Well Thursday Mom and Tim officially made it home, HOORAY, and I took off for the northeast corner of the country to visit the infamous Iguazu Waterfalls! The waterfalls are along the border of Brasil and Argentina and we stayed in a town sandwich right in between Paraguay and Brasil, it was another great excursion with ISA that gave me the opportunity to see a completely new side of Argentina.

We left Thursday afternoon at 6 and 30 of us road a bus all night to arrive at our first destination, from there we met up with our tour guide for the weekend and switched buses to head to a farm of Yerba (the leaf used for mate) and Black Tea.  On our way to the farm we spent a couple hours at the ruins of a Jesuit Mission called San Ignacio Mini. The Jesuits set up many missions in Argentina and surrounding countries to bring Catholicism to the indigenous people of the area, the Guaranis. The ruins have been beautifully reconstructed and it was really interesting to learn the history of the indigenous people and the ways things operated in the mission. After that tour we head to the "ranch/farm" which is set up to also entertain guests and tourists, so we spent the rest of the day lounging by their pool, playing volleyball and enjoying another incredible Argentine asado! (big surprise :)) The owners of the land also manufacture their own Yerba that is sold to be used to drink mate, so during the afternoon we took a visit to the yerba factory! We were able to see the whole process, from live yerba plants growing in the field to thousands of 80kg bags of dried yerba leaves ready to be shipped all over Argentina! 

Saturday we went deeper into the rainforest to Iguazu National Park, home the the incredible Iguazu Falls. A true wonder of the world, and once again something that pictures can't even capture. We were able to go on 3 different trails to see the falls from all different angles, and visited the biggest of them all, LA GARGANTA DEL DIABLO! (THE DEVILS THROAT!) It was so incredible to stand in front of the falls and feel the mist of the water, hear the roar of the water and stand in awe of God's amazing creation : ) Our final activity at the falls was a speed boat ride that gave us the COOLEST shower of my life : ) It literally took us right under the falls and I got beat up a little by a waterfall, no big deal! hahah. To end the day we headed back into Puerto Iguazu, to "Las Tres Fronteras" or The Three Borders. It is a place in Argentina were you can stand in Argentina and see the coasts of Brasil and Paraguay, watching the sunset over 3 countries and drinking a mate is something that I don't think that  I will soon forget, how incredible!

Sunday we were privelged to be able to visit a Guarani village. The Guarani are the indigenous people of the area, and they have laid aside a seciton of the rainforest so that these ancient people can continue to perserve their culture. They still observe many traditional customs and our Guarani guide took us through a small hike through the forest to show us how they construct their homes, and 4 different traps that they use to catch jungle animals. I will put some pictures below and see if you can guess which animal they catch with each (here's your test Dad : )) To end the tour, the children of the village sang a song for us in their  traditional language and we were able to spend a little bit of time with them, so incredibly cute! The trip was so much more than I had anticipated, to start with a trip to a  the ruins of  a mission and then to be able to end the trip actually meeting the same people in their native lands was so neat. Not to mention the farm, yerba factory, waterfalls, speedboat ride and 3 countries in between! It's truly mindblowing all that I have been able to experience during my short stay in Argentina and words can't describe how blessed I feel. Just another day in this crazy thing called life : )

UN BESO!
Bailey

In front of the ruin of San Ignacio Mini mission

The Yerba Factory that we walked to from the ranch house! Here they take the harvested plants and dry them, cut them and package them!

Any mate lovers dream! Laying on a bed of yerba leaves ahahah

Our hotel! Not too shabby eh?? : ) In the middle of the rain forest!

Yep, indescribable

There were literally lines at times in order to get a picture at the edge of the falls, so Meghan and I decided to snap a cute one next to this love trash can that advises tourists not to feed the animals! : )

LA GARGANTA DEL DIABLO! The devil's throat! Today it was flowing at one million liters per second! The power is astounding!

