In which I get completely soaked

Before we even got to Iguazu, New Guy and I decided we were definitely going to do the boat tour. It's 20 minutes on the river along the ...and who knew...a complete soaking under the falls.

It was better than Disneyland! We went entirely under the falls twice. I was soaked. Best thing ever.

From Iguazu

We rode a little train to the half mile walkway over to La Garganta del Diablo...a three sided incredible falls experience. It's an elevated walkway over the Iguazu River...it's quite peaceful.

From Iguazu

As we were walking back I got a text message...T-Mobile's got coverage even in the middle of nowhere.

Poor Niagra

It's rumored that Eleanor Roosevelt said, upon first seeing Iguazu Falls: Poor Niagra. Now, I've never seen Niagra Falls, but Iguazu Falls is certainly incredible! New Guy and I caught a plane to Iguazu (where Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet in the Northern part of Argentina) this afternoon. We decided that we couldn't be this close to an amazing sight and not see it. We'll be here for about 24 hours before we return to Buenos Aires just in time to catch our plane back to the States.

It is absolutely immense and impressive. And I've taken tons of fotos so far. We took a few hours to walk around the park before it closed today.

We're going to take a boat tour tomorrow morning then will go off hiking to see more of the Falls. Seriously...it's amazing.  You know more fotos will follow.  

I will not be posting again until after I return to the Unites, and if you're in my immediate family (whether related by blood or not) I'll give you a call or send you a text to let you know I've arrived back safely to the Unites, and then I'll be sleeping for a long, long time.  

Hello Buenos Aires!

Made it to Buenos Aires.  Our bus left at midnight and we got here around 4 am.  Upon arrival I was told that all of the rooms I'd booked in my name were given free upgrades to the Luxury Tower.  Let me tell you, it certainly pays to take 5 minutes before you book a hotel room and sign up for their Frequent Stayer program.  It is luxurious.  After 3 weeks of being in a not luxury hotel, I almost want to stay here tomorrow instead of go where I'm going tomorrow.  Stay tuned for details.  

Here's the hotel we're at.  And the bellman just brought up my luggage...and rang my doorbell.  There's a doorbell to my room.  I don't even have a doorbell to my apartment.  Crazy!

I noticed this wonderful feature in the bathroom this morning.  An ashtray next to the TP dispenser.  They thought of EVERYTHING.

Mayonesa

Argentines are fond of their mayonnaise. This is just part of a shelf at the grocery store that is full of mayo. FULL. It was all in little foil pouches. No glass or plastic jars. What I really thought was awesome is that they sell Salsa Golf (pre-mixed mayo-ketchup/fry sauce). We need to get some of that.

We head to Buenos Aires tomorrow. I'm really going to miss the people here. They are wonderful. And I really wish Hunter would invent that transporter already...I'm not looking forward to the long flight home.

No air

There are many things I love about Argentina...one of them is that I am one of the top 3 cities as far as population goes and it is almost 2009 but air conditioning seems to be something new for them. Restaurants advertise that their restaruant features air conditioning (see above). Cabs also advertise that they have air conditioning. It's like what I imagine advertising was like when color TV was invented and available to the purchasing public. And it's not like there are restaurants that don't have air conditioning. All that I've been to do...so why now, in 2009-ish, is it still necessary to advertise the fact that you have air conditioning? Maybe the trend is to advertise the obvious...and next year there will be signs popping up outside restaurants that say: We have chairs!

It's beginning to look...

Went to a mall today...it used to be an abandoned train station that they've renovated and repurposed. It's an amazing edifice. And it's got all these great silver holiday decorations all over it. I wanted to bring all of them home with me...but with all the other stuff I want to bring home, I just don't think they'll fit.

Besos!

Neutral

See how close this car is to the car in front of it? They're completely touching. How'd this happen? Well I'd love to tell you. A co-worker and I were waiting outside a restaurant the other day when we saw a guy pull up a few cars away and double park. Double parking is no big whoop here. People do it all the time. But the driver gets out of his van and walks down to just past where we are standing and pushes the car in front of us (the one on the right in the foto) a few feet forward until it just touches the bumper of the car in front of it. Just pushed it. Casually. As if it were something he does all the time. He then walked down to the next car (the car on the left) and pushed it until it touched the bumper of the previous car. He then did the same for the next car down. So three cars this guy has been able to just push along the curb. Then he gets to the fourth car, a taxi. He pushes it backward about 2 feet gets in his van and parks his van in the open space he has now created by pushing cars up and down the curb.

Turns out that out of courtesy, the drivers here park their cars in neutral just in case someone needs to push it to create a parking spot. Isn't that awful nice of them? I've decided that it would be awful nice of me to find a car parked alongside a curb with no other cars in front of it for a few blocks and just relocate a car. The thought of it just cracks me up. A total Dude, where's my car? kind of thing. Of course I'd never do it, but it makes me giggle to think about it.

Ciao!