Posted by Amanda

A very early start to our day as we met our Iguacu Falls group at 4:45am. I am the trip leader for this outing which I'm not totally enjoying. Bascially, I have to make sure everyone's together and on time. Of course everyone on the trip thinks I know how long it will take to get from the airport to the hotel and what time dinner will be, etc. I don't know any of that stuff. Since everyone was out with Carnaval last night the 4:45 start was really difficult. Even harder after we realized we'd have to spend hours at the airport in Sao Paulo. Our airline, TAM, seems to make their stewardesses wear very tight white t-shirts as part of their uniforms. They look nice in them, but it seems like such a throw back to older airline times.

When we finally got to Iguacu we were met by Oliver, our guide. Luckily, we had some time in the hotel as most people hadn't showered after Carnaval and needed to. Our hotel is nice though our air conditioner leaks making a constant dripping noise. We've put the trash can under it with a hand towel in it to stop some of the sound.

For dinner we went to a Fiesta Gaucho with rodizio. This basically means lots of meat. They didn't bring it around to our tables, but instead we went up to the serving area. It was quite tasty particularly after all the pasta I've eaten on the ship.

Following dinner we had an hour and 45 minutes of South American dancing. It was good but way touristy. You know it will be when you can take flash photography. Oddly enough, when they did their Mexican number, it reminded me of the US.

Noah and the students enjoyed it more than I did. I always worry that locals think this is what all tourists want to see and not anything more in depth. In the end, a bit of a disappointing day.