A Few Hours By The Pool
I'm not one to normally go and hang out half naked at an urban municipal pool, but that's what we did on Sunday since it was easily 44 degrees celcius in the shade (that's, uhm, fucking hot in Fahrenheit as well). It was *packed*. I've never seen anything like it. People were in ever corner possible, sprawled out as only Europeans can sprawl.
You have to imagine how huge this place was. Like an urban beach. Two massive swimming pools, a picnic and restaurant area, and a little kiddie pool near the back. Bordering all this are grassy and shady areas that were completely completely packed with people. From what Ana tells me, whole families go to places like this for the entire Sunday. They hang out, tan (a national sport in Spain - me not being able to tan very well means I seem unhealthy and anemic to most people until at least November), have lunch and generally just lounge for the day. As geeky as it sounds, being in the middle of lengthy install process on my PC I had no desire really to lounge, but that's another whole thing...
Anyways, it was Alex's first time in a real swimming pool. And though he didn't actually swim at all, he really enjoyed it. They sell these special diapers called "little swimmers" at the store which are like disposable swimming trunks so he doesn't leave any surprises in the pool. We weren't sure how he'd take to it, but Alex was just so excited. The pool at its maximum depth is only about 1/2 a foot deep, so it's really just to run and splash in, which was perfect for Alex as that's exactly what he wanted to do. ;-)
At first, seeing how it was a really shallow pool inhabited by little ones in the habit of peeing whenever the urge strikes, I was afraid it was going to be lukewarm and uncomfortable (especialy after a day of sun beating down as well) but it was FREEZING. Oh my GOD it was cold. I was really afraid for Alex after a while. In that blazing heat to actually be so cold to be almost shivering? It's nuts.
But he loved it. The Adults weren't allowed in the middle with the kids so we hung out with him near the edges as he roamed around and splashed and generally just explored. He had a blast. I took a million pictures and some video with my camera (some of which you can see by clicking on the pic above). He was just so cute - you chould just see the full on joy of experiencing something totally new.
Despite having to wait 1/2 hour for the bus in both directions and not being in the particular mood to hang out (I am a grumpy bastard once in a while), it was a really fun afternoon at the pool.
-Russ