The End! (Unless I decide to post again)

Well... its a little weird to be at home, but good. I'm back to sitting on my big squishy bed. After ignoring me when I first got home to show their disdain, my cats are now talking to me again. (They still fight with each other... so nothing really has changed.)

I have realized the flaw to my plan in writing this blog this semester. I've already told you all my best stories... so you are just going to have to listen to me tell them again in person.

So let's see... In the last entry I gave you the highlights of my last two days. The only thing I wanted to expand on was dinner with Eric, because after three months in Montevideo, Caitlin finally went to Mercado del Puerto. So we met Eric at about 8:30 to go to dinner. We wandered forever because none of us were particularly hungry and no one wanted to pick a restaurant to eat at. Well after we had wander two miles all the way to the Old City I suggested that we go to Mercado del Puerto, since Caitlin had never been and we were within 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile. We went to a nice restaurant that was really good. One of the fun things about eating in Uruguay is that after you eat they don't try to hurry you off so that they can have your table, so after we finished eating, we sat and talked for an hour or two. We eventually roused ourselves from the table to head home. The one problem with eating there, was that we needed to walk back through the Old City at night, which isn't the safest place in the world. Mainly the danger is mugging. But Eric is a good sized guy and Caitlin and I aren't tiny women, so we were fine. We ended up deciding to walk all the way back home, I was pretty sleepy once I got back. But it was a gorgeous night and a good way to end the trip.

Wednesday after aerobics, most of the time was spent with last minute packing up. I kept removing things from my bags to try to get them underweight (which I did succeed in!) At 2, Sandra took our keys from us... that meant we couldn't wander off. At this point we didn't really want to leave, but we were didn't want to sit around any more either. Emiliano and Eric both came over to help entertain us. So Eric, Caitlin, and I got to mock each other a bit more. Eric got to wear Caitlin's beret one last time. At 4, we drug our luggage out into the entry way to wait for the van. I know I had roughly 150 lbs worth of luggage by the time you add up my two suitcases, my carry-on, and my personal item. Now everyone else had roughly the same amount. So we are talking roughly 1650 lbs of luggage! YIKES! Once we were loaded up we headed to the airport.

On the way we stopped at the lookout over the city that we stopped at when we arrived. We had a prayer and took another picture. :) (So we have a before and after shot.) After a few minutes there we loaded back up and headed to the airport. Everyone got checked in ok. The only problem we had was when going through security we found out you couldn't take pre-wrapped cookies or ground coffee with you which we thought was strange.

The flights were pretty uneventful, which is always good. I pretty much slept through everything. I hadn't been sleeping much and had apparently been stressed out and not sleeping well when I had slept, so once I got on the plane I relaxed and passed out. I think I slept through all three take-offs.

The lay-over in Buenos Aires was about 4 hours and wasn't bad. It was weird because all the gates around ours had flights going to the States, so most people were speaking American English. Also all of a sudden, people were tall again! Strange!

In Dallas, everyone's luggage arrived, which was super exciting. We made it through passport control and customs just fine. After that we all went our separate ways. Nikita was also flying to Abilene, but on a later flight, but we at least got to keep each other company for a couple of more hours. We actually found each other in the terminal an hour or so after customs. During that hour, I realized the value of traveling with someone else. When I had to go to the bathroom I could leave my stuff with Nikita and didn't have to carry my 40 lb. bag of books with me. :)

When I arrived in Abilene, Hilary, Judy, Terri, and Sandy were there to meet me. Terri and Sandy were wearing crazy hats and cheered when I walked out. It was fun. My luggage all made it home, although I'm starting to hear reports that that's not true for all the students. Hilary took me to lunch at Abuelo's. Eating Mexican food was the first thing on my list to do when I got home. After 3 and a half months of good, but relatively bland food... It was REALLY spicy. (Although, I knew it was stuff I normally didn't find spicy at all.)

After cleaning up, I spent the afternoon at school. People keep being surprised that I went to "work." Obviously I didn't WORK!!! I went to socialize. I did manage to walk into a departmental meeting... they told me I didn't have to stay. I assured them that I would fall asleep if I sat down in a meeting, and escaped while I still could. I went by and saw the Cukrowski's and told them how jealous I am of them of the fact that they get to go next semester. Then Shelly took me out for American burgers. (Also a request of mine.) It was a great first day back.

