Brazil trip!!!

So, we're back home in Montevideo, and Spring is in the air! The tree-lined lanes are green now, and the city is becoming more beautiful! Tonight we made Thai fried rice and Panda Express style orange chicken (although we had to make up the secret recipe Orange Chicken Sauce)!

More importantly, we're back safely from the trinational area of Iguassu Falls! We visited both sides of the Falls themselves, and then ventured into Ciudad del Este, Paraguay!

Friday, October 10th, we left at 3pm on our own private bus! We met Andreas and his son Mauricio who were our guides, as well as our two drivers. We spent all night driving, and arrived in Brazil the next afternoon, crossing Argentina to get there. I roomed at the Hotel Carima with Brandon and Earl.

Saturday we had a free day and spent it looking around our massive hotel and then taking a bus to downtown Foz do Iguassu, Brazil. We had Brazilian food for the first time, and went to a supermarket that had a band to serenade anyone entering. Our first impressions of the country were that it is a lot louder and hotter than Uruguay. We actually were in a more jungle like environment, which is what a lot of people's first impressions of Uruguay was! Brazilian food is rice and black beans, sausage, a lot of beef and steaks, ribs, and a fruits! Watermelon for desert. We had Guarana (a drink) which is a soft drink made from the Guarana fruit that is really popular in Paraguay and that part of Brazil and Argentina. It is named after the Guarani who inhabited the area when the Spanish and Portuguese came.

Sunday we toured the Brazilian side of the falls, walking about a mile to the largest part of the Falls. As our Brazilian guide put it, "the Argentines have all the falls, and the Brazilian's have the view". The falls are more than just a waterfall. On a good day, there are approx. 250 independent waterfalls! The largest actual waterfall is la Garganta del Diablo, or The Throat of the Devil, on the Brazilian side. Before actually entering the falls, we went to an exotic bird park near by. The bird park afforded us the opportunity to walk through the cages and on some occasions touch or be attacked by the birds! After lunch, 10 of us took a jungle tour/raft ride up to the falls themselves! We took a jeep ride/tour of the jungle for about a mile and then walked the last 600 meters to the riverfront where we boarded a huge rubber raft. The crew gunned the engine, and we went against the flow of the river up to one of the lesser falls, not the Devil's Throat, and got soaked! We raced around, took some pictures with Earl's waterproof camera, and had a blast. That night, Sunday, we had worship in our group leader's room.

Monday we went to the Argentine side of the falls and walked untold miles seeing all of the falls. The last leg of our journey was a long train ride to walk another kilometer to the Garganta del Diablo. On the Argentine side there is a platform next to the falls so you can stand looking into the Devil's Throat, it is awe inspiring. While on the train some British girls sat down next to me and Kelly in our little train car. I had decided to wear my Argentine soccer jersey (I'm developing quite a collection of jerseys!) and sat alone next to a large group of Argentines wearing the same jersey to try and infiltrate their group. Kelly sat next to me so I wouldn't be alone, but that meant that the British girls sat in the open seats. The three of them made me feel a lot better about my accent because Spanish through a British accent is awful!! They had just spent a week in Rio de Janeiro and were going to visit Paraguay, Argentina, and then Bolivia and Peru during their 9 WEEK TRIP to South America! I'm kinda jealous even for the opportunities I get.

Tuesday we went to Paraguay for a day trip! We crossed the border but didn't get our passport's stamped because you have to travel 20km inland for that :-( The reason for this is that Ciudad del Este generates half the economy of the country. You heard me right, half of Paraguay's economy is generated in Ciudad del Este. The reason for this is that huge numbers of Brazilian and Argentines pour across for the tax free goods offered and to barter for extremely great prices on everyday items up to electronics! We went to the Itaipu Dam, which generates the most electrical power of any dam in existence (until the 3 Rivers Dam in China is completed), and it does this while flooding the least possible area. It dams up the Paraná river that meets the Iguassu river to mark the border of the three countries. After that they dropped us off to go shopping in the area, and for 3 hours we wandered around some pretty shady markets. I bought some knock-off aviators, two soccer jerseys, and a few other things for less than $20USD. The currency in Paraguay is the Guarani, which is approximately 4500 to $1.

Wednesday was our free day, and most of us took the opportunity to go see an actual Guarani village. The Guarani still exist, there were too many and they were to hard to get to to be exterminated or enslaved. A guide took us through the jungle to his village showing us medicinal plants, traps, fruits, etc. The village itself reminded me of my time in Peru. They all wear "western" clothing, but many live in wood, brick, and thatch buildings.
We spent the rest of our free day at the hotel, we played soccer with some Chileans, but not against them, we would have been destroyed! That night we went to a Samba show which was all in Portuguese and Spanish, but we got the gist of it. They had portion of the dance on every country or area of Latin America. The Mexican themed portion was a taste of home for us all, they brought out a Mariachi band and we all cheered along! The traveled south through central America and the Caribbean, then to South America, and saved Brazil for last. We don't think another ACU group will go back there though, because the last Brazil act was the Samba from Carnival. They had dancers in real Carnival outfits, and lets just say that racy would be a mild description, hahaha. They were clothed, but not enough by anyone's standards.

The next morning we met up at 8:30 and started traveling home! We stopped and toured the ruins of a Jesuit mission in Argentina and then the home of noted Argentine writer Horacio Quiroga. After traveling through the night, we reached beloved Uruguay, crossing at the town of Salto. We arrived in the afternoon, and have been enjoying the weekend of resting up. I will post pictures soon, but it's now 2:05am here.