than I can. I´d have liked to have time to see all the museums, but on the other hand, I´m glad we got back to Buenos Aires before dark. I do have a magnet and some Uruguayan pesos to show for this trip. And about 300 Argentine pesos gone.

I can´t believe we have only ten days left. And exactly two months from now, Brisingr comes out in bookstores, and exactly four months from now, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes out in the movies. Looking forward to things is fun.