While I'm sad to leave Uruguay... it is awesome to be back with my friends and family. I can't believe how blest I have been to get to have this experience. I know I was really blest to have such a great group of students that could also be good friends. I will miss Uruguay and my friends there... but I'm happy to be back with my friends and family here.

Unless I'm inspired again... which I may be when I realize what the reverse culture shock is... I might decide to share some of those experiences... this is my last post. Thanks for reading and experiencing this crazy semester with me.

Aaaaahhhh!!!

I'll write more about yesterday and today, probably, when I get home... but there were just a few things so awesome I wanted to get them down...

First, yesterday when Dario showed up to teach his class (right after we went to Body Combat) he brought us CD's with music from the gym as a going away present. He and Fabricio both signed them. He said we weren't saying good-bye... only "Hasta Pronto." We've already exchanged a couple of emails. What a fantastic guy.

Last night Caitlin and I went to dinner with Eric down in the Old City. The three of us really have fun together and it was a great way to spend our last night in the city.

Today, Caitlin, Kelsey, and I had our last aerobics class. Fabricio had t-shirts for us with our names on the sleeve. I really love the guys at the gym. We were sure and exchanged email addresses. (Luckily my reading and writing in Spanish is better than my speaking and hearing.)

I went by to see Oscar this afternoon. I really love papa uruguayo!

Well we leave in a couple hours... so I'm getting off the computer!

Good Times

Since we didn't have class yesterday morning, Kelsey and I took the opportunity to go to another aerobics class. Of course! Have I mentioned that I love the gym? Afterwards, I came back to the house and worked on packing and cleaning up my room. I also had to put it back in the arrangement that it started in. (As one of my students put it... its just like being in the dorm.) In the afternoon I continued to work on packing... ah the joys of weight limits for bags... looks like I'm going to be lugging my chemistry books in my carry-on... Booooo... I also printed and gave my biochem final... so that was exciting.

I love having four students in my class. Because it only took me about 20 minutes to grade their final.

Anne, Kelsey and I headed to our last step class. Dario announced that is was our last step class and blew us a kiss. He's so great. I hadn't taken pictures in his class yet... so after messing up the routine the whole time because I was distracted by the idea of taking pictures... or something... I finally took some pictures of Dario's final step class.

Dario's signature move... Reverso!

Anne and Kelsey

Dario always has big finishes to the last time through the routine. I think I'm the only one in the room who thought Heisman!

When we returned to CasaACU it was time for our Christmas party. The students and Rhonda baked and iced Christmas cookies. Raquel had made a Hello Kitty cake for Caitlin... The woman is amazing... she can make anything. After the cookie baking we had a white elephant gift exchange (or as Rhonda called it... Dirty Santa... which creeped me out a bit.) Some of the highlights of the gift exchange include Luke receiving Caitlin's Travel portfolio, Jonathan getting tampons and chocolate, and Chelsea getting Matt's World Lit book... that didn't really belong to Matt. The two most fought over gifts were an ACU t-shirt and present that had a bottle of lotion and a vacuum pack bag. The highlight though was afterwards. The girls were trying to get Matt to put on the small hot pink ACU shirt. He said he would put it on if Luke put on the robe that Anne received. He agreed... pictures follow... warning it is a disturbing picture. :)

Making Cookies

Caitlin and the Cake

Jonathan was so happy to to get Tampax! (These are actually a highly valuable commodity... He was one of three people in the house who doesn't properly appreciate it.)

Nikita got lots of fun stuff!

Being outnumbered three to one by women can have disturbing effects!

After the party, Eric and Emiliano came over. We all sat around and talked for awhile... a long while... it was great fun. It was nice that Eric could talk to Emiliano in his native language quickly, rather than us (mainly the students who can speak Spanish) trying to spend a long time trying to figure out how to explain something.

It was a great last Monday.

The Last Saturday and Sunday

At the party Saturday night, Dario had said something about Fabricio teaching class on Saturday morning. I had a hard time believing that he would get up and teach after the party, but headed to class anyway... sure enough... the gym was not open. I totally understood, as I was wiped out from being out late, and the party was still going when me left. I spent most of the rest of the day resting and working on packing.

In the evening, Rhonda and I went to Sylvia, Pedro, and Adoracion's house for tea. It was nice to go out to their house and visit. Afterwards, I came home and didn't do much and went to bed a little early. Unfortunately, a couple of the students woke me up about 20 min after I went to sleep... then I couldn't sleep for a couple of hours... I'm not bitter.

