Seafood, volcanoes, sand dunes, latinos, beachs, dolphins, and a Toyota pickup photo shoot

2014:

For Julie's birthday, we headed down the Baja peninsula of Mexico with no agenda only a sense of adventure. We knew we wanted to head south, and what better place to knock some of the rust off of our Spanish skills than Mexico. I recently acquired the Toyota pickup truck and it made for great transportation and camping. Everybody we met was friendly and inviting, and surprised to see 2 gringas cruising alone. I feel that once you pass Tijuana, or most of the border towns, Mexico is a fairly safe and inviting place. It was nice to munch down on Mexican food all the time, and have cheap accessibility to all those yummy Mexican snacks. The trip was a great success. 

The sand dunes and the stray dog with Juie

The gorgeous coast near Ensenada: our first camping spot

The volcano in the National Park at sunset

Our camping truck for this Baja excursion, I named her Relampago Dorado - Golden Lightning

Just a "normal" day in Australia!!!!

--

I just spent one of my most amazing spring breaks in the remote rainforest of Australia. What is Kristin Melody's idea of an amazing spring break, you ask? No it is not a drunken crawl through Cancun or catching up on the TV show "Teen Mom"; it was surrounded by natural beauty, zip lining through the Daintree rainforest canopy, being surrounded by toxic plants and animals, lovely hippies, lovely hippie parties and live music, having no cell reception or internet, beer, laying on the pristine beaches of Australia, seeing my best friend, and experiencing the overwhelming beauty of the great barrier reef.

Australia is big, as in virtually the size of the contiguous United States. If all you think of when you think of Australia is Sydney and the Outback, than you are sorely missing some highlights. That would be like only knowing the states for Los Angeles and The Rockies. This spring break gave me an opportunity to go explore some other parts of Australia besides Melbourne because my best friend is coincidentally here and working in Australia at the same time.

Where 2% of Australia's population lives: map by e8odie on Reddit

I headed up to the northeastern state of Queensland, towards the northern most tip of Australia (Cape York). After arriving to Cairns, which is a very popular vacation destination for Aussies, and having the best fish n' chips I've ever had (below) and watching an amazing sunset... I met up with Julie, my best friend since the 4th grade.

Let my vacation within my vacation begin

Friends reunited...in another country...again.

After cruising around Cairns, we began our road trip up to Cape Tribulation. On the way we were graced with absolutely gorgeous views of the coastline, friendly faces, and stops of absolutely beautiful beaches (like Palm Cove and Coconut Beach). It felt amazing to have the sun beating down on me, and perfect 75 degree weather after nearly two months in chilly and windy Melbourne. On the trip, you must cross the fairy to get to Cape Tribulation, and once you do it becomes another world because it is the Daintree National Rainforest. Cape Tribulation is a very small secluded town in the middle of this rainforest (the 2006 census showed a population of 101); this is where Julie lives and works at Jungle Surfing canopy tours and Ocean Safari reef trips.

Where I got to stay for 10 days.... living THE LIFE!

Looks horrible, right? Gosh it was rough.

We stayed at this closed down house/cafe/restaurant/art gallery that we were watching for a friend. The rainforest is all around you, the sounds of it are louder than you think but soothing all the same. With those sounds comes all sorts of critters and insects (yes, all of you that asked me about spiders, this is where they are). In my time in Cape Trib, I saw: large creepy spiders (!), black snake (about half of black snakes are poisonous), pythons, kangaroos, tree kangaroo (only about 300 left in the world), goana lizard (lace monitor), the famous cassowary (an emu like creature, about 1,200 left in the world), countless smaller lizards, cockatoos, cane toad (a slight poisonous and invasive toad), sea eagle (not that is not a joke...and no I do not mean seagull), countless other birds, and probably many more things that I didn't even realize I was seeing.

Just a normal day in Queensland, Australia
 

This spider was larger in length than my entire hand

That is a mould killer bottle....nothing is safe up here!

The invasive, destructive, and highly reproductive cane toad

That is a bug....not a stick....so yes it is a stick bug

This was the kangaroo that had an affection for scratching his balls

So yes, Australia is full of these kinds of things, but you just kind of get used to it after awhile....after awhile you don't even continue to worry about it because if you leave them alone, they leave you alone. I was lucky enough to come in this "winter" month (read: dry, non-muggy month) and have spectacular weather with clear skies and hot weather. I was also fortunate enough to miss the marine dangers that are usually present. At this time of year, there are no deadly box jellyfish in the water, the crocodiles are keeping themselves, and the sting rays aren't too bad, and lucky enough, the beach here is absolutely beautiful. So I laid on the beach every day for either 20 minutes or 2 hours. I had to be careful though because, you know, I'm white, and you know I burn, and Australia has a damaged ozone so the sun is much much stronger here.

