Better, better... awesome!

As my semester here continues to rush past me, I've managed to hold on to some pretty precious moments here in Argentina. One of those unforgettable moments took place over this past weekend. After much planning and schedule changing, a group of five friends and I managed to get on an omnibus and stick out 22 hours of travel to finally arrive at our long awaited destination: Puerto Iguazú in the province of Misiones.

We arrived late Saturday afternoon and were pleasantly surprised to find that our hostel was more like a hotel, no in-room bathrooms but with a pool, hammocks, and an outdoor grill, kitchen, and eating area. After getting settled in we decided to walk the 12 blocks or so to the Tres Fronteras, the border between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina which is separated by the rivers Igauzú and Paraná (see photo). After that, some of our group decided to take a guided excursion into the jungle; but knowing that the next day would be a long one at the Falls, and not feeling all too adventuresome, I decided to spend the afternoon perusing the local shops with a friend, relaxing by the pool, drinking mate and reading a good book. That night we went to the local supermercado, bought some spaghetti, tomato sauce, bread and chicken and made our very own feast on the patio of our hostel. Sound wonderful and relaxing yet? ... well it gets better.


The next day we got up around 9, ate bread, dulce de leche, facturas (pastries) and fresh squeezed orange juice for breakfast (yes, they prepared all this for us at the hostel), and left to catch a bus to el Parque Nacional Iguazú. The morning started with drizzling rain and overcast skies, but after about an hour in the park everything had cleared up and we were presented with the perfect weather. In this national park I spent just about the most beautiful, breath-taking, awe-inspiring seven hours of my life.

I was expecting the South American version of Niagra Falls, but what I got was SO much better... think Niagra x 10, with dozens of waterfalls at every turn. Add to that perfect blue skies, green plants and vibrantly red soil and it pretty much blows your socks off. If you can't manage to see my pictures on facebook you should google pictures of this place... then you should book your flight because the best pictures out there just can't do this place justice. Oh and we saved the best for last... before leaving the park we took a speedboat ride into the waterfalls. The boat edged up nice and slow for everyone to take pictures and just take it all in, then they quickly warned us to put our cameras away and they hit the gas. Let me tell you... there is nothing like being hammered by a waterfall not one, not two, but three times! And although we were completely and totally drenched afterwards it was completely and totally worth it.

That night we came back to the hostel, made more pasta (with homemade chorizo tomato cream sauce :) and spent another relaxing night in-house. In the morning, we went out to do a little more shopping in the small downtown area and headed to the bus station at 12:30 to spend another 22 hour bus ride back to Córdoba.

Besides this amazing weekend (or more like vacation) in Iguazú here's a few other novedades with regards to my life here:

1) I took my first two midterms last week in Culture and Social Psychology. I've already got back my psychology grade and I passed with flying colors which means I probably won't have to take the final ...studying does pay off :)

2) The homesickness is increasingly slowly and ironically correlating with my overall love of being here. The best way to explain this feeling is that I would like all my friends, family and favorite things (i.e.- OSU football, Schneider's donuts, and complete wardrobe) to come here so that I can continue living the life here in Argentina without having to miss anything.

3) I've started volunteering at a local colegio (grades k-12) and working with 5-7th graders on their English. Not only is English hard enough to teach as it is, but trying to think in both languages at the same time (basically deciding what language will come out of my mouth next) is even harder. But, I love working with these kids and we seem to share an unspoken, mutual respect for each other as we are both struggling to learn a foreign language.

4) And finally, perhaps my biggest news flash is that I've decided to change my return flight. But, before any of you start hyperventilating you should know that I've only extended it a little over two weeks. I will now be returning on December 14th rather than Novermber 28th. After looking over my schedule I decided I just wouldn't have time to do all the long-distance traveling I want to do it I leave immediately after finals... thus the flight change. So I'll be missing Thanksgiving, but I'll be home in plenty of time for Christmas (especially seeing as I'm getting a fair amount of my Christmas shopping out of the way here ;)

That's it for now everybody. ¡Hasta luego!