Sunday morning after worship, the church had a going way party for us. The party mainly consisted of visiting and them encouraging us to eat more and more food. Martin said some nice things about us, particularly Rhonda and I... I understood some of it. :) I keep thinking that I'm going to be able to understand everything everyone says... but I still can't understand everything, which is too be expected, but is sometimes frustrating. It was sad to have to start saying good-bye to everyone. I started taking pictures of groups of people, then one of the teens took over with my camera. I'll just show you a couple. :)

The church

After church, we headed to Raquel's for a cookout and a worship service with her church. It was nice, but I was getting super sleepy... as in I was having a hard time staying awake sitting outside... so I was really in trouble when the preaching started. It was really nice to get to go to Raquel's house though. Its funny, I hadn't been to anyone's house in the three months I had been here, then I went to two houses two days in a row.

When we got home from Raquel's, I went face down on my bed. I don't generally nap (as I think this was my second or third nap of the semester), but I wasn't going to make it if I didn't get some sleep. After a nice half hour nap, I got up and got ready for evening service. I was excited because Pedro, Sylvia's husband preached. We hadn't heard him preach yet. After church, we said more good-byes (I hate those.)

After church I came back to my apartment to work on packing and cleaning. Caitlin worked on her take home exam on my computer. After we both got stuff done, we went to dinner at Molto Bene... it might be my last Molto Bene meal. I was excited to have our usual waiter. That's one of the fun things here. We go to lots of hole in the wall type places, so we get to know the folks that work there. Its really pretty cool.

Well there you go... that's how I spent my last weekend... I know I'm fascinating.

Party at the Gym

Ok, so I was just saying yesterday that I didn't have anything new and exciting to talk about, then I decided to go to the zoo and last night there was a party at the gym. Both of which I guess can at least qualify as new. Its like when I'm in Abilene and my mom asks me what I've been doing. I often reply nothing. Then she teases me for after saying nothing proceeding to tell half and hour or hour worth of stories. Anyway...

About a month ago when I was paying for my last month at the gym, Fabricio asked when we were leaving. When I told him the 12th, he said, good, that we'd still be here for his party on the 8th. (Although it was later moved to the 7th.) I said I'd come, thinking oh it will be fun to get to meet people from the gym. As the time grew closer however, I realized, wait I don't like parties where I don't know people, then add the fact I can't speak to a lot of them. What was I thinking?

The party day finally arrived. During the 8 o'clock aerobics class you could tell Fabricio was getting excited. The lights and the disco ball were already up, and he turned them on during class, so there we were doing Body Combat under dance lights. It was funny.

About an hour after the party was supposed to start Anne, Kelsey, Caitlin, (the other girls that go to the gym) and I headed over. (Uruguayans are always late so we didn't want to be the first ones there.) When we round the corner there are a bunch of people, mostly guys, we don't recognize standing outside the gym talking. I think the girls walking in front actually stopped for a second. (I almost ran into them.) But we gathered our courage and went on. (Now understand, by this point I'm really think what in the world am I doing here???) When we pass the group to go in the gym I recognize several of the girls, which made me feel a bit better.

When we get in the gym the multi-colored lights are going and people are standing around in groups talking. (Mostly in all male or all female groups... its amazing how people never get past the junior high fear of mixing with the opposite sex.) So we are trying to figure out what to do, so we form our own little group. We start playing the "who are these people" game. Its really funny, because everyone at the gym pretty much sees each other with their hair pulled back, in their grossest clothes, with no make-up. Seeing people dressed up made it a bit of a challenge. So we stand there 10-15 minutes talking trying to figure out what to do next. One of the girls suggests we go find Fabricio and Dario.

So we brave walking to the other side of the gym. (OK... it really wasn't that scary, the middle of the gym was pretty much empty, but at the time we were so lost for what to do, it kind of was. Did I mention that I'm REALLY awkward in these situations???)

Well we find the guys and get to talking to Dario. He is so sweet. He was going on about how he and Fabricio had talked about us and how much they liked having us in class and how much they were going to miss us. At some point we got to talking about the music they used and Dario said that we needed a CD of it. Which we were REALLY excited about, because Kelsey and I had wanted to ask and never got the guts up to ask about it.

After half an hour or so, we eventually let Dario go, and moved into our own little group again, but at least we were further in the gym. It was fun to watch people eye us trying to decide whether or not to come talk to us. (Of course people will probably tell stories about how I was eying them... but I just really like to watch people.) This one group of guys would work their way closer... then move off... then work their way closer, again. It was pretty funny.

