Gargantua Del Diablo Theatre

One World - One Trip Pictures Presents, a Marty Greenwell production: Gargantua Del Diablo - An Awesome Force!

Cataratas del Iguazu

In other countries, we have taken what we call “vacations” away from the place we were staying. They were not anything big, just overnights. Since we were in Argentina, we decided to take a “vacation” to Cataratas Del Iguazu, known to the rest of the world as Iguazu Falls. This was planned before we started the trip – it's on the trip shirt!!



We took a plane to Iguazu Falls. It wasn't a long flight, but since it was raining under us, it was very rocky and made us all sick (except for dad)! Please note the key word raining!! RAINING!!! On our trip to Iguazu Falls!! NO! We had images of ourselves being miserable on our tour of the falls the next day, but fortunately by then the weather cleared. On our first day we went to a lookout over the two rivers where you could see Brazil and Paraguay!!



I don't like tour groups. I don't like being in them, and I don't like being around them. That's why, I didn't like it when we had to take a tour to Iguazu. Thank God we didn't have to listen to lectures like some tour groups do!! It turned out to be surprisingly good! Our guides, Veronica and Vivi were also very nice.



The first place we went was the Gargantua Del Diablo (also known as The Devil's Throat). It was soooooooooooooooooooooooo cool!!!!!!!!!! There was so much water coming down and with lots of pressure! The Devil's Throat is almost five hundred feet wide and about over two hundred fifty feet deep. And this is at a time when they're having a drought! I was stupefied!



Around the falls, there are these little creatures called Coatis. They are so adorable!! They are relatives of the raccoon and look a lot like them.


There were also thousands of butterflies around the falls! They had gorgeous designs and colours, and most of them would land on us! Occasionally, we'd see a whole cloud of them, or a bunch perched on the ground.



At the end of our tour, before we went back to the bus, we could go on a boat ride and go under the falls! We signed up for it. It was so cool! We put all of our stuff in these plastic bags so it wouldn't get wet,and donned our life jackets. We got to go under the falls (three times!!!) on the Brazilian side, and the Argentinean side, even though it felt the same! We all got so soaked, and the pressure was so much! It was very fun!

Iguazu was very cool and I hope someday I will get to go to the other big falls of the world!

PAZ

We have met some really nice people in the past 10 ½ months. Some have come to us via connections from home. Some from meeting them at guest houses or hotels. The person I am about to tell you about came to us through our quest to learn Espanol.

I requested via TripAdvisor any leads for a Spanish teacher in Buenos Aires. I got a private message that said Paz Iguacel would be a good fit. The message was from her husband, Francisco. Good job, Francisco. I e-mailed Paz and almost immediately got a long response describing her abilities and a picture of her hanging out a window in a Paris flat. A very chic way to start.

We met her shortly after we arrived in Buenos Aires and hit it off immediately. She was intent on us learning as much as we could in the ten sessions that we agreed upon. She made the classes interesting not just for lisa and I, but for the girls as well. We played games such as being in a restaurant where we were the patrons and she was the waiter and we had to ask questions and place our order in Espanol. At our second class, she brought mate, the Argentine national obsession – kinda like a tea – and showed us how to prepare it and drink it. Another morning it was all of us in the kitchen preparing Argentine panqueques from an espanol recipe. Yummy. We went out another day and visited Puerto Modero, an upscale area down by the Rio de la Plata. Fun.






After the first class, I mentioned we were planning on going to the Hippodromo to watch the horse races one day while we were here. She turned it around and invited us all as the guests of she and Francisco. She grew up in a thoroughbred horse racing family so she definitely knew her way around the track. We had a great time and Siena won 16 pesos, I'm sure because of the good advice Paz gave on “how to bet in Espanol”. We had dinner out afterwards and shared our lives on the road and their recent two plus years in Sweden and Switzerland.




Paz, we enjoyed getting to know you. Mucho Gusto. You helped us when we needed assistance and made our stay here in Buenos Aires very enjoyable. Thanks for being the terrific and fun person you are.

MISCELLANEOUS MUSINGS ON BUENOS AIRES

After having spent two weeks in this capital city, here are some miscellaneous thoughts:

1. Contrary to what you might think about South American cities, BA is not cheap. Other than transportation, flowers and beef (see #8), prices are pretty close to those back home in the US.

2. BA had a large Italian immigration back at the turn of the 20th Century. Therefore, there are as many pizza restaurants and pasta shops as there are in Rome - maybe even more.

3. Subway vendors and some street vendors have an interesting way of selling things. They walk around and hand out the product they are selling to potential customers. Five minutes later, they walk around again and hopefully collect the money for the product that they just handed out . If you don't want the product, you just hand it back.

4. Here in BA they have crosswalks that cars are suppose to stop at in order to let pedestrians cross - don't count on it.

