Why on Earth do I have 10 Argentine stamps in my passport?

I realize that I tend to harp about how being a tourist is lame and how being in big groups is lamer. But to be completely honest, I thoroughly enjoyed our large group (30 people) trip to Brazil. We drove (which sounds horrible) in a double decker tour bus. It was actually amazing because it gave us a base of operations and was remarkably comfortable. For the most part, I had my own seat (although I occasionally shared with Krista or Karen, which was also fine). We could actually lean back and sleep in our seats without crushing the person behind us. There was airconditioning on the bus. Most importantly, our guides/interpreters/whatever else were amazing. Andres and Mauricio (the coolest father-son pair ever) were fun, nice, patient, and accommodating. They even took a bunch of people to a mall in Iguaçu (so that they could stave off boredom) on their night off. Plus, I got to spend a lot of time chillin’ in the hotel, where I shared a room with Holly. Yay for getting to know people better!

Anywho, Brazil was the perfect mix of down time and scheduled activity for me. I had plenty of time to nap and read my 1006 page novel (Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, fyi). But we also got to do a lot of exciting things

Horacio Quiroga’s Homestead

The man himself may be dead, but his house still generates a lot of attention. Quiroga was the Edgar Allen Poe of South America. He even built his house and raised his children in the Argentine jungles amongst the wild animals. We spent a small amount of time at his house, looking at old pictures of him and seeing the life of an author that we’ve read in Latin America and the Arts.

Jesuit Ruins

When the Spanish and Portuguese conquered South America, they brought Catholicism with them in the form of missions, which were set up to “civilize” the indigenous people (meaning teach them to think and act like Europeans or, at least, be good servants for their European masters). Despite my cynicism, I have to admit that the Jesuits also did a lot of good in their missions, often saving the people from slave traders and incorporating native traditions into Christianity to make it an understandable religion. They ended up converting a large portion of the population to Christianity. To see the best and worst of this time period, watch the Roberg DeNiro film The Mission. We got to see the ruin of one such mission, which had housing for the people who chose to live there, a hospital, a central kitchen, a library, a church, and a school for the children. It was a really interesting place.

Foz do Iguaçu

We got to see both the Argentine and Brazilian side of this waterfall, which was a lot more exciting than it sounds. Our guide Carlos is a biology major at some Brazilian university (that I can’t remember the name of because Portuguese sounds like gibberish to me). He knew a lot about the forests that we walked through. (The falls are surrounded by protected forest zones on both sides.) Highlights included seeing Capuchin monkeys, a rare woodpecker, and coatis. Surprisingly enough, the two sides were really different. The Argentine side can’t be beat for sure grandeur, with the majority spectacular waterfalls on this side. It’s really lush, green, and wet. The Brazilian side was equally beautiful, though. It didn’t seem to be as much of a waterfall as a series of lagoons that would be a perfect place to do another film adaptation of Peter Pan. There were, of course, waterfalls here too, but they seemed smaller and there was a lot more exposed rock. I can’t do either side justice, so you’ll just have to wait for pictures.

Parque das Aves

The name sounds more German than Portuguese to me, but regardless this was a bird park in Brazil. We wandered up and down paths looking at a bunch of indigenous bird species in cages. Some of the cages (three if I’m remembering correctly) were made for people to walk through. We got to go in a cage with hummingbirds and butterflies, a representation of a swamp, and a cage full of macaws. They also had a boa constrictor in a glass case and a couple of caimans. The most exciting part of it all, though, was making a toucan friend. Karen and I fell way behind the group in the swamp cage and watched this toucan that was really aggressive in approaching people. Finally, we got up the nerve to go up to him. He held on to my finger with his beak (but didn’t bite) and let us pet his beak and back. Much like Kai (my cat, for those of you who don’t know), he did not enjoy having his belly petted. We probably stayed with him for 10 minutes and he was a lot of fun. I wanted to name him Pablo (for no particular reason other than he looked like a Pablo to me) but in the end we decided on Poder (which is the infinitive of the verb meaning “to be able to” or…… “to can”) Get it????? I know. We’re very clever. In the end, we had to leave because our group was in some other part of the park entirely and a woman had come in to the swamp and scared Poder (leading him to bite me and fly away). Que triste.

Paraguay

We spent 3 hours in the busy city Cuidad del Este, which is basically a major shopping center. There are malls galore and shops explode out onto the streets as well. Lots to buy, some stuff is probably illegal. On the positive side, I had amazing fries in the food court at the AmericanShopping mall. Needless to say, 3 hours was enough for me.

Itaipu Dam

Okay, so I’ve got to admit that the best part of this tour was all the dam jokes, initiated by one Dr. Kenneth Cukrowski, I might add. But really, the dam was an interesting tour. Of course, there was all sorts of information about how the company was socially and environmentally active (and no mention of the environmental damage caused by building dams), but I still enjoyed it as a whole. Itaipu Dam is the 4^th largest hydroelectric dam in the world and supplies the majority of the power needs of both Brazil and Paraguay. Plus, we got to see one of the spillways open and even a man-made waterfall is fun to watch. Ken and I thought that they could make a lot of money by letting adventure-seeking tourists ride a tube down the spill-way and parasail off of the edge into the river below. I know I’d do it.

Guaraní Tribe

On our day off, Carlos, Mauricio, and Andres took some of us back into Argentina to visit the Guaraní, an indigenous tribe who lives around the Iguaçu river and has managed to maintain a lot of their traditional way of life. I found them really interesting, so there will be a blog to follow about them later.

Random points of interest
1. There’s a soft drink that’s only found in Brazil called guaraná. I really like it. In fact, I’m bringing some home.
2. We went to a very nice buffet/dinner show one night that featured song and dance from around South America. Among other delicious foods, I ate chicken heart and cebou (think Veggie Tales Silly Songs with Larry). Yummy.
3. Our hotel room had a TV, which allowed me to watch some programming in English. I enjoyed the French channel more.
4. Brazil has real cheddar cheese and puts it on their burgers!!!! That might have been the highlight of my trip.
5. Bee stings hurt just as much in Brazil as they do in the States. :-( I found that one out the hard way.

That's all for today, folks. Hope you enjoy. I'll post again soon. Promise.