Eventually, one guy who was really out-going finally came and talked to us. Since he didn't speak any English (except for "I love you.") People realized that they could talk to us, so more people started to come over. The ones who didn't speak much English talked with Caitlin and Anne a lot, and there were several people who spoke good English who enjoyed practicing on Kelsey and I. (Although we did talk to people in Spanish some too.)

All in all... it turned out to be really fun. I think we all got at least one marriage proposal... of course it was from the same guy... I think Anne and Kelsey may have gotten two proposals. So that was my big Uruguayan party experience. It will be interesting to see people at the gym this week. :)

What to write about...

Now that I'm down to my last few days... I really don't know what to tell you about. We haven't been doing much new and exciting. In fact, I'm pretty much dead set on doing my normal stuff as much as possible, because those are the things that I love about being in Montevideo. The last couple of days have been focused on finishing classes and getting last things done. So other than doing school stuff, I've been going to aerobics, of course, going to church, and finishing souvenir shopping.

I'm very grateful that I'm not a student as they are going through lots of finals week stress. Tensions are running a bit high. I don't know if it is a defense mechanism against having to leave, but they are starting to let little things about each other get on their nerves a bit more. Luckily, as I have more of my own space (and I don't have to take any finals), so I haven't been as effected by this... of course I may be getting on their nerves.

Oh... since I started this blog entry, I did something semi-interesting. Eric came to lunch, and then he joined Caitlin and I on an expedition to the Montevideo zoo. Its really kind of a sad little zoo. On the way there, we ran into one of Eric's friends. When he heard we were going to the zoo, his comment was that he hoped the animals were alive.

There were live animals, so that was good. Not always in the happiest of conditions... but except for one duck, all the animals we saw were alive. Eric picked lots of grass and fed them to the animals. One llama in particular (the one in the picture) really had a thing for Eric. It followed him around. These particular llamas had a gerrymandering cage that went around other pens. So we'd be at other pens, and the llama would show up. It was a gorgeous day so the couple of mile walk to the zoo, wandering around the zoo, and the walk home was really fun. That and Eric and Caitlin are just fun to hang out with.

A Uruguayan Night

Last night, Eric Rama had Caitlin and I over for dinner. He lives in an apartment in the church building, so its just a matter of going out of CasaACU and up through the church building. Its kind of funny to go that way, because his apartment is on the same courtyard as my apartment and Caitlin's room, just up three floors.

Eric did an asada, which what else would an 18 year old guy and a Uruguayan do, but fix meat (and cheese). It was really good. When we got there he was still grilling tons of food. So we hung out on the balcony while he cooked. I think it was the first time I had seen the stars since I had been in the city. While he was cooking he'd give us sausage and cheese straight off the grill.

Once the food was ready we did the obvious thing and ate. Like when we went to the parilla with Eric and Ronnie, we ate and ate meat. It was good.

To make it a throughly Uruguayan night we had to do more than eat meat. After we finished eating, Eric boiled water and prepared the mate. So then we sat around taking turns drinking mate and talking for a couple of hours. Eric was much better at keeping up with whose turn it was than I was.

Yerba mate is a type of herbal tea that you drink out of a gourd, the mate, through a metal straw. The proper way to drink mate with a group is that you share one cup. The mate is filled with yerba mate, then filled with hot water. When it is your turn, you must drink all the mate until you hear the straw make the empty cup slurping noise. Then the mate refilled with hot water and passed on to the next person. People drink mate in Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, and Southern Brazil. Although it is the smallest country of the four, more mate is consumed in Uruguay than any of the other three.

Don't worry, if you don't quite understand. I'll let some of you experience this when I get home.

Anyway, it was a really fun mellow night. I'm glad that we've gotten to hang out with Eric more in the last couple of weeks.

Finishing Up

Our time is winding down here... its so hard to believe. (If you are wondering, I will probably mention the fact that I can't believe it is almost time to go home in every blog for the rest of my time here... prepare yourself.) This means though that we are trying to finish up lots of things. Classes are finishing up. Students are stressing over papers and exams. (I'm certainly glad that I'm not a student anymore.) It makes it even tougher that the weather is gorgeous and we have all the tourist things we want to finish up. Most of us also are doing lots of shopping trying to figure out what gifts we still need to get.

