Iguassu Falls

Okay, so where did we leave off? Oh yeah, so the Jesus taxi took us from the Brazil/Paraguay border to the hostel where we were staying, Hostel Bambu. It is actually a super nice hostel and was the same price as the moldy old hotel we stayed at in Ciudad del Este...and that was for a private room at the hostel. I have only stayed in just two or three other hostels before this one so it was fun to stay at a hostel again. The people staying at the hostel were pretty cool and not creepy (probably because it is a nicer, more expensive hostel). It is fun meeting people from all over the world who also love to travel and who don't want the name of their place of work engraven on their headstones like this...



Jane Doe
Born: August 2, 1921
Died: March 9, 2008
Dedicated employee of ARUP Laboratories for 48 years
That's it folks, that is all Jane did...work!



That's what I sometimes feel some people do with their lives. I also feel that most employeers love when they do. I mean I'm not anti work or anything...I just think it is sad when people don't have any adventures in their lives or when they let work get in the way of family, friends, or just living and experiencing life. So I like meeting people who are experiencing life and to them work is just something you do in between adventures so that you can pay for your adventures. That is more my philosophy. Of course it is a little different if you have a family and kids and stuff but so far that is not part of my life, so until then, I'm on the adventure track.





ANYWAY...back on subject. So we got to our nice hostel as you can see in this picture and luckily were able to check in pretty early so we dropped off our stuff, went to the grocery store to get some stuff for lunch and headed to Iguassu Falls National Park in Brasil. Of course with a group it took forever for us to get there...you know how groups are. But we did get there and first thing a few of us decided to go on a boat ride that takes you right below some of the smaller falls and there is a little ride through the jungle in a jeep to take you to where you get on the boat so that is fun too.

There were tons of cool butterflies by where we got onto the boat. Actually there were tons of cool butterflies in the whole park.

So here's how I thought the boat ride would be. We would take the boat near the falls, take some beautiful pictures, maybe get a little damp from the mist from the falls and then go back. So I bought a little poncho for like 3 bucks or something just to keep the mist from making my hair flat (since there is a very direct relation to my self esteem and how my hair looks).
Unfortunately that's not how it was. They did drive us around the falls and let us take some pictures. It was nice and peaceful on the water and the view of the falls from the water was amazing. But then all of a sudden it was as if Evel Knievel took over as driver of our boat and the next thing they did was give us all plastic bags to put our cameras in and our new driver Evel revs up the engine of the boat and goes full speed into the falls...

like this. But they actually drive you right under the falls, even closer to the falls then this picture shows. So of course the pressure of the water coming down from the falls and hitting me rips a huge hole in my little cheapy poncho in like 10 seconds and water is pouring in under my poncho. I'm not talking like being in the shower type getting wet. I'm talking like having someone dump barrells of water on your head getting wet. The whole time I'm half laughing, half crying. Laughing and thinking to myself 'boy this would be fun if I wasn't worried about what my hair is going to look like.' And crying, or wanting to cry, becasue I knew what I was going to look like the rest of the day. Oh it is tough being me.

Despite the unexpected ruin of my perfectly good hair day, it was still pretty cool. I mean, look at this picture above...isn't it amazing?

However here's a little advice I'll give you all if you go to Iguassu. Do the boat thing, but do it at the very end of the day so you won't have to walk around all day wet, you won't have to feel crappy about yourself all day, and you'll be able to get some nice pictures of yourself at Iguassu Falls. That's what I wish I would have done.

But luckily being the prepared person that I am I was able to get back to looking moderately decent. I used the boat ride back to the dock as my hairdryer and then I had hairspray and a pick in my bag and was able to fix my hair somewhat. I also had some of my makeup with me too so I could touch that up a bit. I just wish I had a change of clothes and my flat iron with me, but oh well, you can't carry everything around with you.

So that should explain to you all why most of the pictures posted here do not include me. I was not looking my best that day and don't need everyone to see too much evidence of that. And I really just wanted to get at least one great picture of me at the falls. Dang. I guess the good thing is that this probably won't be my last trip to Iguassu so I guess I'll get some better pics next time.

Anyway, Iguassu Falls is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. It just goes on and on and on. You can't even see it all at once unless you are in a helicopter (which I am going to do the next time I'm at the falls). This picture above is just part of the falls. And in most places there are sort of two tiers to the falls...so it is even double as amazing.

