This weekend I traveled all the way to the border of Argentina and Brazil to one of the newly named wonders of the world Iguazu Falls. This trip required an 18 hour bus ride on the way there. I sat on the second story of a double-decker bus anxious to start our journey. My four travel partners, all girls, and I planned on leaving Friday night and arriving in the afternoon Saturday. That would give us time to explore the city a little and secure a place to stay the night. Sunday would be spent all day at the waterfalls and then we would ride the bus through the night Sunday night to return home the next Monday. This was the perfect weekend to take this extensive trip because that Monday was the Argentine Independence Day (July 9^th). They use it as a day of rest and to get together with family; we would use it for a day to travel.

“I see friends shaking hands…..sayin.. how do you do”

As I sat on the bus, the sky was already dark. We left the station and I watched the lights of the city slowly pass. Soon the lights crossed my window faster and faster as the fast pace of the city faded away. I saw some soccer players practicing under light just before everything was out of sight. Just darkness remained out of my window. The voices in the bus were real low as the girls in my group sat in a row. I sat in front of them next to a small young looking girl. She gazed out the same window I noticed her waving through earlier to a very nice looking elderly couple, probably her grandparents. All of a sudden there was a little bit of a scramble as someone was fallowed up the stairs by one of the bus employees. After a while it subsided. I looked over to the girl next to me and mouthed the words in English, “What, just, happen?” She shrugged and that broke the ice. For the next several hours I talked to her about many things. I found out her name is Anita and she was just finishing high school and is 18 like my sister. I felt like Katniss in The Hunger Game when she meets Rue. She reminds her of her sister Prim and finally has an ally in the arena. I too now had an ally in this arena. I asked her basic questions about herself and told her about me. I learned a lot as she was patient with me. She also wants to be a teacher and I know she will be a great one with how well she taught me.

 “I see trees of green…….. Red roses too”

We finally arrived in Puerto Iguazu, which is the city closest to Iguazu National Park. We explored the city and found somewhere to stay the night. I enjoyed being out of the city atmosphere. Seeing how the terrain changed as we continued north was very interesting. There were parts very similar to Oregon mixed with tropical features. I enjoyed seeing evergreens mixed with palm trees. Mostly there were just fields with or without cows. The province of Misiones is known for its red dirt. This unique ground became vibrant in contrast with sidewalks and tiles, now stained red.

“I see skies of blue….. clouds of white”

We finally arrived at the waterfalls Sunday morning and could not have asked for better weather. The day before was gray and overcast. Overnight, the clouds rolled away leaving and beautiful blue sky. At the park we split into two squadrons and dove right in. The “hike through the jungle” was not quite as rustic as Annie and I had imagined as we hurried ahead excited and with no idea how much time we would need to see all of this wonder. We walked and walked until we reached the first sign marked for a waterfall, “Garganta del Diablo” (Devils throat). We went for it not realizing how long our journey would be until we finally reached this massive waterfall. We continued over nearly a mile from island to island over the river that fed into the 500ft. across waterfall. We knew we were getting close when we could see the steam column that spit high in the air over the mouth of this beast caused by the blunt force of tons upon tons of water cast down 90 yards. This natural power forced out attention. I felt sucked in fascinated by this wonder. The spray felt cool against my face as I gazed hypnotized over the railing. I walked away in awe with just a couple of the drops of water that made up this massive marvel still on my face.

“The colors of a rainbow…..so pretty ..in the sky”

Next, we went down below where you can get a panoramic view of all the waterfalls. I suffered from sensory overload with some of these scenes. I watched a perfect picture of a jungle get painted in front of me as I walked along the path. I did not want to look down for a second in fear of missing something. I saw exactly what I thought of if I were to imagine a tropical paradise. Birds flew above the trees of San Martin Island that was thick with rich jungle foliage. Massive waterfalls clashed on both sides of this island as a stood dazed. We stood under the waterfalls and watched the white water bend over the cliff and then rocket down towards us. The thunderous sound drowned out any worry in the world.

We then finished walked across the top of the waterfalls seeing the view the water has just before it curls down and plummets to the world below. The sun rays hitting the mist in the air made rainbows so vivid I swear I could have felt them. There was one point when there was even a double rainbow all the way! To say I enjoyed this once in a life time experience would be an understatement. The only thing I regret is not being able to harvest this amazement that was so tangible as my senses heightened to experience this wonder of the world.

~Cain

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This weekend was absolutely exceptional! I’ve been in Rosario for two weeks now, and the constant rush of the city is rather different than what I’m used to. It was very refreshing to have a break from the hussle and bussle and see the wonderful Iguazu Falls in Misiones, Argentina.

The trip started with an 18 hour bus ride from Rosario to Iguazu. After the night long trip we wandered around the city of Iguazu to find a hostel. My Spanish has been improving so much, that I didn’t feel nervous at all about asking for directions and prices for rooms. We ate some pizza and ice cream. (The shop in the picture is owned by a man who makes his own ice cream with all of his original recipees!)

After staying Saturday night at the hostel, we took another bus to to the falls. It was seriously the most breathtaking thing I have ever seen! There are 3 different trails to see the 150-300 different waterfalls! The river and the falls separate Brazil and Argentina It is an absolute spectacle, almost terrifying to to behold. There are three trails to see the different falls. One leads down to see under one of the falls, one is above, and the last leads to the Garganta del Diablo (the throat of the devil) which over half the river tumbles down.

