July 2

Today was our day at Iguazu Falls Park and it lived up our high expectations. We caught the 9:20 AM bus to the park, arriving about 10:00 AM. Before we left, Mark arranged a speedboat tour of the falls. Once we got to the park we had to pick up our tickets. We were told when we arranged the tour that kids 11 and under were not allowed on the tour, but we thought (like all rules in Argentina) it was more a suggestion than a rule. In a country where stopping at a stop sign is encouraged rather than expected, pedestrians do not have the right of way, and there is rampant corruption, when we got our tickets we learned that kids 11 and under cannot go on a speed boat tour of Iguazu Falls. Our tour wasn't until 1:15 PM so we had some time to walk around and see the Falls from above. They are quite impressive. The Misiones district has had higher than average rainfall lately (sound familiar) and the Falls were raging. There were some areas we could not go to because the bridges had been washed out. Check out the photos in the most recent photo album because words do not do it justice. We ate lunch, checked out the Sheraton hotel in the park, and then went to the tour. Because of their age, Jacob and Luke could not go on the tour. Since Mark had been on the tour during an earlier visit, he stayed behind with the boys. Hopefully the ice cream the boys had made up for not going. The tour consisted of a guided jeep ride the through the jungle to the speedboat dock. The speedboat took us up the Iguazu River weaving across the border between Brazil and Argentina that divides the river. As we got close to the Falls the water became more and more choppy until the Falls were right in front of us. We had to put all of our non-waterproof belongings in watertight bags because we were going to get wet. We went in and out of the mist a couple of times (we were wet, but not that bad) and then the boat went right up to the Falls and we got drenched. It was crazy! It was like all the rides at Valleyfair rolled up into one. Drenched, we headed back to shore, got some good photos of the Falls from below, and headed back up to do some shopping. On the way up, we saw the Coatis accosting anyone with food. Coatis are large rodent/anteater/cute-type animals (Ellie's description) that are all over one part of the park. There are various gruesome signs throughout the park that warn people not to feed them (the signs involve large cuts and blood). We caught the bus out of the park and went back to our hotel, got some dry clothes, and then headed out for dinner. We had an excellent meal accompanied by a singer/guitarist serenading us the with Latin-tinged covers of Eric Clapton, Coldplay, and Pink Floyd (???). Our last night in Argentina was topped off with helado (ice cream for those of you who don't remember)!