This was only part of my trip there in Cape Tribulation. My next blog will be a detailed description of my zip lining, canopy experience, and the great barrier reef..... until next time, CHEERS!

If anybody can guess what kind of burger this is, I will send them a postcard.

BEFORE

After

Surfing the waves on the Great Ocean Road

I have been in Australia for two weeks, and the time has absolutely flown by and yet I feel like I've done so much.

After leaving the wonder hospitality of some friends of a friend, I moved in to what I will call home for the next 4 months or so. I'm living in what they call a boarding house here, which means that the couple that own the house live in the downstairs area; the upstairs area is a self-contained rentable area. I live upstairs with two other girls, both originally from China, and we have three bedrooms, living room, full kitchen, and a shared bathroom on the second floor of the house. It is a wonderful set up and I am very close to campus, 3-5 mins. walking time. I've lived there for a week now, and am loving it, and I love hanging out with their cute dog!

Sunrise view from my kitchen window

Me and Jessie

Let me know by email or post a comment if you would like the address.

Well luckily for all exchange students, my school here Deakin University set up a three day beach trip to the picturesque town of Lorne, located on the famous Great Ocean Road.

So, before I left there were a lot of questions about surfing in Australia, quite a trademark of traveling in Australia (cough**David**cough). So dude, even though I'm like from Southern California, dude, I've like never totally mastered the surfing bro. (Hopefully you understand the exaggeration there). Keeping in mind that is winter here, and that the air temperature during the day is 15°C (55° F), at night is 5°C (40°F), and the water is 13°C (55°F). I did go surfing, in the town of Lorne. I had to wear a full wetsuit, actually everyone was wearing a full wetsuit except for this crazy old guy, wearing white, see-through-when-their-wet underwear.

Photo by: Nadia Buttice

Well we did get surfing lessons, and after attempting to catch some waves...I was actually able to stand up! ...and then I fell....but I sure felt accomplished! Surfing is really so much fun, and quite a good workout.

Me and my Australian surf instructor

The university had activities set up for us for all the days, meals set up, a place to stay, etc.... all at no extra charge to us. Well a line up like that attracted almost all the exchange students, and in total we were about 200 people. It was a giant group, but surprisingly over the three days we got to know each other all pretty well. Split into groups of 50 people, we rotated though the activities for three days.

The first day, my group had surfing which was an absolute blast. That night at dinner, I was part of a limbo competition, i'm not as limber as some of those people. The next day was a jam packed day of fun; beginning with a hike into the Australian bush. We headed inland early in the morning, the landscape can best be described as semi-arid forest, with plenty of ferns and eucalyptus as well as rivers running every which way. It was my lucky day because we spotted a kangaroo. It was a much different spotting a kangaroo hopping around in the wild than it is to see one in the zoo; and I have to admit, I felt a little bad about eating kangaroo steaks only a few days before because it was probably his cousin or something! After the really nice hike, I opted for beach yoga. This was very refreshing and felt good after being sore from surfing and hiking. The afternoon was full of fish and chips and beach volleyball and then wine. You have to watch out when your eating outside because there are yellow-haired cockatoos everywhere, as well as the black and white magpies...together they threaten any meal you eat outside. Dinner that night included Trivia Night. So, without using your SMARTPHONES!!.....first person to get this question right by leaving a comment, I will send you a postcard!

Which of the following is not an Australian innovation?
A) Chiko Roll (kind of like egg roll)
B) Lawn Sprinkler
C) Plastic Bank notes
D) Dual flush toilet
E) Wine cask


 The trip to Lorne and traveling along the Great Ocean Road was amazing and loads of fun!

First day on the Great Ocean Rd.

I still don't understand how they destroy homes???

Hiking into the bush

Magpie birds, that are everywhere, like our crows

A great group of friends I've made

I didn't mind looking at this view for 3 days

Southern Thailand

 So now that I'm back in Thailand traveling on my own again, I decided it was time to see the much talked about Southern Thailand.

Southern Thailand is known for it's beautiful beaches, friendly people, great diving and snorkeling, good food, limestone formations and plenty of other things.

