Over a week ago we got back from our trip to Brazil. Better late than never to post, right?
After arriving at our hotel in Brazil, we spent the rest of the day exploring the grounds of the hotel (which were huge) and resting from the 22-hour bus ride. There was all sorts of stuff to see at the hotel. They had ostriches and cows and lots of peacocks running around. They had a pond with a small island in the middle with monkeys on it! Instead of being in a cage, they just lived on Monkey Island. The day we went out to explore the hotel, we were almost to Monkey Island when I tripped on the sidewalk and busted my knee open. I felt like I was 8 years old again. At first, I was afraid I had hit my camera on the ground when I fell, but it was fine. Whew!
The next day, we set out on our first adventure in Brazil, Parque do Aves. It was a bird park with tons of tropical birds like toucans and macaws. Instead of just having small cages for visitors to see the birds in, they had huge enclosed areas that we got to walk around in with the birds. That did actually end up being a bad thing though because I turned around on the pathway inside one of the bird cages one time and didn't see the little bird under my feet...yeah, I definitely kicked a toucan. He fluttered back down to the ground and looked up at me with this disgusted little bird look on his face. Sorry, little buddy.
Towards the end of the bird park, they had a parrot and a snake for people to hold, and, of course, I did both! The snake was rather large and I was NOT okay with it touching the back of my neck but whatever...And apparently I was holding my arm wrong when I held the parrot because he climbed up on my shoulder. I thought that was awesome (because I felt like a pirate) until he started pecking me on the head. Come to think of it, I bet that toucan I kicked had conspired against me with the parrot...
After the bird park, we went out to the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls National Park. (The falls are on a river that runs between Brazil and Argentina.) Just for fun, and to give you a better idea of what we saw, I looked up Iguazu Falls on the World Waterfall Database (bet you didn't even know there was one). Iguazu, although nowhere near the tallest waterfall in the world, ranked as one of WWD's Top Ten Waterfalls. Compared to Niagra Falls (which did NOT rank in the Top Ten) Iguazu is 100 feet taller and 5000 feet wider. Niagra's Scenic Rating, according to the Database is 67 out of 100. Iguazu's rating is 87.
So obviously, the falls at Iguazu were stunning. We spent hours there walking around the catwalks over the falls and even taking pictures from a elevated platform over the falls.
The next day, we drove across the border into Argentina to see their side of the Iguazu park. They have a saying in that area that "Argentina has the falls; Brazil has the view," and I agreed with it until we got to La Garganta del Diablo. The Devil's Throat is at the head of all the falls, and I'm pretty sure that's where most of the water falls (the first time, anyway). The river above the Throat was fairly calm and then it just dropped through a huge horseshoe-shaped hole that looked like a throat. Incredible!
The rest of the week included a moonlight dinner at the falls where we all got dressed up and then SOAKED from the high water and mist at the Devil's Throat.
We also spent a few hours in Paraguay at Ciudad del Este, shopping. I got a great deal on a Paraguay fútbol jersey and the pleasure of saying that I had been in three different countries in one day. We stopped at one place where the two river borders come together so you can see all three (Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay) at the same time.
One day Joanna, Lindsey, and I went walking around trying to find an artisan market for shopping. We eventually found Joanna some cool shoes, but also found a dancing donkey. What a surprise! This little excursion also gave Lindsey the chance to show off her clever Portugese skills. She interpreted a street sign that said "Bebeu? Não Dirija" as "Bebe...Need a Drink?" Which is especially funny since I'm pretty sure it mean "Don't drink and drive." Close enough, Linz.
Oh, we also took a tour of Itaipu Dam, the leading hydroelectric dam in the world in power production. There's not much to say about it except that...it's big. Really big.
And one day, we went into an actual village of the native people of those jungles, the Guaraní. It was amazing to see what all they do by hand. Not just crafts but animal traps, too. They dress fairly modern, but it was common for the small children to run around naked. The whole experience was really eye-opening because it looked just like the scenes from those dollar-a-day world help commercials in the way that the kids were sitting on the dirt (or maybe in or among the dirt is more accurate). But being there first-hand I got to see the things they don't show in those commercials. I saw their schools where they learned their own history and language in order to preserve their way of life. They also have a school where they learn Spanish or another widely-used language so they can grow to help their village to function in the world.
Within the village, there were government-built houses. They told us that it was not uncommon for them to use the government houses as storage and live in the mud-brick houses they've used for centuries. It's not that they're not grateful, but that mud houses are cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. What I realized was that just because their kids are dirty doesn't mean they're poor or underdeveloped. They live that way because it's more practical to them and because they WANT to. That's what makes sense to them. This trip helped strengthen the idea in my mind that, although there are people in the world who need physical help, we should not be so quick to decide who needs it based on the way they live.
Ok, suffer the rant no longer. I apologize for this post being so late, but it's been a busy week. In more recent news, 6 of us are headed for the bottom of the world this weekend: Ushuaia. There'll be penguins and glaciers and incredible views and (yes, Don) Tierra del Fuego souvenirs.