The panoramic view from the lower trail! See that little boat in the distance, those are the boats that took us right up next to the falls : )

Just a little gift from God as we left the park!

Las Tres Fronteras. Brazil on the right and Paraguay on the left.

In the province Missiones, it's so hot that they prepare mate with juice instead of hot water. Meghan and I tried "terere" or "mate frio" and drank mate and watched the sun set : )

Our Guarani host, showing us how they construct their houses. They only cut the wood when there is a full moon because the houses last 6-7 years that way. If they cut the wood when the moon is partial the houses only last a year a year or two.

Trap 1: ?

Trap 2: ?

Trap 3: ?

The cutest kids that sang to us : ) I got a video, it's priceless

Three blogs in one day! Sorry to completely overwhelm you all! : ) But I figured that I would fill you in that life is almost back to normal around here! Mom and Tim have been camping at a hotel about 6 blocks from my place (praise the Lord there was something close and open!). I am going to all my classes for today and Mom and Tim have a nice day alone in the city : ) Their flight is scheduled to leave tomorrow night at 9, and as long as the volcano holds off, they will FINALLY begin their trip home!!! Thanks so sticking with me, and laboring through all the updates!
UN BESOOO!

We arrived in Mendoza City, Mendoza at about 9 am Thursday morning and were able to luckily check into our room early! After a quick freshening up, we did some exploring and price comparing and landed ourselves a very affordable wine tour! At 2 we left in a van with 11 other tourists and all in all we represented, Brasil, Uruguay, Chile and the United States : ) Unfortunately for Mom and Tim, our tour guide in the van only spoke in Spanish and so they were left with my broken translations.. Imagine trying to translate the way that by airplane they combine two types of gases inside certain clouds to create a bomb that breaks up the ice in the clouds and causes it to hail… ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?! Haha. So I did my best : ) We first visited a very small winery that only bottles enough wine to be sold from their location, there was a girl there that was able to give us a private tour in English PHEW! We learned the ins and outs of making wine, from vine to bottle and ended with a little wine tasting! Next we visited an olive oil factory where they produce extra virgin olive oil and a variety of other products and we got a tour of the factoy, learned the process and sampled the goods : ) We next visited and toured a much larger winery,  it was really cool to be able to see and compare the difference between the two operations. The day ended with a cute little visit to a mom and pop organic farm, where they showed us all their different fruit trees and animals : ) For next to nothing, we ended up getting a really awesome taste of all that Mendoza agriculture has to offer : )

Friday we did an excursion to Alta Montana! If you get the chance I would recommended googling the trip : ) It is a really famous route that goes from Argentina to Chile through the Andes. We traveled in van and went from Mendoza to the border of Chile and the stops and scenery along the way were breathtaking. Words really can’t describe the Andes and so I think that I will let Tim’s pictures do the explanation for me : ) We were able to see Mount Aconcagua, the largest peak in the Americas.  Stops included, it took about 6 hours to get to the border of Chile. There we ate a traditional lunch of the mountains at a restaurant in the last  “pueblo” in Argentina, with a year round population of 9 : ) There was snow and it was chilly, I can see why only 9 people choose to live there year round!! The return trip took us back along the same route incredible landscape. It waS most definitely a trip that I won’t soon forget : )

Like I said, we are currently on our way back to the capital city! We spent the morning walking around the city, shopping at the open air markets and enjoying the  80 degree weather : ) Tomorrow mom and tim continue will continue their trip ALL the way home. Poor guys will be SO sick of traveling. It has been an incredible week and a half with them and I am so blessed that they were able to come down and visit. I also just want to thank you all back home for the incredible support that you have all given me during the past 3 months, I couldn’t have been more blessed in the time abroad!

Instead of rows of corn, rows of grapes!

Close up of a vine

Salon lined with all the old wood barrels

Learning all there is to know : )

Swirl and taste : )

First stop on our beautiful trip!

