Last Thursday we flew to Iguazu Falls, which rests on the border between Brazil and Argentina in the most northeastern corner of Argentina.The falls were absolutely spectacular, easily one of the most (if not THE most) impressive natural wonder that Todd and I have ever seen.The Iguazu Falls are actually a series of waterfalls.Unlike Victoria Falls (the only other waterfall in the world similar in size and grandeur) Iguazu Falls is actually 275 separate falls along about one and a half miles of the Iguazu River.The largest of these waterfalls is called Garganta del Diablo (the Devil's Throat) and was almost too much to fully take in.Please take a look at out our photos, as we did our best to capture a bit of the size and fury of the water crashing over the cliffs, as well as the amount of mist rising from the base.Garganta del Diablo is a u-shaped cliff that is 2300 feet high, so as you can imagine the effect is incredible.We learned that when Eleanor Roosevelt first saw Garganta del Diablo and the rest of Iguazu Falls she stood watching it for a moment and then said, "oh, poor Niagara".

We spent two full days wandering through the Iguazu Falls Park, along the many trails that connect the different portions of the falls.We also woke early one morning and took part in the "Grand Adventure" - an expedition that took us through part of the jungle in the park (where we saw birds and monkeys)and then took us up the Iguazu River in a boat to the base of the lower series of falls.Boats are not allowed to pass all the way to the base of Garganta del Diablo for safety reasons.Our boat actually took us under two of the lower waterfalls.We had been warned that we would "get wet" on the boat but were still unprepared for the force of the water that swamped the boat and its passengers.The whole experience was very fun and gave us an even greater appreciation for the power of the water spilling over the falls.

On Saturday night, our hostel hosted an evening performance featuring Brazilian/Argentine dancers (once again, please look at our photos as my powers of description will fail to capture the outfits these dancers wore).The evening was very fun and many of the tourists in the audience participated fully.Yours truly became shy at the prospect of joining the dancing, although Todd was quite prepared to show the Argentines that at least one American man can dance!Minus a partner, he contented himself with taking pictures of the activities.Perhaps I will be a bit more brave going forward.We flew home yesterday and are settling into life in Buenos Aires once more.

Yesterday afternoon we went to an enormous antique fair in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires.We did not buy anything but loved seeing the many momentos that represented an Argentina long since vanished.We saw spurs and antique guns from Argentine caballeros, paintings and pictures from Eva Peron's era, and dishes, plates, and silver from homes long ago.On the way home, we were caught in a torrential rainstorm and sought shelter in a local bar, hoping to wait out the rain.Todd was immediately sucked into watching the Boca Junior futbol (soccer) game on the television along with about thirty Argentine men.After an hour we realized that the rain had no intention of stopping so we accepted the inevitable and arrived back at our apartment soaked through after walking through standing water in the streets that reached mid-calf.The rain stopped sometime in the night and this morning we went to the Alvear Palace for breakfast.The Alvear Palace is an incredible hotel in the center of the city that fully deserves its palatial title.Our breakfast was wonderful and a good beginning to our final full week in Buenos Aires.

-Christina