OK... most of my finishing up for the weekend was shopping, for the students it was studying. Evil teachers. Wahahahahaha!

Saturday, as usual, Kelsey, Anne and I went to aerobics. It was funny because they were taping the class. I didn't really catch the reason, but it meant Dario went through a real introduction to class and we had to do push-ups at the end. Anne and I got a little giggly because we were slipping because we were so sweaty. (Alright so I bit it on one push up when my knees slipped out from under me... yes I do girl push ups.) Dario gave us the "What are you doing... I'm having this taped" look.

In the afternoon, I headed to Punta Carretas, the fancy mall. I got out of the house partly because I was trying not to pester the students too much since they were trying to do school work. (Nanner Nanner Nanner) It was the first time I had been to the mall since our first week. I could almost believe that it is Christmas time being in the this mall, because there were decorations everywhere. (I still can't get used to December and consistent 80 degree weather.) One weird thing... I think I saw two different Santas in the mall. That will certainly mess with little kids.

When I got home, I started trying to sort out souvenirs and gifts. I think I'm only going to have one suitcase for souvenirs and the other for my clothes that I'm bringing back. :)

Saturday night, several of us went to dinner with Emiliano. He used to work at the restaurant that used to be next to CasaACU, so he got to know some of the students in the past. He came to the English classes and got to know Anne, his tutor well. It was fun... he's one of the people that I've gotten to be comfortable enough to speak Spanish too.

Sunday, I was excited because 9 of our 11 students came to church in the morning. That's the first time that many have been there in awhile. I think that means that they have really built relationships with the members at church, because with only 2 Sundays left, they wanted to be there. After church, I ate a quick lunch with Caitlin in my apartment then I went down the the ferria (market) in Parque Rodo. After I spent all my money, I came back to the house and tried not to pester the poor students. In the evening after church, I went to dinner with Luke and Anne. It was nice to hang out with them.

I spent the rest of the evening goofing off and trying to come up with what to say in chapel today. Being that it was my last chapel I wanted to be meaningful and significant, yada, yada, yada. (Too bad I'm not a deep and meaningful kind of girl.)

What to Bring to Uruguay

I know this post won't apply to most of you, but for my faithful readers who are coming down here, I thought I'd share my advice and I thought the rest of you might find this interesting.

Clothes
OK... No matter what people tell you that folks always or never wear here, you can find an example of the opposite. We live in an older more conservative neighborhood, so you are not going to see many women in shorts, short skirts, or low cut shirts. But you will see some, esp. when you move out of the neighborhood. (Most of the women don't even wear shorts at the gym, but we've given up blending in there anyway. And it is too hot for long pants there now.) Bring a pair or two of longer shorts, because if nothing else you'll need them when you go to Brazil. Most people tend to wear darker clothes, but not always. You mainly see both men and women wear pants, either black pants or blue jeans, but I've been here in late winter and spring, summer and fall might be completely different. One trick is that you'll be here over a couple of seasons, and so you need clothes for all sorts of weather. The other trick is that no matter what the "usual" temperature is... it only matters what it actually is when you are here so it could be unusually hot or cold. So here's a little advice about what to bring:

A week's worth of warm weather and cold weather clothes, a nice jacket for when its cold, some work out clothes because you have to go to Fabricio and Dario's gym, a couple of nicer outfits (I brought too many because I thought I might have to dress like a prof more than I do.) And a swim suit. But basically bring stuff you are going to enjoy wearing. (If you really need something you can probably buy it here anyway.) Oh and bring extra socks... they seem to disappear at the laundry.

Shoes
Bring comfortable shoes, you will walk a lot. The first day we walked a half mile to and from Tres Cruces and that seemed a long way away. (It didn't help that we were exhausted.) That mile round trip is nothing now. And we don't think anything about walking 2 miles to la Ciudad Vieja (the Old City). I mostly wear my black Sketchers that can pass as dressy or casual. I wear my tennis shoes some. Bring some sandals for when it is hot. I brought my hiking boots but have only worn them once or twice. The time I could have used them most on Spring Break, I left them behind because I didn't want to bring giant boots with me.

Toiletries
Don't bring much. You can buy shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, toothpaste, nail polish remover, etc. at the grocery store or at little shops around the corner. I would say bring enough to get you through the first couple weeks until you are comfortable finding and buying stuff, but save the room for other stuff you'll miss.

