My boys were really excited to go there. See?
Actually, they really liked it. They just don't like to smile in photos. Ah, the teenage years to look forward to!
It is really hard to choose which photos to put in because they are all beautiful. It totally beats Niagra Falls! Sorry Canadian friends. When you get there, you walk along a path about a mile or two and head steadily down till you are even with part of the falls. Then, the crazy thing that you will never see in the States - you walk out onto the top of the falls. They never spoke about anyone jumping over, but I am sure that there have been a few suicidal maniacs that have done just that. You even get to look down into the falls in what they call the Devil's Throat. You get soaking wet from the mist, but it is spectacular! It is the coolest thing ever.
These are only a few of the great shots we got. The first is looking out over the falls. The water was about 6 feet below us, if that much. The second in my mother-in-law protecting the cameras from the water. And the third shot is a side view from where we were standing. And below is the picture looking into the Devil's throat.
We saw snails and ants the size of a thumb nail, monkeys in the trees (besides the two who were with us that never smiled), the most amazingly colorful butterflies imaginable, and these Brazilian raccoon things called Coiti. Back at our hotel we even saw a snail the size of a man's palm and the shell the size of a baseball!
We also went to a bird sanctuary while we were there. The Toucans followed you around to get their pictures taken. We even saw one reading a sign post.
Again, the colors of the butterflies and the parrots were amazing. We found out that the giant colorful parrots do not like baseball caps. Either that or they are not SEC fans (Ricardo was wearing his Florida Gator hat) because they dive-bombed us when we went through their caged area. Ricardo got a quick picture of the bomb run.
Watch out below!
We saw flamingos doing yoga, coiling snakes, and monkeys running around chasing butterflies for snacks.
The wonders did not cease when we went over to Argentina either. Ricardo and I headed for the border (too bad there was no Taco Bell) and hit the casino on the Argentine side. Now of course Ricardo has said that now that I have been to Argentina he does not have to take me back. WRONG! Breathing some funky air there sweetie if you think you can get away with that! The casino was very interesting - even though it was in Argentina, all the chips and money were in US dollars. We assumed that since the inflation rate is so high and fluctuates so much in Argentina that it was easier to run it on a more stable currency. (Maybe they should have picked the Chinese currency. Have they been watching the economic reports lately?) We got a bunch of free drink tickets though so that made up for the loss in the money exchange. Because of course why would we bring US dollars to Argentina while living in Brazil? The people watching I think made up for the fact that to casino took our children's college fund. No not that bad, just some shoe money really. Okay, yes taking shoe money is bad - for me - but I will get over it. Eventually.
We got to see another natural wonder of the world on the Argentina side too. Picture this - young women in their 20s and 30s, not bad looking though some could have used a gym and the others a mirror, wearing dresses on the short side, on the arms of men in their 60s and 70s. Truly, truly amazing to see. They were as abundant as the butterflies we saw that afternoon! But here comes the fun part. One girl sat down at our Black Jack table, and her grandfa - excuse me companion - gave her some money to play with. Every hand? She asked how much her cards were worth. "What do I have?" Well chica, you have a seven and a five so I think you have, wait let me count, ummm, 10. No that's not it, I ran out of fingers. Ah I got it - 12! You have twelve you need to hit. Or really you need to be hit. And the next hand. "How much do I have?" Let me see, a nine and a six. You have 15! You have got to be kidding me! She couldn't even count the cards that the dealer had so she would clap and then pout when the dealer took her money. You lost sweetheart. He had more than you, but he didn't go over 21. I don't think her IQ did either.
The previous night we went to dinner and a show where Ricardo was pulled on stage to dance with a girl who was doing Samba. I love me husband, but he cannot Samba. I can't either so don't think that is a dig on him. Nor would I be up there wearing a g-string bikini like she was even if I could. He was a very good sport about it and I think we all extended our lives by about five years with how much we laughed.
if you ever have a chance to go, do. To quote Ferris Bueller, "I highly recommend it." We had such a great time. I will see how to add a link to my photo gallery so you can see more pictures if you want.
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