We arrived at the bus station and went to visit a ruins site. The trip was sponsored by ISA and involved the Multi-Country students and a group of the semester students who have been in Buenos Aires since August. All of the Multi-Country kids were really tired of seeing more ruins. I think I have seen more ruins site in the past three months than I have in my entire life. Plus, after Machu Picchu, any ruins site is incomparable.
This is what I look like at a ruins site after a 15-hour bus ride!
After the ruins site we went to a ranch where we spent the day by the pool, sun bathing, eating, and all that good stuff. I, who doesn’t like pools nor sun bathing, put on my swimming suit and sat on a beach chair and underneath an umbrella with lots of sunscreen. At the ranch we ate an asado of famous Argentine beef, vegetables, and lemonade.
After lunch we had a tour of a place where they make mate. Mate is an herb from which they make a tea, which seems to be the national drink of Argentina. I have never see anything like it. Almost everyone drinks mate. They put the herb, or cut up tea leaves, into a mate cup and add hot water then they drink it from a straw-type apparatus with a closed, round bottom with holes so the tea can go through and then a normal straw on the top. People carry around these cups, straws, and thermoses of hot water and drink it wherever they happen to be. They also share it with people they are sitting next to. For example, on our city tour Coqui (ISA employee) was drinking mate and she offered it to the bus driver, a man whom she had never met before. It’s like a bonding experience for the Argentines.
After the tour we drove four hours to our hotel in Iguazu. Upon arriving we ate dinner, and it was delicious a buffet that was provided at the hotel. I remember eating pasta and chocolate ice cream mouse for dessert. Delicious.
Saturday morning we finally got to see Iguazu Falls. We drove to the national park and rode in a theme park-like train, got off and then walked 15 minutes to the first part of the waterfalls called La Garganta del Diablo (The Throat of the Devil). As we approached the waterfalls I was amazed at how quiet it was considering how much water is going through there.
Kimberly and Me at the Garganta del Diablo
We spent the entire day at the park and saw waterfall after waterfall. It was really beautiful, but tiring at the same time.
At one point in the day we had the chance to go in a boat underneath one of the waterfalls. I had a difficult time deciding if I wanted to do this or not. For one, I don’t really like water and the thought of going underneath a waterfall where the boat is rocking and there’s so much water you can hardly breathe does not sound like my cup of tea. The second was that it cost $25 for a 10-minute ride. Since I’m frugal as dirt I decided against it. Bethany, Mary Beth and I decided not to go and we had fun taking these pictures.
I crossed the orange line when I wasn't supposed to!
This is me in front of waterfalls!
Mary Beth (Minn) and me
On the way back to the bus I we were crammed on the train because we had to sit four to a seat. I was sitting next to a really tall guy and asked him if he wanted to sit on the end. I asked him in English, I’m not sure why, but it wouldn’t have mattered if I asked him in Spanish because he was Brazilian and spoke Portuguese. We started a conversation, well, as far as my Portuguese and his English took us, which isn’t very far. I can say three things in Portuguese:
•I speak Portuguese.
•I don’t speak Portuguese.
•Jesus loves me.
We finally figured out that he was from Brazil and I was from the United States and his name was Luis Fernando and mine was Jane. That was when I decided to whip out my Portuguese. I told him I spoke Portuguese, then I told him Jesus loves me (he responded with a thumbs up and a SÍ), and ended with I don’t speak Portuguese. He then said, “Barack Obama” with thumbs up and followed with “Fidel Castro!”
Me and my short-lived romance, Luis Fernando
We got off the train and continued communicating. We took a picture together and then exchanged e-mails. He then decided it was appropriate to give a gift. So he gave me his wrist sweatband (odd)? I felt I had to reciprocate, so I gave him my hair tie. It was nice.
After sweatband guy we went to the place where two rivers come together and you can see Paraguay and Brazil.
After our long day we went back to the hotel for dinner and to celebrate Erika’s (Colorado) and Jessie’s (Kentucky) birthday.
Sunday we went to see one of the native cultures of the province Missiones. It was interesting because these people live and work with the environment and nature. They don’t work outside of the community and make money through tourism and selling homemade jewelry and souvenirs.
After the native culture visit we went to buy lunch and I had the saltiest pizza I’ve ever had in my life. I ate half of it and then gave it to a little boy sitting by himself on the side of the street. We then went to the airport and arrived in Buenos Aires around 7.
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