Lake on the base of the "pre" Andes

Famous bridges in one of the 6 paths through the Andes between Argentina and Chile. General San Martin used it with his troops during the liberation

STAG JUMP! that's for you EM!!

Aren't they adorable!?

Puente de La Inca: Bridge of the Incas. A path that the Inca people used during their short time in Argentina. Across the way are the old thermal bathrooms!

Group photo! You can see the remnants of a church and hotel in the far background!

BRRR!

In front of Mount Aconcagua!

22841 feet! You can see it hidden amongst the clouds

Just some more beautiful landscape. So glad we took this trip, it was some of the most incredible landscape that I have ever seen!

Hangin in a Mendoza Park : )

The new running joke is that Argentines eat ham and cheese with EVERYTHING! You can see the dessert on the left even has ham and cheese in it! I think mom and Tim will have to do a jamon y queso DETOX!

Long time, no blog! We are currently on the bus ride home from Mendoza and so I figured that I would start this lengthy record of events from the past week : ) Tuesday we made the trip to the amazing book store that used to be a huge theatre and then met up with Katie for lunch at our favorite hole in the wall sandwich place : ) After lunch we went to the famous, Recoleta Cemetary and admired all the striking memorials. The stone work is breathtaking and Tim was able to take some amazing photos : ) 

Tuesday night was TANGO NIGHT! My tango professor performs in a tango show at the very famous Café Tortoni. The café is one of the most famous cafes in Buenos Aires and has been visited by many very important persons, everyone one from Jorge Luis Borges to Hilary Clinton and there was a line outside the doors of people waiting to just to drink a coffee : ) My professor reserved us a table and I was able to introduce him and his dance partner to Mom and Tim : ) They were so nice and welcoming to us : ) The show was very personal, they performed on a little stage and the music was live, even the singing : ) It was really entertaining and to my surprise, my professor pulled me onto stage when they danced with people from the crowd. TALK ABOUT NERVERACKING! I managed not to fall and returned to my seat very red in the face : ) Now I can officially say I danced in a Tango show in Buenos Aires, Argentina ; ) haha.

Wednesday we walked to the Japanese Gardens and then on our way back to the apartment we stopped at a classy little street vendor and Mom and Tim tried the famous Argentine, CHORIPAN! It’s only the most delicious sausage sandwich ever, and something that they had to eat, from a street vendor, before they left : ) By shear luck, they were playing Polo at the polo pitch which we walked past on our way home and so we were able to stop and enjoy our very first polo game! It was so cool! The horses are incredible and the riders are equally talented. It’s such an incredible sport to watch and  so cool that we were able to get a little taste of the action! : ) 

Wednesday night our bus left from Buenos Aires for the long trip to wine country, MENDOZA! Now I know  that 13 hours on a bus sounds pretty terrible but down here they really know how to do it when it comes to cross country traveling! We traveled on the upper level of a double decker bus and our “suite” seats are nicer than first class and lay completely flat. The trip included a game of bingo, cold dinner, hot dinner, wine and champagne : ) Not to mention individual tv’s that place a variety of movies, music, photos and books : () Needless to say, we didn’t suffer too much! 

Mom and Tim in our favorite sandwich spot : )

Mom and I making an etching of a name in the cemetery

One of Tim's beautiful photos

Pose for a pic!

Japanese Garden

Just me and my best bud : )

POLO!

First class baby!

DUE TO VOLCANIC ASH, JEN AND TIM WILL BE ENJOYING A FEW MORE DAYS IN SOUTH AMERICA!

Unfortunately for them, I am not kidding! I will let you all know when they know when they will be heading back north. : ) The volcano that has been errupting in Chile for months decided to act up again and flights are cancelled until it stops raining ash. POOR GUYS!

Amber, if you read this, could you pretty please keep Daisy a bit longer?? THANK YOU SO MUCH! And if someone else reads this who has Amber Lompe's cell number, could you please contact her and let her know the new news!

