Yesterday, I had another really vivid dream. This time I had flown back to the United States after about a week in Argentina saying that I needed a break from South America. While there, I wore a really cute dress, had shaved my legs, was on my way to making Tamale Pie (my new fave dish), and had a really sick (aka cool) fro, was wearing contacts and sunglasses, and was sitting in the front seat of Mom’s gold van marveling at how smooth our journey was because there were no bumps in the roads in America. I texted my friend Alyssa which I do constantly and almost to excess—almost—and waited and waited for her to text me back. Then I realized she was in Costa Rica (which she is) and was really sad. Then I woke up and found myself in hotel in Formosa, Argentina. Alas…one day I’ll be back in America. But I’m still so happy to be here.
We have officially made it ½ way in our journey across the top half of Argentina. We are going in a REALLY BIG circle counterclockwise. We’ve visited some pretty cool places and have done some pretty cool things and now we are on our way to what my professor claims is the most beautiful city in all of Argentina.
Speaking of my professor, he seems to know a lot about Geography and every time something is mentioned about a part of the world, he says, “Oh yeah. That place is really neat…” I just found out that he’s been to 176 countries—and there are only between 206-215 countries total depending on who you ask and who likes whom on any given day. 176?!?!!! Man! My adult goal was to visit a country a year and to have a significant experience (a very vague and undefined term at the present) while there. But at my current pace, I will be 193 before I see 176 countries. I will need to bump up the pace a bit. So I’ve changed it to making an international trip every year and having a significant experience in each country that I visit. I don’t just want to take a guided tour, but I want to live, even if for a day, like the citizens/natives there. So far I’ve accomplished that in my four countries—Canada, Belize, Mexico, and now Argentina. Anyway, I digress.
We just crossed the most bumpy part of the trip in what’s called the Chaco. It looks a lot like…a mixture between Kansas aaaannnnndddd…a place with a lot of dry trees and shrubbery. I’m not a nature person at all, but there were these really pretty flowers with a dark brown middle and were bright yellow on the outside. We’re driving so I can’t get any good pictures of them. I think they might be called daisy-susans or black-eyed-susans or lazy-susans or something like that. I don’t know, but they were growing wild on the side of the road. For about 30 minutes, my butt got some significant air-time—it was pretty fun for the first 27.5. Almost roller-coaster-esque. If you closed your eyes, you could almost feel the steel track under your coaster car at Six Flags. After about 30 minutes of that, it was finally smooth enough for me to take my third nap in the van.
An hour later, I woke up not to the smell of Folgers Coffee, but to the Andes Mountains. They were way off in the distance and had a blue tint to them on the horizon. So majestic and awe-inspiring. We got out of the van to take a pee-and-eat break and my professor says—“You think those are big, just wait ‘til you see what’s behind them!” He’s been saying that we’ll see some snow so I’m pretty excited about that. I just hope I can find my socks! They’ve been missing for 3 days now.
BTW: I think we’re in the middle of the layers of the mountains now because the mountains I was describing in the last paragraph are now behind us. Dr. Keeling said that the mountains are in 3 layers going east to west (or west to east) with each layer getting bigger. So looking at a map of Argentina, we are going east to west through the Andes and are currently in a valley between the first set of mountains and the second set. If I were to take a wild guess, I would think the 3rd set would have snow, but I wouldn’t take my word for it. I have no Internet access now and can’t look it up on Wikipedia ☺
2 or 3 days ago (all the days are in a blur), I saw one of the most incredible sights I’ve ever seen in my life. There’s a system of waterfalls that is like Four Corners in the US (Colorado, Texas, Nevada, and Arizona meet at one stoplight—still on my list of places to take a picture at), but it’s at the corner of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. It’s called Iguazú Falls and is one of the largest waterfalls in the world. We took some trails and walked over several waterfalls. Thankfully, the geniuses who made this place tourist-friendly back in the 1960’s made walkways through much of the park so that you could actually see this masterpiece without getting in a helicopter.
After about 3 or 4 waterfalls, I actually started getting pretty weepy because it was just absolutely breathtaking. I couldn’t believe I was actually here getting misted and sprayed (lightly) by this site. Then I started thinking, “Wouldn’t it be cool to stick my toes in the water?” But oh well.
I had heard rumors that there was a splash boat thing at the beginning of the trip and I was on a mission to get more information about it. At lunch, I saw a sign and talked to the guys about it. They said it was a 12-minute ride for $25 American. My limit for this adventure was $50, so $25 was an EXTREME bargain! I grabbed a couple other guys to go with me and we made the trek to the bottom of the park to catch the boat.
I decided in my head to not wear the poncho that they were offering. I wanted to get as wet as possible cuz I knew I would never be back here and had to take in the whole experience. We got our waterproof bags to put our stuff in, I switched into my handy-dandy $10.50 Crocs, and bound onto the boat. They started off slow and moved to one of the “smaller” waterfalls and got us pretty wet. Then they went to the Garganta del Diablo (Devil’s Throat)—appropriately named and we got DRENCHED!!! I squealed and the rest of the boat yelled/screamed/etc. Then we pulled up to the dock, and there was another boat docking. The group on the boat started yelling a phrase that pretty much meant “Encore!!” and the boatman obliged and we got drenched again and again and again! 2.5 times more than we paid! What a deal!
I feel sorry for the tour guide when I go to Niagara Fall for the first time in my life because I’ll walk under the falls when everyone is ooh-ing and aw-ing at the sight and think to myself—“Y’all ain seen nuthin cuz I’ve seen and got sopping wet at Iguazú!”
So Jesus blessed me with this incredible sight and I not only got my feet wet in Iguazú Falls, but I got soaked to the bone and refreshed in mind and spirit way down in God’s creation.
Psalm 19:1-4 “(1)The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. (2)Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. (3)There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. (4)They voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
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There are a few sites in the world like that, the downside is, the only way to know what those places are, is to actually go and see them. You should post some pics whenever you get a good solid connection.
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