Medicine
Bring at least some of your own. I successfully bought some cold medicine and cough syrup in Chile, so you can buy it here. But you have to ask at the pharmacy, you can't just go in and pick it up. You can find pretty much everything here, its just figuring out what it is. I or my students have used pretty much everything I brought at some point including cold medicine, allergy medicine, pain killers (Ibuprofen is my best friend), anti-nausea, and anti-diarrhea. The only one that we never opened was Ex-lax, but I'd still bring that too. (I know waaaay too much info.)

Food
If you rely on peanut butter BRING IT! You might bring spices you want like McCormick's spaghetti mix and black pepper. You can actually find taco seasoning in packets in the exotic food section at the Disco (the fancy grocery store.) If you need green bean casserole at some point during the semester, you'll need the onions and cream of mushroom soup from home (although a cream sauce substitutes pretty well.) About the only other thing I kind of missed was Quaker granola bars. You can get them here but they aren't quite the same.

Books
Its tough to find books in English here. So if you want something to read for fun, bring a couple of books. You can always trade with other people in your group. I brought two slow read books so I'm not actually going to finish them before I leave. I haven't read as much as I thought I would this semester.

School supplies
If you are particular about your paper and notebooks bring them. Otherwise you can get everything here. The paper is different sized though and they seem to only put two holes in loose leaf paper. Pens, markers, etc. are no problem. (I'll leave my overhead projector pens, but if you are a teacher and want some you might bring them. While you can get dry erase markers, I couldn't find the Vis-a-Vis erasable overhead pens here.)

Random Stuff
You might want to bring a smaller duffel bag or backpacking backpack for spring break and other short trips. I ended up buying one here. If there are knick-knacks or pictures you will really miss, bring them... you will be gone for 3 and half months or so. Your laptop. USB drive/ pen drive/ whatever you want to call it. Multiple memory cards. A purse with a sturdy strap. Oh and bag for carrying around stuff with you are shopping. I've already written about the mommy bag, but I also like it because it looks beat up so you wouldn't expect a nice camera be in there. I also can put things I buy in there, so I'm not obviously carrying new purchases. DVD's. Febreeze would have come in handy. An iPod/ MP3 player is nice for bus trips. OH... gifts for people you meet here. I wish I had brought some... I've been thinking through the stuff I have that I'm going to give away.

Warning Discussion of Feminine Products is about to Commence
Ok... I could not fully feel like I have prepared you if I didn't talk about this. Sorry, guys if you are still reading, but I did give you a warning. Stop reading now if you are going to be embarrassed/ grossed out when I talk about periods starting in the next sentence. I would advise bringing enough tampons and/ or pads for your whole trip. (In fact I learned the hard way that you might want to plan for one extra time in case your body hates you... mine hates me.) You can buy both here, but we have only been able to find O.B. which don't use applicators. (Ew!... I know... better for the enviroment, less waste... but EW!) So if you want to use an applicator, bring your own tampons. I haven't bought pads here, but apparently they are smaller than the ones in North America. I don't really use them... but that's what Rhonda told me. I hadn't planned on bringing any tampons, but at the last minute I asked Rhonda about it and was glad I did.

Second half of the Brazil trip.

Tuesday - Paraguay

First I noticed we are up to 1000 hits. Wow! I thought I would post more regularly when we were in Brazil, but the internet wasn't what you would call just real reliable in Brazil, so now its time to catch up again.

Tuesday was our free day. Our fantastic escorts Andres, Carlito, and Palanca took most of us across the border into Paraguay. Rhonda, who didn't go with us, referred to this area as Walmart on crack. I could see why. It was fantastic fun. Stalls lined the streets with people selling everything. There were stores that sold electronics of all sorts. Apparently Paraguay is the cheapest place to buy electronics. There were tons of knock offs including the "Orange" brand of iPods, etc. We were offered socks every ten feet. I almost bought some just for the memories. We did find the nicest bathroom in South America, upstairs in the Mona Lisa which was the high class store. They had free toilet paper and it was soft. (Both of these things are very big deals.) After a couple of hours of looking around we headed back to the bus. We had to wait on the men, because they had a lot of shopping they wanted to do. We didn't take pictures until we got to the bus, because none of us wanted to be relieved of our cameras. While the drivers were out of the cockpit, Caitlin and I took advantage. Palanca just laughed and took pictures for us. Here are a few more pictures from Paraguay:

Its just weird to see a nativity scene when its ninety degrees outside.

