Wanderlust: waterfall

It's difficult to believe that spring break has come to an official end, and it's even more wild that I have less than twenty-four hours left in the only other country I'd consider living in (so far, at least).

As amazing as my time in Brazil has been, I had no trouble leaving the country yesterday for a quick foray into neighboring Argentina. Well... "no" trouble may be too strong. Our program strictly and unequivocally forbids leaving our host country at any time. So while Sally and Jenn were super nonchalant and brave and like--

I was cowering in the corner of the taxi like--

I have been and probably always will be too much of an authority-respecting rule follower to enjoy engaging in illicit activity. But most of my fear evaporated once I got that big, blue, beautiful Argentina stamp on my passport. Though Sally printed out forty or so pages of evidence in both Spanish and English to prove that yes, indeed, Obama DID visit Argentina and that no, we as American citizens do NOT need to pay a reciprocity fee, we ended up not needing them. We pulled up in our taxi to the Argentinian passport office and our driver (and true homie/fab friend) Giovanni speedily explained the situation in Spanish and the Argentinian border patrol officer simply responded (in a yell) "OBAMA!!!' And let us through. WOO.

I was overjoyed at entering Argentina for multiple reasons: the euphoria in international travel, seeing Spanish (a language I can almost understand!), and getting another stamp (wahoo!). We withdrew some pesos in order to pay for our entrance fee, and then we entered Iguassu from the Argentinian side! We had heard from multiple sources that the Argentinian side is much better than the Brazilian, and while it's difficult to compare two views of perfection, I can understand what they meant. While Brazil provided more panoramic views of the Falls, Argentina allowed you to be practically in the waterfalls.

Stunning, right?

We hiked up and down the waterfalls for about five hours, avoiding the gorge of crowds that filled the park on what was apparently the "busiest" weekend of the entire year! Wow! Sally, Jenn, and I were absolutely awed by Mother Nature's power and beauty. We headed back to Brazil in the early afternoon in Giovanni's car (he is such a homie, you guys) and quickly crashed in our fluffy beds, recovering from the excitement of our day. We woke up in time to watch Eclipse (you know, the Twilight movie) in Portuguese, and then we raced down to the buffet once again to partake in the deliciousness of Brazilian food. We once again gorged ourselves on bread, salad, tenderloin, and white wine sangria, and then took on the dessert table. We decided it'd be an absolute waste to allow our full stomachs to dissuade us from taking advantage of the all-inclusive sweets, so we literally snagged about twenty pieces of brigadeiro (a Brazilian fudge candy) to both eat on the plane and to hand out to employees that helped us on Easter. They appreciated it.

We woke up around 6:45 AM and rushed to pack, brush our teeth, pay the bill, and eat some breakfast before hopping into Giovanni's cab and heading to the airport.

Goodbye to paradise ):

Today was honestly a blur of sleeping, taxiing, and eating delicious ramen, but I'd love to take a moment to discuss the two families that I had the pleasure of celebrating Easter with today. First, my Brazilian host family. They truly welcomed me into their home and made me their family. I consider Maria Luisa to be my niece (that cutie pie) and Liza to be my honorary sister. I had the lovely opportunity to say one last goodbye today due to my forgetfulness (I had to grab my straightener from the house). They are seriously so wonderful. It's not easy to call a place a "home" after only four weeks, and yet, today it felt like I was going home. I also got to "see" my real fam today over Skype!!! Though I was extremely jealous of their Easter gumbo dinner, I loved seeing their faces and laughing at Sierra's hysterical jokes.

Well, I'm currently watching some South African movies on Netflix in order to prepare for tomorrow--I can call that homework, right? I can't believe my time here is ending!!!! I can't wait for my next adventure(:

On to the next,
Aubs

WOW WOW WOW! What a wonderful two days!!! As exciting and beautiful as Rio was, I think that the past thirty-six hours have been my favorite of spring break so far. The growing closeness to Sal and Jen, the luxe comfort of our hotel, and the unbelievable breathtaking marvelous show of natural power and wonder that is Iguassu Falls!!!

Our flights yesterday to Iguassu from Rio were minorly uneventful, considering my usual track record--only one last-minute gate change and one accidental exit from the airport and rush through security to get to our other flight (k the last one was like 85% my fault). When we got to the quaint Iguassu Airport (after meeting a lovely flight attendant who seemed to appreciate America more than any foreigner I've seen since Haifa, Israel, and gave me six packs of plane snacks, as well as a super amazing Brazilian English translator who gave me her card and said to call her if I ever went down to Southern Brazil), we rushed through the rain to baggage claim then out to grab a taxi.

