Originally I had thought not to go on the excursion to Misiones, Argentina so I would have time to study and prepare well for my partial exams, and then I thought better. If nothing else, I think an answer that "I decided to go see one of the Seven Wonders of the World, a 17th Century Jesuit Mission and a traditional Guaraní village in the Amazon Jungle" is a good enough reason for why I may get a 6 on an exam instead of an 8. Nevertheless, I'm chugging along and studying as hard as I can with what I am doing.
The weekend trip was fabulous. We had awesome weather every day, sunny and about 25 degrees - a nice change from Bs.As. We flew from Aeroparque Jorge Newberry to Iguazú International which looked like we were just going to land on the trees.
Jorge Newbery
Lovely weather...
This is about 10 seconds before landing, and yes, that is the jungle.
Friday was our first day in Misiones.
We got some lunch and then headed off out of town to the jungle where there was a little town of Guaraní peoples - the first inhabitants of the area. They showed us their way of life and how they used to catch animals in the jungle. At the end of our tour, the children's chorus sang for us. It was delightful although we felt like intruders with our distinctive First-World scent.
Here are the children singing:
From there we went to las Tres Fronteras where you can see Paraguay and Brazil from Argentina.
Saturday was our day at the Iguazú National Park. Iguazú is Guaraní for "Great Water" and was the waterfall's real name. When the Spanish arrived and "discovered" the Falls, they named them after Santa María, but later the name was changed back to its original Iguazú.
I've tried to capture the immensity of the Falls and their incredible power... I'll let them speak for themselves.
La Garganta del Diablo
The mist you see is not steam it's drops of water - we were soaked.
The most famous drop's [attempted] capture:
Sunday we came upon the Jesuit Mission San Ignacio from the seventeenth century. It was a short and quick stop but a really good visit for the purposes of imagining the times back then.
Following the experience at the San Ignacio Mission, we went for a relaxing day at a tea plantation called La Chacra. There we indulged in an asado, the view, and a tour of a yerba mate processing plant.
Iron and Aluminum-rich soil.
And so the sun set on the jungle and Misiones and we went back to the good air of Buenos Aires, and a cold shower because our gas is out for 15-20 days.
yerba mate
palitos that when added to the yerba mate make it have more of a suave taste
Our day finished here as the sun started to set and we packed up to head back to the apartment jungle.
Angela
