Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Colonia, Uruguay, June 20/21, 2008

We flew back to Buenos Aires on June 19th and took a ferry that evening to Colonia, Uruguay. It was about one hour by boat. Colonia is a very small, cute colonial style touristy town on the coast with a lot of the same European influence that we saw in Buenos Aires. There is not a lot to do, but it is very cute and relaxing. There is a lot of cool architecture, buildings, cafes with really good food and, of course, great cheap wine! There was a lot of little shops and artisans and some live music in the cafes. It was a great place to end our trip and relax for a few days.



Cool cafe with fun live music and great food










Thank you Maya and Terra for making this such a great trip. You were wonderful traveling companions. It was so nice to share these memories with you. Thanks to Maya for all of the planning and research that you did and for all the great pictures and videos. (I didn't use my camera once on this trip). I miss you both already!



more Colonia pictures

As Maya and Terra left to return to Seattle I continued my journey to Montevideo, Uruguay. I am staying at a school for two weeks where I am taking Spanish classes. I will fly back to Medellin on July 8th where I will be meeting up with my friend Karen for my next exciting adventure.
Stay tuned for more posts!




Monday, June 23, 2008

Iguazu Falls, Argentina, June 17-19, 2008

So we left Buenos Aires on June 17 and took an hour and a half flight to Iquazu Falls. This is in the Northern part of Argentina on the border with Brazil and Paraguay. Iguazu Falls are the widest in the world even though they are not as famous. I saw a sign on a website that said
"Iguazu Falls......The Niagara on Viagra"
Now I have never been to the Niagara Falls, but this was quite amazing! Here is some more information. It is a very interesting and unique area.

We stayed at a B&B called The Secret Garden. This was the beginning of a very magical few days. There were only 3 rooms and it was run be a man named John Fernandes. He is from India, but has lived in Argentina most of his life. He has a dog named Roxy that helped Terra not be so home-sick for her Jack Russell Terrier at home. John was very kind and informative. We enjoyed cocktail hour every evening where we sat on the beautiful deck and shared stories with John and the other guests. We also had two of the most amazing meals at a restaurant called Aqua. I would never have expected such fabulous cuisine in such a small town!


Terra with Roxy in the garden






One day we went on an "extreme tour". It was 4 hours long and lots of fun!
This is where we started.....


We had a very nice guide who spoke English and showed us some animal traps that the indigenous people used to catch food.


We had a nice stroll through the woods

And then the fun started

we climbed up this rock


Then zip-lined across the forest

climbed up a tall tree to get to another zip-line

and finally propelled our way down the same rock we climbed up

We relaxed on a very enjoyable boat ride after all that excitement


This is Argentina to the front, Paraguay on one side and Brazil on the other.....
I think? It all looked the same to me!

And now we get to Iguazu.....

cool trees and plants to look at while walking through the jungle


Lots of interesting animals
check out Maya's blog for a better description of some of the animals
and some other great pix in "Iguazu Falls"
terramaya


seeing the monkeys was definitely a highlight!
They are so adorably cute!




and then there is los cataratas....
words and pictures cannot describe the awesome power and beauty of this place.
I felt , heard and saw the fury of mother nature and the magnetism and sheer strength helped remind me of my puny existence on this planet. It was easily one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.








time to get wet







this is a video that Maya took. Turn up the volume and try to imagine how much power is in that water