Upon arrival to the five-star resort that Mrs. Lindsay booked for us (shout-out to the best friend's mom ever!!!), I stealthily slouched into the lobby, separate from Jenn and Sally. Though we'd reserved a large suite, we'd only booked it for two people, saving us about eighty dollars a night. I, with my experience in Tiberias, Israel at that stupid hotel that charged an extra like $100 because of an extra person, was not about to accept such a ridiculous fee, so I kept my distance until the girls had checked in and Jenn surreptitiously whispered the room number in my ear.

I kept my seat for a few extra minutes, just to be safe, then nonchalantly strolled into the elevator up to the fourth floor. Only problem--I'd blanked on the room number.

Jesus, Aubrey, get it together.

I remembered that there was a four? and an eight I think? and maybe a three? in the number, so I knocked hopefully on 438 and was greeted by a 70+ year old man.

"Sorry, wrong room!!!" I chirped cheerfully, then swiveled and ran before he could wonder why I wouldn't know my own room number. Maids and bellboys crowded the hallways, making me too nervous to set out on a true investigation, but I softly knocked on all the rooms ending in the number eight, hoping that either Jenn or Sally would rush over and open the door. Almost all of the rooms were empty, so I desperately pulled out my phone to text the girls. Of course, right as I sent "OMG I forgot the room number, please find me," my phone ran out of credits. Anddd the WiFi had a password.

Awesome.

I sat there in front of the elevators, praying that after some time, Jenn or Sally would get worried enough to go searching for me, but after ten minutes, I was still desperate. I threw a Hail Mary, literally just shouting "Sally!?" into the hallway, then jumping in an elevator and cruising back down to the main lobby.

By this point, I like really had to pee, and I was feeling really stressed, when, lo and behold, bestpalsalgal waltzed in through some sliding glass doors. Turns out, our room was in another hotel building altogether, hence my inability to find them. We were reunited and settled into our fluffy beds for eight hours of Portuguese television, room service (four times), and female bonding. Ugh, so lovely. We also enjoyed the warm thermal spring pools and a deliciously steamy sauna in which we alternatively complained about the heat and discussed how great the heat felt. Saunas are my new fave thing, btw.

This morning we woke up before 9 AM in order to enjoy the full breakfast buffet downstairs before beginning our rainforest waterfall adventure. You could probs tell we were the only Americans in the room, because we complained about how small the plates were and proceeded to fill up two each with mounds of food. Jenn also suggested that we smuggle some bread, cheese, and deli meat out of the buffet so that we wouldn't have to pay for lunch. Sally and I readily agreed, packing some sandwiches for the road. Ya know, I'm proud to be friends with these ladies for so many reasons, but this instance has to be in the top ten.

We headed to the falls with driver Giovanni, after bargaining our way down from a R$210 ($60) fee to one of about R$35 (about $10). Yeah, I don't really know how we did it either, but go with it. Included in that fee was some AMAZING advice that legit improved our visit to the Falls a thousand times over. Giovanni suggested that we do the activities backwards, so that we'd avoid lines and crowds. So, we did this super sick safari first, which took us on a tram through the rainforest then on this boat ride that went RIGHT UP against the waterfalls and completely soaked us. Though it would have cost about 40-50 US dollars to buy the DVD video and pictures, we bargained with an Argentinian family to send us the photos and video of us for only $10. Win-win, am I right? Then, we took a tram to the end of the walking trail, ate our soggy sandwiches as rain started pouring from the sky, and began our trek on the panoramic path right as the sun came out, clearing the skies. Talk about timing!!!!

The views were breathtaking and awesome, to say the least. Iguassu Falls is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, and let me tell ya, it makes sense. They are MASSIVE and such a marvelous showcase of Mother Nature's prowess. Dozens of crashing, thundering, swirling waterfalls make us this beautiful masterpiece of the earth, and listening to the deafening roar of gallons and gallons and GALLONS of water pound into a whirlpool of a river overwhelmed me with appreciation and respect for nature. I was literally overjoyed, and I couldn't stop beaming the entire day--I felt wowed and impressed with the world, and there's nothing better than being reminded of how beautiful this earth really is. I truly believe that the best way to thank God or nature or science or whatever creative being in which you hold faith is to travel. To explore every crevice and valley and mountaintop on this planet, to appreciate and savor and exalt in the views that something or Someone has sculpted is such a mutual blessing. It is a shout of gratefulness across whatever void separates us from It (whatever It is), saying "thank you thank you THANK you, for giving me such a beautiful earth to discover and love and hold dear," And perhaps that's just my way of creating a cognitive bias to deal with some internal guilt at my own privilege in being able to travel this awesome, wonderful world, but hey, I'm gonna fool myself into believing in and I'll ensure that I don't take a single moment of my journey in life for granted.

