…When the summer came and it began to get really warm, they took the first occasion when it was completely empty to clean it of the coating of ‘green stuff’. The algae had been growing all through the winter and spring, filling the water with a soft mass with fronds of bright green, dark green and grey green that turned it into a place full of mystery that we didn’t dare even to put a toe in. After it had been cleaned, it began to fill up with clean cold water. The pond was big and deep and had a set of steps on the inside of one of its massive walls, almost a metre thick. I went down the steps cautiously, for fear of slipping. As I descended, I was invaded by a sensation of cool wetness, and the air was filled with a profound intense smell that intensified when you got to the bottom. It smelled of water. It was the smell of the water. That pervasive smell that filled my lungs made the pond seem an immense place, like a cave with no end. Remnants of this smell come back to me at times, reviving my memory, when I walk past a fountain or even when I drink a glass of water…

Ignacio Tovar