Today, I went swimming in an Argentinian palace. I'm still pinching myself and if my hair wasn't still wet, I might think it was just the most beautiful daydream.

But I did. I swam in a beautiful old palace, the Palacio Duhau, Park Hyatt Buenos Aires—just blocks from our apartment. 

I'd been in Argentina for a week already—a glorious week of picnics, coffee, steak, malbec, gold street lamps and the bluest skies. But no swimming and I was starting to dry up. A friend who spent last year in BA warned me that swimming isn't easy here, pools are hard to find, and even harder to get into. (Though there are bathing suit stores on every block...!)

But then this morning, I ducked under some palm trees and walked through the glorious, imposing gates of the Park Hyatt. It's an enormous indoor pool with lights that shift depending on the time of day—from sunrise to after sunset. Most hotel pools are so tiny and dinky, made for splashing, not swimming, but this is a proper POOL. I watched a family of kids invent a pool noodle tag-like game and then swam length after length next to a fellow swimmer (chatting about swimming in my terrible Spanish!) I swam my heart out for a full hour before retreating to the hot tub AND sauna. It was positively glorious.