On one of the trails a butterfly came and landed on my hand. He stayed there for about a half hour! (I don’t know why he liked me so much!) We also saw a Tucan! And, I got attacked by some coatis. I set my backpack down to rest for a moment, and about ten coatis (small rodent-like creatures) smelled the Oreo’s and started swarming. One jumped inside my backpack and wouldn’t let go! I was scared for my life for a breif moment…

After the falls, we had another 18 hour bus ride back to Rosario. I had bought my ticket separately then the rest of the group and I didn’t know that they bought the seats for the bottom floor of the bus, and I accidentally bought mine for the top floor. I was sad at first, to be all alone, but it was actually a blessing in disguise since I met some new friends!

The guy sitting next to me was named Eduardo, and we talked for about 5 hours about all the politics of Argentina. He was a computer scientist and is getting married next month. He explained that secondary education in Argentina is free, because Education should be accessible to everyone. I completely agree with this, and it has given me a new perspective of how a country can educate their people. This is something I am still grappling with, since Eduardo and also my host mother have talked about how it has it’s pro’s and con’s. We talked all about the politics of Argentina and the importance and also disadvantages of everyone having their own opinion in a society. I finally fell asleep at about 1am, and when I woke up Eduardo was gone.

Sitting on the other side of the isle was a group of guys making jokes and drinking mate. (The traditional green tea of Argentina. Everybody drinks Mate!!!! You drink from a small gourd and a metal straw, and all the of the shops sell them, and everyone and their grandmother can be seen drinking mate on street corners or at their work. It’s highly strong, caffeinated and addictive, and it has great health benefits!) Anyway, so they offered me some Mate and we started talking. Turns out they were a group of Marines from the Argentine army that has a base on the other side of Rosario. They were very nice, and they also taught me some useful Argentine slang. It made the rest of the trip a breeze!

So that was my wonderful weekend, it’s just one adventure after the last. I am excited and ready for whatever happens next!  Emily

I have just gone to the most amazing place that I have ever experienced, Iguazu Falls! A group of us took an 18 hour bus ride to a different province to see this wonder of the world. And oh was it worth it. I bet all of the WOU students will blog about it, if they already haven’t because it was just that amazing. Now, I have never been to the famous Niagara falls before, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I can tell you that I have no interest to go see those falls anymore. Iguazu was breath taking. It was well worth all the money spent and the long hours on buses that seemed to never end. We went for a whole weekend and unfortunately most of it was spent riding buses. But the time that we did spend at the falls, almost 8 hours was a must see. First we walked down onto the lower trail to see the falls from below and then we made our way to the upper trail to look down as they fall. Then for the grand finale, we went to the garganta! It’s the mouth of the falls. It was huge and the most amazing site to my eyes. If anyone is ever in Argentina or South America for that matter, then going to Iguazu Falls is a MUST!

These photos don’t even do the falls justice, but I want everyone to see what they are missing out on!

I hope you are thinking that this place is amazing, because it totally is. Now just one more picture for the road…

How many of you are jealous of me right now? It’s still hard to believe that I actually made it there. Can’t wait to see what else is in store for me here in Argentina!  Melissa

A Monumental Occasion in the Park

I was excited to see what waited on the other side of our long bus ride from Buenos Aires to Rosario. The weather was poor for the first time the whole trip as we sat on the second story of our double-decker bus gazing through the haze at the blurred vision of the fading capital of Argentina. We all tried to catch up on sleep as much as possible as we made our trip to Rosario wondering what it would be like. Finally, we arrived! Karie warned us about the taxi drivers from her experience the year before. (They had to take one taxi for each person to the hotel, and there were 14 people in the group.) This year we found two amazing taxi drivers that were willing for fit all seven of us in two taxis with our luggage. After we unfolded from our clown cars, we enjoyed a nice evening excited to me our host families the next day.

Soon enough, the time had arrived. We were all wisped away by nice ladies excited to be hosting us. My host mom’s name is Marilyn. Fortunately for me, she lives very close to the school. I can walk to class in three minutes. She is very good about gagging what level of help or instruction I need. This ability comes from experience gained from students she has hosted in the past. I make her 24^th! Once she knew I was situated in my room, she told me I should go out and see the city. Of course, she was right. The city of Rosario is beautiful. My house is on the main street, Cordoba. I walked down this street enjoying the beautiful Sunday afternoon.

At the end of Cordoba is a beautiful monument, which is the monument to the flag. I was not expecting it to be so big. I really enjoyed just walking around and taking in its magnificence. I did not have to talk. I did not have to listen. All I did was looked, and what I saw was beautiful. There are some attributes that translate through culture innately. Someone from a different culture cannot deny that the Great Wall of China is indeed “great” or the Grand Canyon is actually “Grand” by which they are named. That person may not personally like the object, but certain structures possess inherent greatness. This monument with an eternal flame and view of the river close by is one of them.

This river close by is the Paraná. This is one of the most important and largest river systems in South America. One of the reasons Rosario is such an important city is because of this Paraná River. It runs through Brazil then Rosario and connects to the Atlantic Ocean in Buenos Aires. This River is also the area with the highest wealth. The farther away from the river you get in Rosario, the poorer the neighborhoods get. Along this river are beautiful parks that are opportune for people watching. I did not need to say anything, but just sit and watch. My attention was drawn to the children. The qualities they possess are the same in all cultures. I saw a little girl that could barely walk holding onto her parents bobbing up and down to the music, people smiling and laughing enjoying the sun, and people playing; most of all, I saw the characteristics of people alike all around to world. So many attributes unify humans around the world. The world becomes a better place when we choice to be unified rather than pick out differences. By design, humans long for relationship. We are not in this world alone for a reason. We need to remember that and build relationships with each other to collectively make this global community a better place.

~Cain