Middle Iguazu Falls

Sister Blanchette and I above and our whole group below.  Mike and Judy Bigelow,John and Sharlene Hollingsworth, Rebecca Blanchette and Mark & Linda.

Boats can take you on a U-shaped ride around the front of the island.  We weren't inclined to put our lives in danger!

More Iguazu Falls

Little did we realize that this view the falls is just a small part.  The only way to get a panoramic view of Iguazu Falls is from the Brazil side, but since that is out of our South America South Area, we didn't go.  However, the Argentina side offers a more intimate view in a variety of places.  

Wonderful Iguazu Fall

Here is the ferry getting ready to dock in Paraguay.  It is supposed to go every hour, but on our return trip, we had to wait for 2 hours.  Evidently, it waits until it is full of vehicles and then leaves!  

Little boys playing on the sidewalk in Iguazu.  It was really cold and one of the boys didn't even have any shoes.  

After you enter the park, the train takes you to any number of trails to different parts of the falls.  We decided to start at the top, which is the "Devil's Throat".  The trail is about 1/2 mile long and, for the most part, raised walkways over the river.

For those who want a rafting experience, you can ride for a while on the river.  This part of the river will eventually drop over the falls, so the raft pulls into shore, lets you out, and the raft is hauled back upstream via a walkway.  

There were about 10 of these birds at one place during the walk to the Devil's Throat.  They were eating from people's hands!

The Parana River begins it drop from here about 300 to 400 feet.  Many times the walkway crosses over the top of the falls and you can look over the side at the edge of the water.  

Iguazu Falls, Argentina

We were so excited when we learned that we could travel to Iguazu, Argentina and see the "cataratas" or Falls.    We had seen pictures and heard stories about how spectacular they were, but we had no idea that they were so beautiful and so gigantic.  Here are Sharlene Hollingsworth, Rebecca Blanchette, me and Judy Bigelow waiting at the airport in Buenos Aires.  We were lucky that the airport was open and flights were leaving.  Since the first part of June, both airports in Buenos Aires have been closed on and off due to the ash in the air from the volcano in Chile.  We had a great trip until the trip home, when our luck ran out!

 One of the first things we saw upon arriving in the city of Iguazu, Argentina, was a beautiful poinsettia tree in full bloom.  On July 4!  We stayed at the Amerian Hotel which is located at the "Three Points",  or "Tres Fronteras" where the River Paraguay and the River Parana meet and the countries of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay all intersect.  The River Parana is a muddy, red color and the River Paraguay more green/blue.  The River Parana flows over the Iguazu Falls.

 Behind me is the ferry that takes you from Iguazu, Argentina to Cuidad del Este, Paraguay.  We rented a taxi for the morning one day and rode this ferry.  It's about a 20 minute ride over and a 30 minute drive into Cuidad del Este.  We didn't find much shopping because our driver didn't really know where to take us.  We did find a nice department store that had some imports from the US.  Actually, they had a lot of things from Costco, believe it or not.  I splurged and bought a big box of Bisquik for $20.00!  Paraguay has so many more imported good than Argentina.  In fact, Argentina does not allow many imports at all because they want everyone to buy things made in there.  The downside is that your choices are really limited!

The American Hotel -- taken from the ferry.  This hotel is a good choice if you are going to stay more than 2 days here.  The service is good, the beds are comfortable and the spa is great!  Sad to say, but we had a hard time finding any good restaurants anywhere.  If you are just coming to see the falls, stay at the Sheraton for 2 days.  It's in the park!

July 15, 2011

After church was over, some of the children in the Zarate 2nd ward wanted to sing some primary songs so I played and we had some fun while we waited for the baptism to begin.  The missionaries were heating water on the stove in the kitchen because the water heater didn't work.  All they had to use were some old coffee pots!  It was rather funny and the water was still really cold, but no one complained.  The sister below in the green sweater was baptized a few months ago and now her husband was getting baptized.  The little girl who is about 11 years old was getting baptized, too.  Her parents and 7 brothers and sisters were all there but have not joined the church yet due to some difficulties, but hopefully, they will be baptized soon.  There was an ancient upright piano in this room that I played to accompany the hymns.  It was so out of tune that I couldn't tell if I was playing the right notes or not!  But we had a great meeting and good support from ward members.  The missionaries have been working really hard in this area!

 I found another new baby during another visit!

We were invited to the 8th birthday party of a little girl in our ward, Faviola.  Her dad, Juan, works with us in the area office and has been a good friend along with his wife, Marisol.  Juan is the mission leader in our ward.  Marisol cooked a delicious dinner of beef ribs, chicken and rice and salad and made a beautiful cake.  I brought peanut butter cookies, which no one had ever tasted before!  