Just another part of the adventure! : ) I promise to fill you all in on the past week and to keep you updated on the return trip : )

Sending a tired hug from the south : )
Bailey, Jen and Tim

A couple more "lazy" days in Argentina : ) Friday we took the train about 45 minutes up to El Tigre, it's a delta town that is composed of islands and it's the place where many different rivers come together : ) We searched for a boat tour through out the delta, and after crossing the bridge 5 times, asking a police man for his advice and going to 6 different vendors, we landed a perfect  tour! : ) We road in a little boat all through the delta and were able to see the houses and how the islands are laid out. I think that we all decided that it wouldn't be a bad place to retire : ) BUT it would also be a teenagers worst nightmare, to be stuck out on an island, with only boats as transportation! A totally different kind of life style! After and before the tour, we walked around the town and made our way to the "Port of Fruits" which is home to a really great open air market. There are plenty of tourist souvenirs but also as Tim described, "it's like a huge outdoor Pier One Imports!" It was a long day but nice to show them a different part of the "city"

Yesterday we went the center of the city to spend the day and to take a city bus tour. Before the tour we went to the famous San Telmo market, literally over a mile of street vendors with all kinds of goodies! Tim was a great sport and stuck it out as mom and I ooed and awwed at every single stand. We ate lunch at a pizza and pasta joint and watched some tourists run down a theft that had taken their coats and purses off the back of their chairs! IT WAS SWEET! It was more action that I have seen in my past 2.5 months here! Lucky mom and Tim! After a morning of shopping and theft, we finally embarked on our city tour! It was on a large double decker bus that is open on top! The tour lasted about 3 hours with 20 stops at the city's "hot spots", at which you can choose to get off and spend time or just stay on the bus! There are headphones provided and the tour is given in 11 different languages : ) It was so cool for me to see the city that way! Honestly I got so much more out of it that I was expecting. I was able to see parts of the city that I never had before and I think that the overall layout of this HUGE city finally clicked together for me! I had many, "lightbulb" moments! : )

Last night my two good friends Meghan and Katie came over and we all went out for a parrilla together! : ) We ordered a complete parrilla and "fun" was had by all, well maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but Mom and Tim were champs once again!! Mom tried everything and we both really like kidneys we decided, she said they remind her of liver and onions : ) It was probably Meghan and Tim's first and last complete parilla, but they were troopers and enjoyed the  overall experience more than the meat I think : ) It was so much fun to just hang out with friends and family, and Meghan and Katie both commented on how nice it was just to have a normal night with the "rents" in BA, I couldn't agree more : )

Today we returned to an awesome, hole in the wall tea place in a trendy neighborhood called Palermo SOHO. After a delicious, and laid back lunch we made our way to the beautiful botanical gardens and spent some time enjoying the little slice of nature in the middle of the city! There was some very important "championship" horse races at the  horse track in our neighborhood, so after the garden we took the bus back to watch the big race! We rode a PACKED bus and when Mom and I got off, Tim got stuck in the crowd on the bus and we almost lost him! Luckily the bus stopped just a few meters later and he was able to get off! PHEW! : ) It was a beautiful day at the horse track and it was some great, free entertainment! There was even a race with an EPIC photo finish : )

We are back at the apartment relaxing now and sipping some mate, I think that it might be growing on them : ) Before they leave, I am sure that they will want their own mate ; )

Until next time!
Bailey

Mom and Tim in Tigre

Tim and I with Plaza de Mayo and Casa Rosado in the back ground : ) At the heart of the city!

Bus tour!

La Boca! A historic part of town where the Tango was born : ) Here are two tango dancers on the street!

From the old to the new! Buenos Aires has a ton of history but also growth!

mmm PARRILLA! Can you tell how excited Tim is!?! : )

The Girls!

Don't we look just like Mercury??

And the winner is... :)