Some of the stalls.

Instead of taking a regular taxi, you can take a MotoTaxi. You just hop on the back with one of these guys. (They do provide their riders with a helmet. Andres said this is what we should do if we got separated or wanted to stay later... UM... no!)


The bridge between the two countries was crazy with traffic and guys selling random things.

Wednesday

The Bird Park

Wilson joined us again for the day and took us to the Bird Park first. It was originally a hospital for birds who had been harmed by poachers. But people started to come to see the Macaws, Toucans and other birds, so they turned it into a bird zoo. It was great fun. I have 100's of great pictures of amazing birds, if you want to see all the pictures of the pretty birds, you'll have to come see them on my computer... or I have more uploaded on Facebook. Here are a few of my favorites though:

This toucan let us pet it.

This dinosaur looking bird can kill a human by kicking it with his huge feet!


Look... I'm holding a Macaw!


Brazilian Side of the Falls

After seeing the birds, we crossed the street to see the Iguazu Falls from the Brazilian side. As I said in the last post, you climb around the Falls on the Argentinian side and see a better panoramic on the Brazilian side. You also end up getting hit with a lot more spray on the Brazilian side. We at lunch on the other side of Devil's Throat and then hiked along the river to see the falls. We ran into a group of U.S. Congressmen at the very end including Randy Neugebauer. We posed for a picture with him... but unfortunately Andres had some issues with my camera and it didn't end up taking. It was kind of funny to run into Congressmen Neugebauer though. Here are some more pictures:

The Fantastic Andres who took such good care of us.

Luke, Chelsea, Anne, Kelsey, and Kimberly in front of Devil's Throat.

The whole group.

When we got back to the bus... this is how Palanca greeted us.

He then convinced Andres and Wilson to dress up too. The best part was after a couple of seconds, Wilson went on with his talk about the dam like nothing was going on. It was pretty great to hear about hydroelectric power from a Brazilian man wearing a floppy yellow hat.

Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam

After the falls we went up the Parana river to see the dam. It is the biggest dam in terms of power generation. 5% of the power generated from the dam, supplies 90% of Paraguay's energy. The other 95% I think supplies 20% of Brazil's energy.

Thursday - The trip home and Missiones, Argentina

Thursday morning, I wanted to do a little more shopping, so I got up to to go before we left at 11. On the way out of the hotel, I ran into Palanca who was also going out to go shopping, so we went shopping together, which was interesting since I barely understand him. I really only end to understand people who talk really slowly. Anyway, it was fun and a little weird. It was handy that he was there though, since I had left some of my money in the hotel, whoops, and didn't have enough to buy the flip-flops I wanted, but Palanca loaned me the money. At one point he stopped to buy underwear, which was a little weird. I'm pretty sure he did it just to get a reaction out of me.

We headed out around 11. We stopped in Missiones (that's a province), Argentina to see the ruins of a Jesuit Mission and to see the hour of Horacio Quiroga, a short story writer born in Uruguay. The rest of the trip home was pretty uneventful. I didn't sleep much of it. About the most exciting part was when the Uruguayan customs decided to inspect the bus at 3 AM. I think they were bored.

We got home around 9:30 on Friday morning. I, of course, changed quickly and headed to aerobics... because I am clearly insane. After aerobics, Rhonda and I went to the Old City to do some shopping. In the evening I went to aerobics again with Caitlin and Anne. I was ready to drop afterwards. That 4 hours of sleep, 2 aerobics classes, and a 2 mile walk to the Old City wasn't a fantastic idea. But I did get a great nights sleep last night! I'm all ready for my last week and a half here.

First Three Days in Brazil

OK… so I tried this post yesterday. And the computer ate my post after an hour or so. But here we go again with the first 3 days in Brazil.

Friday and Saturday – Bus trip and Arrival

We left Friday afternoon. We had our own bus which was nice because we could spread out and have two seats apiece, which was much nicer for sleeping. We had three awesome guys taking care of us. (And they’ve continued to take care of us all week.) Andrés is our tour guide. He doesn’t speak much English, but he speaks Spanish slowly enough that even I can generally understand. (Although I’m always afraid that I’m going to miss a key word like no or not that makes what I understand actually be the exact opposite… so I always double check with someone who speaks more Spanish than I do.) He gives extra great advice, like he rates bathrooms for us. Our bus drivers are Palanca and Carlitos. They are really fun too.

