Day 9 Tigre, Parana Delta

On our last full day in Argentina, we departed our hotel this morning on the way to Tigre, which is the starting point for the Parana Delta. While driving into the province of Buenos Aires, we continued straight on the second longest road in Buenos Aires which is the Avenida Libertador. As we drove on this road, we entered the upper class district as well as passing by the house where the president lives which is nine blocks long and surrounded by a wall. We learned  that the only president to die in the president's house is Juan Peron.

 As we boarded our boat for the 2 hour ride on the delta, we saw many beautiful summer homes along the Delta. What is interesting is that the amount of water in the delta is not only determined by the rain, but the wind as well (which was different on the Uruguay and Iguazu rivers in the north. We ate lunch this afternoon in El gato blanco and again, we were treated to wonderful food. The menu item today was chicken and mushroom sauce followed by a scoop of ice cream and mixed fruit. Our bus then headed on the hour drive to the airport where we had to say good bye to our wonderful tour guide Marissa and our driver Eduardo.



The students had one last opportunity to speak Spanish when arriving past customs, they met a group of 90 fifteen year old girls headed to Miami for their quinceñera. The boys had many opportunities for photo opportunities!!! This was an excellent trip and I can't wait to visit Argentina again!!!!

Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay

Day 8 took us to a UNESCO World Heritage site in Uruguay. In the morning, we borded the Buquebus which crosses the Río de la Plata into Uruguay. 45 km across and an hour later, we arrived at the port of Colonia de Sacramento.  This is a very charming town that was battled and owned by both the Spanish and Portuguese for many years until Brazil took control. Finally it then gained its independence from Brasil in 1825. During our lunch today, many of us had steak which had to be on one of the best steaks we have ever eaten. In Uruguay, there are 3 million people and 12 million cows! This adds up to the average consumtion of steak eaten by Uruguayans to 75 kg per year. During our city tour, Fabían our tour guide took us to the lighthouse, the Portuguese style church, the stone streets (with both Spanish and Portuguese influence the way they were constructed) and we had the chance to do a little shopping. After our day in Colonia de Sacramento, we borded the Buquebus to head back to the city of Buenos Aires and for one last time, the students had a chance to visit Calle Florida to do some last minute shopping. Our final day will take us to the Tigre area before bording a flight to the U.S.

Travel Day and Buenos Aires

Today was a transition day. We started off the morning by taking a walk along the Iguazú River. Once we ran into a problem with flooding, we made our way back and one of the students had the wonderful idea to sing in the theatre along the three borders. After some wonderful presentations, we made our way into town for lunch before having to say good bye to the Iguazú area.  After returning to Buenos Aires, the students were very much happy to see our bus driver Eduardo who took us back to the hotel. The students had the chance to go shopping in the supermarket today buying lots  of chocolate and food to bring back to the U.S. We passed  Plaza San Martín and through Calle Florida while heading back to our hotel. We have an early night tonight as tomorrow, we will make our trip to Uruguay for the day.

Guiraoga and Puerto Iguazú

Today, we went to visit a rehabiltation center for animals at Guiraoga. This is an indigenous word for ¨the house of the birds´. Inside this rehabilitation center, we saw toucans, monkeys, alligators, coatíes, macaws, and eagles. This place is amazing because they take in animals and then prepare them to go back out to the wild. Afterwards, we took a trip to the point where the Iguazú and Paraná Rivers come together as well as the countries of Paraguay, Brasil and Argentina meet. This is only one of two places in the world where this happens (with the other in southeast Asia).  After some time here, the students had a chance to do some shopping in Puerto Iguazú for their friends and family.

Iguazu Falls

Today, we had an early morning and took a flight from Buenos Aires up to the state of Misiones. The landscape has changed quite a bit from Buenos Aires to Misiones. We are now in the Mesopotamia region of Argentina. In this region, there are three states in the northern part of the country that are in between the Uruguay River and the Paraná River.This area is home to Iguazú falls. The word Iguazú is an Indian word for Big Water. The Falls border the countries of Argentina and Brasil and is made up of 270 seperate waterfalls.







After meeting our tour guide Juan at the airport this mroning, we went right to Iguazú national park. Today we walked the upper trail and the lower trail of the the falls. Unfortunatly, due to 15 straight days of rain, the main attraction which looks right over the falls, la garganta del diablo is closed due to it being damaged during the incredble amounts of rain. However, because of the heavy rains, the water hasn´t been this heavy in over a decade! Tonight, we are staying in the hotel Esturion where the students had time to relax in the pool or in the tennis courts this evening after having a long day.

La visita a la Estancia Santa Susana

On day four of our trip, we made our way out early in the morning to the Pampas. The Pampas is a Quecha word for flat land, however, we stayed in the state of Buenos Aires. The students had the chance ride in a carriage ride and ride a horse during their stay.  hey were greeted by one of the main guachos at the ranch along with an empanada. After the horseback ride, the students had a chance to eat an incredible bbq which included steak, chicken and pork tenderloin. The BBQ was followed by enternatinment of local music and tango dancing. Following the performance, the guachos showecased their skills at getting a small ring that was hanging from a string while riding their horse. It is tradition that if the guacho does acheive this goal, he then gives the ring to a girl in the crowd. Many of our girls had a chance to receive the ring!!! After our trip to the ranch, the students had the opportunity to go the movies and watch Monster University in Spanish!

 

City tour

On our third day of the tour, we had a chance to take a bus/walking tour of the city of Buenos Aires. We learned today that the name Buenos Aires was named after   Santa María del Buen Ayre when the Spanish came in 1580. We passed by many sites that include the Plaza de Mayo, la Casa Rosada (where the president works), la Palerma and La Recoleta. La Recoleta is a mausoleum where there are 4,000 residents and where Eva Peron's tomb can be found. In addition, we learned that the casa rosada is pink for two different reasons. The first was because the people of Buenos Aires needed the houses to withstand the humidity of the summer. Therefor, they mixed the blood of animals with the lime of the buildings and it created a pink color. The second reason was that during the civil war, there was one side that had a white flag and the other side which had a red flag. When the war ended, they mixed both colors to have as sense of unity in the country. In addition to our other travels today, we went to the neighborhood La Boca which is home to the soccer club Boca Junior as well as to some of the most colorful buildings in the city. The weather has been beautiful with temperatures in the 60's and sunshine! Our dinner tonight was at an Italian restaurant where they ate pizza and pasta dishes followed by an ice cream dessert!