Igazu Falls

 This past weekend a group of students and I decided to go check out the massive waterfalls of Igazu. The bus ride there was 32 hours round trip and we actually only stayed there for 32 hours as well, but it was worth it! The buses here are actually quite luxuroious, if you can say that about a bus. They give you thick down blankets, decent food, about 3 movies to entertain you, red wine, and then they come around with glasses of champagne. So random yet so lovely. Though I slept the majority of the ride there, when I work up I realized we had entered the jungle. It was so pretty and completely different from Buenos Aires. Looking out the window I could see, well I guess couldn't see, how deep the jungle was on the sides of the rocky road which we now drove on. When we arrived to Igazu my friends who I was traveling with went to the Brazilian side of the park and because I am an American and did not want to pay for a $140 visa, I could not go. The governments between South America and the US definitely have some type of grudge between each other, there is a fee for every country that I enter, it's ridiculous. fortunately the hostel we stayed at was more like a Club Med and had a gorgeous pool and fantastic weather so I stayed with another friend by the pool and got a tan for a while, and then walked around the town of Igazu.. That night the hostel had a bbq and a zamba "show". It was a good time and I got to try my first caphrina. Delicious. The next morning I woke up early because I wanted to make my trip worth it and spend the whole day at the park before we had to leave later that night, so I decided to walk the park on my own. When I first got in the park I was a little skeptical. There were tours everywhere, and a train you could take to get around the perimeter of the park had a long line and to me it felt a great deal like Disney Land. I talked to the people that worked there however, and found out that you don't have to take the cheesy train and can walk the 5km instead. This was such a way better option. I prefer walking any day to sitting on a crowded train full of tourists and I also got the opportunity to enjoy the jungle all to myself. The first waterfall I saw was Dragon's throat and you could hear it 1 km away. It was incredibly massive and I got wet just walking there. On the Walk there I encountered what seemed like 100 types of butterflies, every single color you could imagine. So beautiful. On the walk back from Devil's throat the most amazing thing happened. I heard something in the trees and I thought, "wouldn't is just be so cool if monkeys jumped out" and that's exactly what happened!! About 7 monkeys were above me in the trees just looking at me. A few of them jumped down and came right up to me. One of them found a light bulb on the ground and tried breaking it open, (I have a video of this, so precious) to find food and was unsuccessful so threw it back on the ground. They were so tiny and had the cutest faces. I felt so lucky that I was able to experience them all to myself. After that I was high on life. I walked to the upper trail and the lower trail which goes above and below the waterfall, respectfully. It was a very nice walk and got to see my first wombat, which in my opinion looks like a rat and a pig had a baby. Before I knew what they were called I named them catones. for raton (rat) and cerdo (pig) mixed together. See these are the thoughts I have when I walk by myself. When I got to the lower trail I knew I wanted to take the boat ride that goes under the waterfall, even though I was kind of scared because a month ago the boat crashed and 2 people died. However, I got my fright under control and went on the boat, and I am happy I did because it was really quite exhilarating and it got me completely soaked. After waking the three waterfalls I was kind of tired but I knew I still had 2 hours and wanted to make the most of my trip so I asked the park about the "secret waterfall" that you can walk 4 km to and swim in. I started off on that hike and within 20 minutes I saw the monkeys again! This time there were about 12 of them and there was also a baby one on a momma's back. This walk was way more off the beaten track then the other two. It is in the middle of the jungle and the sounds are so incredibly loud, it's pretty scary. There were giant ants, spiders, and tons of butterflies. I'm really happy I walked this hike, because although the waterfall wasn't that spectacular, the hike itself was really great. I returned and found my friends at about 5:30pm and at 7 we headed back to the bus. Even though it was a very very short trip and 2 very very long bus rides, it was completely worth it and was really something to see.

the boat ride!

can you spot all the monkeys?

secret waterfall

Buenos Aires

Wow! Buenos Aires is an amazing city! It is humongous! This city is filled with an eclectic mix of buildings dating back from the 1600s to extremely modern skyscrapers.There are parks with sculptures everywhere and any type of museum you could ask for. The main city is divided into different barios and each one has a completely different style and look. I am most likely going to go broke here because the city is filled with fashionable boutiques (which aren't that expensive and are soo nice)  and book stores where the shelves are packed with all types of books, and restaurants with any type of food you could imagine. It's lovely.

I live in a 3 story apartment which is probably 100 years old. It is on top of a bakery and every room has a small balcony and there are big windows that look over the streets and there is even a roof top terrace. It's very charming and has so much character. I share this charming apartment with 10 other girls. Enough said. No, it's really nice because in Hawaii I don't have a ton of girl friends, so there is someone always around to chat with, however the apartment is always a wreck, and any wine, water, clean towels, or any other precious item left in the common area is most likely gone the next day. However, I'm really happy to live in this apartment. The school here is really great. It is about 5 times the size of the school in Vina del Mar, and I have had two different professors in the past two weeks and they were both wonderful, with so much energy, (must be all the mate). There is so much to do in this city, it is incredible! So in the last two weeks I have stayed up to 8am dancing in packed discotech two times, went to 3 museums, a bontanical garden, a zoo, dozens of parks, eaten the most amazing meat meal of my life, (which cost me about 12 us dollars and included wine, tons of meat, rice, fries, pumpkin pure, fried cheese, and grilled pepper and onion,) just thinking about that is getting me full, went to salsa classes, saw an incredible live drum show, went to 3 open air markets, and saw a professional tango show, as well as attend school 20 hours a week. And that's just what I can remember. I am really excited to explore all of what Buenos Aires has to offer and really try to take advantage of living in a crazy city like this.

Photos to come.