We had a good trip up… it was much nicer than when we had to share a bus with strangers. (The bus bathroom stayed much cleaner.) The scenery was beautiful and we just enjoy being together in general. It was also nice to have Andrés take care of all the border crossing too.

After 17 hours on the bus we arrived in Foz de Iguazu, Brazil. We got there early, and so only a few rooms were ready, including my closet of a room, which really was fine. So we went and wandered around for 45 minutes until everyone else’s room was ready. The others got in their rooms then Kimberly, Caitlin and I went to Pizza Hut. (I know… a little sad… but oh it was good.) We then went back to the hotel to recover from a night on the bus. Apparently Rhonda was appalled by the size of my room, so she got Andrés to get it changed for me. So I’m sitting on my bed when Andrés and a bellboy show up. They take me to one room and ask if it is ok. It was fine so I told them to give me 10 min… I don’t think they believed me so they gave me 15. Then Andrés says that they are taking me to another room to see if I like it better. I said it was fine… they wanted to know which I wanted. I didn’t know how to explain that the closet fine so either of the bigger rooms was great. I just stayed in the one we arrived in second. Apparently later Andrés told Rhonda I took the smaller one and he was surprised. Rhonda explained that I’m not picky.

Saturday night, we were supposed to go to the Iguazu Falls for a moonlight tour. But a thunderstorm put a damper on that plan. So we just ate at the hotel.

Sunday – Tres Fronteras and Moonlight Tour

Sunday, we had our own church service in the morning. For lunch we went to a big parilla buffet. Then we headed to Tres Fronteras where Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay all meet where the Iguazu River tees into the Paraná River. Paraguay is to the west of the Paraná, while both Brazil and Argentina are on the East with Brazil to the North or Iguazu and Argentina to the South. Because Brazil and Argentina are bordered by two rivers, they are represented by triangles and obelisks, while Paraguay is represented by a rectangle and a rectangular tower. In the picture Brazil is in the foreground, Argentina is on the left and Paraguay is on the right. We then headed to a big market to look at souvenirs.

Sunday night was clear so we could actually go to the falls. I couldn’t take pictures because it was too dark. So you will all have to come down here and see for yourselves, but it was amazing. The only picture I got was of this big fat frog/ toad. For dinner, we ate at another parilla buffet. We didn’t start eating until 11… so we all really enjoyed it.

Monday – Argentine Side of the Iguazu Falls

Monday morning we were met at 8:30 by Andrés and Wilson, a Brazilian ecologist who was to serve as our tour guide. Wilson speaks English, Portuguese, and Spanish (at least) and seems to know everything. He's pretty amazing, we really like him. On the Argentine side of the Falls we can get close to the falls, as in walk right over the top of them. Apparently you can actually see the falls better all at once on the Brazil side which we are going to later in the week. While Niagara is the largest fall in terms of volume of water, and Victoria is the tallest, Iguazu is the widest. We started the morning with a hike over several of the falls where we got to see lots of falls and lots of animals. Then we went on a boat ride that took us under one of the smaller falls and as close as we could get to the San Martin Falls. It was wild to see the huge splash coming up from the fall and over us. After getting thoroughly soaked, we went on a jeep ride through the jungle. The jungle around Iguazu is a secondary forest, meaning that it had been clear cut and this is the second growth. We then took at train and hiked back to Garganta del Diablo (The Devil’s Throat) which is the biggest most magnificent part of the falls. (Its the same part of the falls we went to the night before.) Then exhausted we returned to the hotel. Rather than trying to describe everything… I’ll just so you some pictures.

The Animals

The Coatis… They are kind of like raccoons.

Small Lizard

Big Lizard

Guinea Pig

A Cayman

Birds’ Nests

The Falls

The first view of the falls


I think this is Salta Goque Barnaraba Mendez

On November 26 when everyone at ACU was in class in cold weather. This Biochem class was in 85 degree weather in Argentina!

With Anne and Caitlin. The big splashy waterfall on the left is Salto San Martin, the one we went as close as we could. Unlike the "little" fall we went under this one was warm.

Why do they call it Devil's Throat, it doesn't look that big... look how calm the river is.

Oh...This is getting serious...


Aaahhhhhhhh!!!!!


Birds and the Rainbow

A bunch of "little" falls.

Something funny about our boat
When we pulled into the the dock and noticed the name of another boat:


"Holy Spirit" ... so we wondered what the name of our boat was:


Alex!