I went to Niagara Falls about 10 years ago. I totally forgot that I had even been there and didn't remember until I came across a picture of me at Niagara awhile back and I was like, 'What? I've been to Niagara? Oh yeah, I kind of remember that.' I won't ever forget having been to Iguassu though. It is absolutely in the top 5 most beautiful places I've been to... and I get around.

Man, and I thought I wore dumb shoes to Iguassu! Check out those heels!

Me after I dried off a bit.

I thought it was funny how this Asian chick was posing so I took a picture. The picture actually turned out pretty cool though. I wish I knew who she was and I'd send it to her. If any of you know her, please let her know that I have this great picture of her. When I go back to Iguassu I'm going to take a picture of me just like this one of her and I'll label it "I'm on top of the Worllllllllllllllllllllllllllllld!"

They never grow out of it, do they? Okay, I know that I am totally sterotyping here...or am I? Maybe they are just proving to me the validity of the sterotypes.

Don't judge me by my hair. Just look at the falls behind me, aren't they amazing?

I think that this might be my favorite picture that I took...the rushing water with boulders sticking out of it, the falls, the rainbow...gorgeous!

We stayed for the sunset. WOW.

The end of Iguassu for now. Was it amazing? Yes. Would I recommend going there? Highly.

That night after Iguassu we went to an all you can eat Brazillian meat place, like Rodillio Grill, and I ate my share of red meat for the next year. It is a good thing that I normally don't eat much meat! Then most of the group went out partying and I went back to the hostel like a little nerd. One other guy in our group didn't go out and party either though. I guess hanging out with a bunch of people that are smoking and drinking doesn't sound that fun to me unless there is at least an amazing band playing or something else to entertain me with while everyone else entertains themself with alcohol. I haven't had any problems being the only Mormon in the group. Everybody seems to respect my way of living as I try to respect theirs too. It is just interesting how eye opening it has all been to me. I mean, I knew that not drinking, not smoking, not having sex, etc is not normal out in the world for someone my age. But sometimes I forget that I am the not normal one...that I am in the minority big time... until I am in a situation where I'm the only LDS person...a situation I haven't been in a lot in my life.

So Sunday morning I got up early and got ready to go to church. I was hoping that I would be able to split off from the group for awhile and go to church without holding the group up or making people feel like I felt like I was all righteous and holy. And luckily the Lord provided a way for me...everyone else was so plastered from the night before and had gotten in so late that they weren't even up when I left to go to church and were just getting up and ready when I got back three hours later. I don't think that most of them even knew I had been anywhere. So just as the Lord used alcohol so that the people of Limhi could escape from the Lamanites, He used it so that I could escape for a bit and go to church.

I didn't know exactly where the church was in Foz do Iguassu...the little town in Brasil where we were staying but I did have the address of the church. So Sunday morning I went to search for the church and what do you know, it was just around the corner from our hostel. Awesome. Church was great. Luckily most church words in Spanish and Portuguese are very similar so in the church setting I probably understand 85 to 90 percent of tht Portuguese whereas in other settings I probably only understand 65 or 70 percent. I'm getting better at understanding Portuguese too. I hope I can get to the point where I understand everything even if I don't speak it.

I love how the church is relatively the same everywhere. The Relief Society President was wearing a sweater that said in huge words filling the entire front of her sweater, "GIANT TRUE LOVE GIRL." I'm not sure what that means exactly...it was written in English...I still don't get it though. It is so funny how they love things with writing in English on them even if they are weird like that. Anyway, I just love how nice the members are, I love that all the church materials are the same, and I love the different spirit you see with people that are members of the church then you see with other people in the country. Anyway, I'm glad that the "Lamanites" got drunk so I could go to church!

The bathroom at our hostel had this sign on the door. It looks like it means it is a couples only bathroom, but all the bathrooms at the hostel had the same sign...so what's a single person to do? So I just used the bathroom anyway. Single people have needs too!

Later on Sunday we crossed back over into Paraguay. This picture above is in the area where Paraguay, Brasil, and Argentina meet. It is actally quite beautiful.

The trip was fun. I wish I could have been with members of my family or some of my good Spinster traveling buds instead of people I don't know very well. But it was still fun and I'm so glad I got to go!

Now I know that this is a long post. I have heard some complaints that my posts are too long. But, this is my blog and ever since I started blogging I don't really write in my journal anymore, so I like to get down some of the details. So, if you are someone who doesn't like to read my long posts or who has a hard time reading...don't worry, you can just look at the pictures. The end.