Words/Photos: Reed Purvis

One...........two............three girls just walked by me that are hot enough to be models. Who knows, maybe they are models, but there's lots of girls like this here. In fact, this club is full of them, and it's Wednesday. My friend Garrett actually made the classic mistake of saying "Are you a model?" and the conversation was crushed as fast as a cold liter of Imperial Cerveza on a hot day. Given the situation, its very tempting to ask such questions. Before even entering this place I saw one of the hottest girls I've ever seen in my life, exiting unfortunately, 6ft tall, hello legs, little bit of a gato but whatever, it enhances the storyline. Before this we came from the opening party of a new bar in Palermo where there were more girls than guys. And...Wednesday nights are supposedly a little slow here in this crazy city, that is so full of movement and life, especially while the sun is lighting up the other side of the planet.

Four...........five.............six Imperial Cerveza's have been handed to me by the server at the SASS party up to this point. It's Thursday and...Imperial Cerveza, the beer sponsor of the party as well as 2 of our riders; Garrett Russell and Mauri Cambilla, are fueling the event in addition to Red Bull. The party is quite a successful schmooze fest among representatives from the action sports industry here in Argentina, including representatives from Land Rover, the tourism board, professional wakeboarders, Las Rosas models, Gravedad Zero TV, Propaganda magazine, and Ski Mundial magazine, among others.

And thanks to Forcadell apartments (soon to renamed 365), the event had a chill venue, a splash of class, a touch of zestiness, a hint of lilac, and the aroma of shameless promotion and success filling the air. "The Forcadell apartments are also conveniently located in the center of downtown with all the amenities the city has to offer just outside your doorstep. Check it out online at www.forcadellapartments.com.ar. Imagine yourself here!!" The highlight of the night was the playing of the SASS camp video from last year for all to see and experience the madness, as well as the layout of the new Propaganda magazine featuring the camp. Free food and beverages were consumed until....people stopped consuming them, at which point everyone scattered and regrouped at Studio Crobar until the early morning.

Seven..........eight.........nine more large cuts of asado meat are pulled from the glowing bed of coals and placed atop the mesa around which not everyone is eagerly anticipating the 3rd round of absolutely delicious meat. Everyone is full including myself, but my mind and mouth want to keep consuming and consuming and...consuming. It´s Friday evening and it´s Thomas´s birthday, one of the founders of propaganda magazine. Everyone is out back by the pool, eating, drinking, and enjoying the tranquil surroundings and beautiful aromas of San Isidro, one of the most affluent neighborhoods of Buenos Aires.

Fun was had, new connections were made, women were swooned (sort of), beverages were consumed, and homemade wakeboard videos, featuring the Neptune riders here in Argentina, were watched. After all was said and done, cliched phrases were used to start sentences, and the party moved to Peru beach, where for the first time in my life, I searched for non-attractive women, just for the sake of research purposes, and couldn´t find a single one. What a shame, I can´t wait to get back to the states.

Ten...............eleven.............twelve girls or more have jumped up on stage with ¨Pocho La Pantera,¨ (Pocho, The Panther) some kissing him, others just dancing with him, and still others just wanting to be seen with him. A famous Quarteto singer from the 70´s and 80's, who for some great reason is playing this eve of Thursday at Studio Crobar in Palermo. It's not the beams of light bouncing off his flashingly shiny leather clothes, greasy mullet, fat stomach, or cheesy name that make him so great...it´s the way in which he embodies all of these undervalued qualities...to create the most cliched and cheesy image ever, that make him a legend. Elvis is nothing compared to ´Pocho La Pantera,'...picture Elvis times ten, then you´ll have a slight understanding of what the scene entailed. Or...just look at the photos and use your imagination.

The atmosphere in the place suddenly transformed as soon as he appeared, with the crowd cheering and dancing unanimously as more and more girls trickled onto the stage. Even the always popular 80's songs that blasted out of the speakers following Pocho's performance couldn't match the energy of his quarteto lyrics. As daylight came closer and closer, the crowd gradually dispersed, until it was time for the day to begin, and for us get some sleep.

A car..............a boat.............another world!! Taking a sudden turn from the main waterway, we abruptly enter a secret water passage only a few boat lengths wide. The keeper of this little area pops his head out of his front door and mutual greetings in the form of waving hands are made, as the muddy water and tree clustered banks slowly move by us. Although we are only a 20 minute drive from the city and a 10 minute boat ride, it feels as if we just flew 6 hours and are somewhere in Brazil or Uruguay.

Prior to this we toured the factory of the recently purchased and revamped Neptune wakeboard brand. Four-five-or-however many time Argentine wakeboard champion and owner/operator of Neptune wakeboards, Cutun Martin, has invited us to go wakeboarding all day at his "secret" wakeboard facility and gave us a tour of the factory beforehand. It's a ridiculously sunny day, and there's no better way to escape the overwhelming and sometimes suffocating wrath of the city than to re-translocate oneself to the seemingly exotic 'confines' of the delta, full of islands, water passageways, really nice houses, and...no noise.

After a brief stop at the wakeboard house and a few milanesa sandwiches, wakeboarding commenced, and continued until a giant thunderstorm evicted us from the water. With a day spent doing something active, really ridiculously fun, and after being in such an exotic place just outside the city, it felt as if we were living in a dream, and the full potential of this place called Buenos Aires was revealing itself day by night by day. With spirits running high, and...being Saturday, it was time for another night with no foreseeable end.

A big thanks to SASS's friends: Oakley, Eesa, Unity, Capita, and Forcadell Apartments (365)

Special thanks to Forcadell Apartments (365) for providing a free venue and a sick apartment www.forcadellapartments.com.ar, and to Progaganda Magazine, www.propagandamag.com, Neptune Wakeboards, www.neptunewake.com, Gravedad Zero TV, www.gravedadzero.tv, and Imperial Cerveza.