I feel like I've become way more intellectual and self-aware and thoughtful on this program, and I don't know what exactly has caused it. However, I'm so grateful that I have such inquisitive and patient and intelligent individuals with me on this program that listen to my musings and actually take them seriously and respond in such a profound and mature manner that I am forced to continuously reexamine and reconfigure and justify my beliefs. Being away from those twenty-six other people for the past week has really only deepened my respect for them--and made me love Sally and Jenn all the more for being such patient, hilarious, compassionate women that I don't need to be apart from them to adore them!

The solemnity of that above paragraph shall be offset with the hilarious experience post-Falls that the three of us had in the pools at our resort. I'm pretty sure we are the only three individuals over the age of twelve and under the age of forty staying in this place, and we are constantly surrounded by families and elderly couples. We took it in stride today, enjoying not only the pools and swim-up bar geared toward the adult crowd but also (thanks to Sally's cajoling and encouragement) the children's water park in the middle of the resort. We waded in a pool that was likely at least half-composed of urine and cackled/screamed while waiting for a giant bucket of water to pour on our heads (that last one was 80% Sally). We made friends with some of the seven-year olds, and then sauntered off to the sauna to release the toxins from our pores (idk that's just what the brochure said). We partook in a R$79 ($22) buffet in which I had five (yes, five) helpings and listened to a one-man band over which I completely fangirled and ran up to saying he was "wonderful." I'm gonna make such a great over-enthusiastic old person.

Okay, another great story. We were planning on heading to the Argentinian side of the Falls tomorrow, which is HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended by all TripAdvisor reviews and EXTREMELY EXTREMELY EXTREMELY forbidden by IHP rules (hehe woops). Our plans were about foiled, though, when we found out that we have to pay a $160 reciprocity fee in order to get into the country. UGH EXCUSE ME? Much too expensive for a day trip. So, Jenn and I resigned ourselves to a day of sun-bathing and spa-enjoying while Sally perused the government's site in order to investigate the process.

BUT, LO AND BEHOLD, MY FRIENDS. Due to Obama's recent (and I mean, literally two-days-past) visit to Argentina, and his dealing with the Argentinian president, fees against US citizens have been WAIVED as of MARCH 24TH--THAT'S YESTERDAY, PEOPLE!! Literally, as of THURSDAY, it is FREE for American citizens to cross over into Argentina from Brazil--oh my god!!!!! It's fate!!!! How exciting is that!? I mean, we HAVE to go now. So, we printed out about twenty-sheets-worth of proof from the Argentinian and American government sites to show that we don't have to pay a cent to cross over the border. We also called up our good friend Giovanni (holla @ ya, Gio) and negotiated a sweet deal to get us to Argentina. Basically, we are on cloud nine and couldn't be happier.

Well.

I am pretty homesick, honestly. I really miss my cousin Austin, who's currently on his Mormon mission in Mexico City. Reading his weekly letter home today actually left me in tears. I also miss my family like crazy, including my grandmother (who is my absolute hero) and her husband, whose jokes I miss a ton. I miss my dogs, I miss Californian beaches, I miss the Pledge of Allegiance and bacon. Being away for so long is hard, and living out of a suitcase in foreign countries for two straight months has worn on me. But, my adventure is not yet over, and I intend to savor its novelty and life lessons and memories for the next ~month.

Well, I'm preparing to go to sleep, as it's midnight, but apparently the eight-year-old's giggling and running in the hallway outside my door aren't quite ready yet. Have I mentioned that there are these three pre-adolescent girls in this hotel that travel around exclusively on hoverboards? They were literally in the buffet lines on these flammable devices that look like the prequel to Wall-E. Ugh, children.

Keep me in your thoughts and prayers, and message/email/mail me messages full of love and happiness and anti-Trump propaganda! Miss you all. Oh and thank you for getting through a whole post without GIFs--not too great of WiFi in this hotel. But check out my pictures!!!