5. People here drive on the right side of the road. But their subway system was built by the British so the trains run on the left side of the track.

6. Argentina, especially central and southern Argentina, had no real indigenous population before the explorers got here. That is the reason why BA looks like Europe and why the people look European.

7. While there is plenty of chocolate available here in BA, if you're used to fine quality chocolate, forget eating anything chocolate. Go for anything that is made with Dulce de Leche; when in Rome...

8. Argentina is known for their cattle. If you want to eat cheap, eat beef. Vegetarians will go hungry (and broke) in this town.

9. This is a late city. People shop late, eat late and go out for entertainment late. If you're a morning person, forget it. On the other hand, the subway stops running by 10:30 PM - go figure.

10. Here in Argentina, they have a female president and the Presidental Palace is pink. If Hillary Clinton had been elected, do you think the White House would become a Pink House?

Parque De La Costa - Awesome!!

In Holland, we went to Linnaeushof, a giant playground. In Italy, there was the Parque De Pinocho, a park themed with the character Pinnochio. In Hong Kong, there was Ocean Park, a park themed with the ocean. Now, here in Argentina, there is Parque De La Costa.

Parque De La Costa isn't actually in Buenos Aires. It's in Tigre. Tigre is a restorty looking city fifty minutes outside of BA. The only reason we went there was for Parque De La Costa, but there's probably some huge tennis court in some Sheraton. Even though it's resorty, Tigre is very pretty. It's also very clean!

Parque De La Costa is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The had really cool rides. When we got into the park, we went straight to the bumper cars, and after that, Avocet and I headed for those cars that turn around and around.


I really like the swings that swing high up and around!


Mom and dad didn't go on many rides with us, but we all got soaked on the log flume! My favorite ride was the Vigla, a short but fast paced roller coaster! I had a great time!



After we finished with Parque De La Costa, we walked along the Rio De Plate, and then took the train back home!

MUSEO DEL HOLOCAUSTO

As a Jew, there is a certain sense of obligation to Never Forget what was done to the Jewish people during World War II. This obligation is two fold: Not only that the Jewish people never forget, but also that the rest of the world never forget. In this way, the people who died in the Holocaust are remembered and the hope that the atrocity of genocide never be repeated. We seem to be doing OK on the first count, but on the second count...well, Planet Earth does seem to be for slow learners.

It is with this sense of obligation, as well as curiosity, that I ventured out to the Museo del Holocausto. I wanted to honor those who died but also, I was curious to see how a county, who allowed so many Nazi war criminals to emigrate after World War II, handled the topic of the Holocaust.


It was a small museum and to someone who is familiar with the history of pre-World War II Europe and the events of the Holocaust, there was nothing enlilghtening to offer. But to those who may not know, or who know little, it was a pretty accurate accounting of what happened. It wasn't graphic (which allows people of all ages to more easily go) but I also didn't find it terribly emotional either. Mostly it felt like history, just the facts. They didn't try to hide the fact that Argentina accepted post war some of the worst of the Nazi war criminals: Joseph Mengele, Adolf Eichmann, Eduard Roschmann, Walter Kutschmann and Klaus Barbie just to name a few. They also gave no explanation, excuses or appologies for that fact either. Again, just the facts. It left me feeling a little chilled.


Fake Passport of Adolf Eichmann

It's not an award winning museum by any stretch of the imagination but it is Buenos Aires' attempt to help the world to Never Forget.

Home Sweet Home

Home - a place to reside where you feel completely comfortable, with all you need and your friends close by.

That's all I want. I miss home!!! When we first heard that we were going around the world, it was a little exciting. It was too far away to think about the fact that no friends, dolls, stuffed animals or "stuff" would be seen for a year. As we drew closer to leaving, friends started to get email addresses to communicate with us while we were on the road. It made it seem closer. Then finally, here. Everywhere. We move around, so no time to REALLY get settled in. When we accumulate a nice group of animals and dolls, we ship them off. Our stuff is... clothes. And a laptop, two animals each, books, not enough STUFF to... make it feel like home. Now as it is only 46 days until we get home, we find ourselves missing it more than ever. We play on Webkinz here, and we miss our Webkinz. We play with our current group of dolls and animals, and we miss our dolls at home. We play with Seelia, Siena's seal and when she starts getting upset about not seeing her New Zealand fur seal mate Walley, we miss our animals and dolls from the trip. But most of all, we miss our friends. How I long to play with my friends, even if we spend all of our time deciding what to do.

One of the highlights of our trip was going to see Amy and Andrea. We knew that before we left. It gave Siena and I something to look forward to, instead of just crumpling on the couch everyday, moaning of missing home. Now in Buenos Aires, with a perfect feather couch to sink into, that's all we want to do. Amy and Andrea have sadly been left behind and now, we have no motivation except home. It all comes down to that. I MISS HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!