July 15, 2011

 A little baby time!  After church in one of the wards in Zarate we visited with this sweet sister and her 3-day old baby boy.  He is about the same age as our new grandson, Brad and Melissa's little Beckam. 

 Juncal Ward Party in June, 2011.  The members of our ward are wonderful and so kind to us.  Customs and traditions and even the people are different all over the world, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings us all together as we serve one another.  The couple in the middle below are the Olazabels and we are their home teachers.  She never goes anywhere without her little dog!

Interesting happenings!

On Friday, May 20, we attended the wedding of the son of a family that we home teach, Jaime and Mari Rivera.  The wedding was at the "Registro Civil" or civil registry here in Buenos Aires.  The wedding couple are in the middle.  The judge actually talked to them about responsilbity, raising children (because she is having a little boy in 2 months) and had the fathers give the couple advice.  She is not a member but had said she will take the missionary lessons and we will be able to be there. 

Mari Rivera and her sister, Linda, and Mari's friend, as we wait to be called in with the wedding party.

Jaime Rivera, Mark, the missionaries (the american is from Dallas) and Jaime's son, Lucas.

We went to Asuncion, Paraguay to see the new Perpetual Education Fund office that is almost finished.  We stayed with Elder Alan and Sister Vicki Lucas, who are PEF missionaries there and doing a fantastic job watching over the participants of the program and teaching.  We were able to visit the Asuncion, Paraguay temple on Friday, May 13.

Alan and Vicki told us that there was a good Mexican Restaurant in Asuncion.  We haven't found one yet in Buenos Aires, so we were anxious to go there.  We took the bus and had a really good meal.  Wasn't quite what we were used to they had corn tortillas and it was very good and spicy.

This was taken out of the bus window on the was to the Mexican Restaurant Azteca in Asuncion.  Paraguay was celebrating their 200 year anniversary (bicentenario) of independence from Spain, so it was a big weekend there.

Alan and Vicki took this from across the street.  We were all waiting for the bus or "colectivo"  to go  eat Mexican food for lunch.  It was really hot that day, 90 degrees F and we were sweating sitting there in the sun.  We definitely have a new appreciation for our son, Matt, who served his mission in Paraguay.  It's winter in Buenos Aires, but still hot in Paraguay.  (I guess I better say we have a new appreciation for our son Caleb too, because he served in Brazil near the equator!

Vicki and I in front of the President's palace with it's decorations for the bicentenario.  Behind the palace is the Paraguay River.

The deck of the ship, Uruguay, which sits in Puerto Madero harbor of Buenos Aires.  It's an old metal ship and has an interesting history and is a landmark of Argentia history.

The ship, Uruguay, in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires.

The CRE, or church employment center in Asuncion.  Elder Lucas is training the stake employment specialists in the Perpetual Education Fund.

Missionaries leaving church in Lima, Argentina, part of the Zarate Stake, where we visited one Sunday.

Mark  at the pulput in the chapel in Lima.

The chapel in the branch in Lima, Argentina.  

The Lanzas, the Olazabels, and the Cruzados at our apartment for dinner.  We enjoy home teaching the Lanzas and the Olazabels.  Juan Cruzado works at the area office with us and all of them are in our ward, the Juncal Ward.

May 10 Update, con't Trip to LuAnn, Arg. with the other senior missionaries.

The big attraction in Lujan (about an hour away from BA) is the cathedral which was built in honor of the Virgin Mary.  A few hundred years ago, a small statue of the Virgin Mary fell out of a wagon in a certain place and the legend says that it wouldn't be moved.  So the town build a cathedral to house the statue.  Then many of the countries of the world sent their own statues of the Virgin Mary, which are all housed in the basement of the church.  I felt that the church had a bad feeling in it, especially in the basement.  

This is the good one!  These are all scarfs from boy scouts with the Argentina flags on the sides.  I guess the boy scouts  exist here, but I have only see one ward that had some cub scouts.  

This is where you get sprinkled with holy water...bendiciones (blessinsgs)

Bring your bottle and fill it up with holy water.

After leaving Lujan, we went to a little town called "Carlos Keen".  We stopped in at a restaurant and they took us in the back to see their grill.  We were really impressed with the variety of meats, many of which we would not have been brave enough to eat, even if we had stayed and eaten there.  We just wanted a lite dinner, but they wanted to serve us a full meal, so we ended up leaving.  

That's a rabbit spread-eagle!

These 2 pictures show the grill.

Rebecca Blanchette, John and Sharlene Hollingsworth and Zella Grieve at the market.

Rebecca made a friend.  It was a fun P-day with our missionary friends and really nice to get out into the country!