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.
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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment