Here’s some very simple math for you.
Iguassu Falls = One of the Most Beautiful Places in the World
Wow. I mean, wow. There are SO many waterfalls that are just plain huge and amazing and everything is just surreal, from the smaller tributary falls to La Garganta del Diablo. I took about a million pictures too. And for those of you who are saying “Thomas, that’s ridiculous, you can’t take a million pictures,” well, I did. With 856 high resolution 8 mega pixel pictures on one 2 gig memory card, I filled up 1,170 memory cards. Which, for those of you keeping track, would be about 56 pictures a second for 5 hours of being there. It’s pretty impressive, I know, but I’m a pretty impressive guy. But in all honesty, these falls have some of the most beautiful sights you will ever see. I haven’t even started looking through my pictures yet, because I’m afraid that pictures won’t do them justice. We got to go to Argentina today too, and see the other side of the falls. Of course, it was beautiful. Another stamp in my passport.
Well, we arrived in Brazil a few days ago for the last night of Carnavale! They were telling us tons of horror stories from Brazil, so a lot of people, including me, were a little afraid to go to the largest party in the world. It really is the largest party in the world, as I believe there are 2-3 million people in the streets partying for a week straight (or something ridiculous like that. The teachers were telling us stories about how people have their cameras ripped from there hands, jewelry torn from there body, and a teacher and student from a local institution were killed a year ago. There was one story about a man who went to the bank to withdraw money from the ATM, and upon leaving the bank, he was kidnapped by some locals. They kept him for about 3 weeks, and every day they took him to the bank to withdraw the maximum amount you can, which is $300, until his bank account was completely drained. Once it was drained, they just dropped him off somewhere in the city and said goodbye. Needless to say, once I got to Brazil, I didn’t have my camera on me for any part of Carnavale, which is a shame, because I could have gotten some great pictures, but it’s really better to be safe than sorry. Carnavale ended up to be pretty fun, and nothing bad really happened to us. Grant and I bought some pretty amazing Capoeira pants, which are the pants they wear for the Brazilian martial art, Capoeira. Grant bought plain white ones, and mine are bright yellow with green, red, and black stripes on the side. They are amazing. We didn’t stay out very late though, because our Iguassu trip started at 4:45 the next morning. Not something to look forward to, but Iguassu ended up being amazing.
The travel time it took to get here was around 12 hours, which is a pain, but travel is something you just have to get used to. The hotel is pretty nice, and I’m sitting in it right now (I brought my computer with me because I figured I’d be able to get free wifi, which is needless to say a rarity). The dinner we had the first night here was another of the greatest things that’s ever happened to me in my life. All you can eat buffet. Those words are music to my ears, especially when the food is top notch. It was a traditional Brazilian style cuisine with some Italian and Japanese dishes. Kind of an odd combination, but any food combination is a winner in my book. And the dessert was to die for. I had to try all of them, which ended up being around 10-15 things, and I must say that the best dessert was the passion fruit mousse, with the flan in a close second. The Brazilians really know how to do fruit. I mean, they know how to do fruit. The fruits that grow here are amazing, and there are so many that we have never heard of in the U.S. I’m trying to taste all the new foods I can, and so far my stomach is still untouchable. Brazilian food is by no means a disappointment.
We went to a giant aviary after the falls today too, which I wasn’t looking forward to, but ended up being a ton of fun. It was interesting, because you walk inside a giant cage and all the birds are flying and walking around you. You can get pretty close to a lot of those guys, and some of them look pretty scary. We leave Iguassu tomorrow :,-( and Grant and I are going to try and catch a Capoiera class the day before we leave. As far as everything else, the ship is doing fine. There are a number of smaller kids on the ship (and that number is four) who are ten and younger. I’m giving two of them, Bridget and Eric, piano lessons. It’s kind of hard because our resources are limited, but we’ll see what we can do. It’s getting late and this entry is way too long. I’ll try to post some pictures of the falls and I’ll try to post something before I get to Africa. Neptune Day is on the 14th…
Iguassu Falls = One of the Most Beautiful Places in the World
Wow. I mean, wow. There are SO many waterfalls that are just plain huge and amazing and everything is just surreal, from the smaller tributary falls to La Garganta del Diablo. I took about a million pictures too. And for those of you who are saying “Thomas, that’s ridiculous, you can’t take a million pictures,” well, I did. With 856 high resolution 8 mega pixel pictures on one 2 gig memory card, I filled up 1,170 memory cards. Which, for those of you keeping track, would be about 56 pictures a second for 5 hours of being there. It’s pretty impressive, I know, but I’m a pretty impressive guy. But in all honesty, these falls have some of the most beautiful sights you will ever see. I haven’t even started looking through my pictures yet, because I’m afraid that pictures won’t do them justice. We got to go to Argentina today too, and see the other side of the falls. Of course, it was beautiful. Another stamp in my passport.
Well, we arrived in Brazil a few days ago for the last night of Carnavale! They were telling us tons of horror stories from Brazil, so a lot of people, including me, were a little afraid to go to the largest party in the world. It really is the largest party in the world, as I believe there are 2-3 million people in the streets partying for a week straight (or something ridiculous like that. The teachers were telling us stories about how people have their cameras ripped from there hands, jewelry torn from there body, and a teacher and student from a local institution were killed a year ago. There was one story about a man who went to the bank to withdraw money from the ATM, and upon leaving the bank, he was kidnapped by some locals. They kept him for about 3 weeks, and every day they took him to the bank to withdraw the maximum amount you can, which is $300, until his bank account was completely drained. Once it was drained, they just dropped him off somewhere in the city and said goodbye. Needless to say, once I got to Brazil, I didn’t have my camera on me for any part of Carnavale, which is a shame, because I could have gotten some great pictures, but it’s really better to be safe than sorry. Carnavale ended up to be pretty fun, and nothing bad really happened to us. Grant and I bought some pretty amazing Capoeira pants, which are the pants they wear for the Brazilian martial art, Capoeira. Grant bought plain white ones, and mine are bright yellow with green, red, and black stripes on the side. They are amazing. We didn’t stay out very late though, because our Iguassu trip started at 4:45 the next morning. Not something to look forward to, but Iguassu ended up being amazing.
The travel time it took to get here was around 12 hours, which is a pain, but travel is something you just have to get used to. The hotel is pretty nice, and I’m sitting in it right now (I brought my computer with me because I figured I’d be able to get free wifi, which is needless to say a rarity). The dinner we had the first night here was another of the greatest things that’s ever happened to me in my life. All you can eat buffet. Those words are music to my ears, especially when the food is top notch. It was a traditional Brazilian style cuisine with some Italian and Japanese dishes. Kind of an odd combination, but any food combination is a winner in my book. And the dessert was to die for. I had to try all of them, which ended up being around 10-15 things, and I must say that the best dessert was the passion fruit mousse, with the flan in a close second. The Brazilians really know how to do fruit. I mean, they know how to do fruit. The fruits that grow here are amazing, and there are so many that we have never heard of in the U.S. I’m trying to taste all the new foods I can, and so far my stomach is still untouchable. Brazilian food is by no means a disappointment.
We went to a giant aviary after the falls today too, which I wasn’t looking forward to, but ended up being a ton of fun. It was interesting, because you walk inside a giant cage and all the birds are flying and walking around you. You can get pretty close to a lot of those guys, and some of them look pretty scary. We leave Iguassu tomorrow :,-( and Grant and I are going to try and catch a Capoiera class the day before we leave. As far as everything else, the ship is doing fine. There are a number of smaller kids on the ship (and that number is four) who are ten and younger. I’m giving two of them, Bridget and Eric, piano lessons. It’s kind of hard because our resources are limited, but we’ll see what we can do. It’s getting late and this entry is way too long. I’ll try to post some pictures of the falls and I’ll try to post something before I get to Africa. Neptune Day is on the 14th…
3 comments:
Oh, what a beautiful place. Thank you for posting pictures!
Hey, I got a Wii! Would you email me with the names of all those original Mario games you have?
hey man, nice pics. i miss you like woah.
at some point, when you get a chance...you need to see this video
it's the plot of star wars according to a three year old.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBM854BTGL0
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