I started off by going to Hua Hin, which is just about 4 hours south of Bangkok. This is more of a vacationing spot for the city dwellers of Bangkok and less a backpackers haven, for example the royal family has a vacation beach house here. But I wanted to see it regardless. Luckily, I met a French lady on the train, Magalie, and got to chatting and found out that she lives in Hua Hin with her long time boyfriend, David, from South Africa. He is teaching there at Webster University and they have been livin gin Hua Hin for 2 years. She was kind enough to invite me to their home and give me a place to stay. This resulted in me staying here much longer than most backpackers would stay in Hua Hin. They were so nice, we spent the days going to the beaches, hanging out with their Thai friends, other foreign teachers, riding bikes, eating seafood, noodle soup and other yummy cuisine, and just hanging out . They were so lovely and it was a nice thing for me to be in a home and be able to relax in one place for a bit. Plus their puppy, named 'Puppy' was just to adorable with it's cone on her head from her recent neutering!

After thanking them for letting me crash at their place and for showing me around Hua Hin, I got a over night bus ticket to arrive in Phuket (pronounced Foo-ket , in case you were wondering!) I chose to go to Phuket because my good friend Jenna who is in the Navy was going to be in port there and we go the chance to meet up. How cool right, a friend since middle school and we are meeting up on two very different kind of trips...in Thailand!! Once there, I met up with Jenna and was introduced to her friends, and from there the Navy 'In port' adventure began. Quite a different pace from my normal travel style, Jenna and her friends had about 48 hours to enjoy Phuket and Thailand, and they were aware that definitely ISN'T enough!! We ended up walking around the town, trying some cuisine, trying the beer, going to get them custom tailored suits (a very popular thing for people to do when they come to SE Asia because it is so much cheaper), and that was just the first day. We ended up spoiling ourselves some more, and Jenna was kind enough to spoil me (THANK YOU JENNA!!!). That night we went out on the town of Phuket, which basically meant the one pedestrian street full of bars, parties, restaurants, and many many other things. The next day was spent relaxing and recuperating and getting Thai massages. The 48 hours we spent together in port were definitely memorable, and I had a great time seeing my friend while traveling abroad. Cheers to more stories chica!

After the whirlwind pace of Phuket, I once again headed off by myself south toward Krabi. I stayed on the remote beach of Rai Leh, which was accessible only by boat although it was on the main land. This beach was absolutely gorgeous and a great place to walk up and down the beach and watch the avid rockclimbers scale the 100's of feet cliffs on the beach. The limestone formed cliffs here are just surreal to look at, and make for an unforgettable and unique beach scene. I was running short of days for my visa, and only had two full days to enjoy Rai Leh. My fullest day I spent on an excursion, which was a blast! We started off by heading on the boat to Bamboo beach, a white sand beach a few miles off the coast. We got to swim and check out the local huts on the beach and see the tsunami evacuation route. From there, we headed to a Pirate cave (!) yes used previously by pirates or just people looking to hide out, and monkey bay. After that to Maya Beach. Maya beach is where they filmed the Hollywood movie "The Beach" made off the popular travelers book. I read the book at the beginning of this trip and I thought this island was quite a good fit, beautiful crystal blue waters, white sands, a small cove, jungle-inland etc... it was gorgeous, packed with tourists, but gorgeous. From there we headed to the popular island of Koh Phi Phi, iconic Southern Thailand. I know I keep repeating myself, but this beach was gorgeous too! Plus I had random groups of Asian tourist come and ask to take pics with me on their camera, and then on mine. Offshore of Phi Phi, we did our first snorkel spot. I LOVE snorkeling, it is so awesome. It also helps when the visibility is about 20 feet in every direction, and I felt like I was diving in the movie 'Finding Nemo.' I saw a puffer fish, anemones, the black and white 'scarfish', huge schools of fish that ate bread and anything else you threw them, coral beds, and much much more. I was the first one in the water and the last one out both times, it was just too pretty!! From Phi Phi we headed back to Krabi and Rai Leh beach, at about 4pm, plenty of time to swim and lounge at the Rai Leh beach until I got to see the repetitively spectacular sunsets! Ahhhh, I see why people get stuck in the South of Thailand and never leave...but I had to be going.

Chang

Alright alright, I know it has been awhile, but sometimes you just get busy when you are traveling around.

After LAOS, I headed back into Thailand to meet up with Brad. He flew in on April 17th and was here for a week. We definitely enjoyed our week together, although I would of preferred it to be longer (of course) I was happy to see him for a week. You'll be jealous to know that most European countries get about 6 weeks of paid vacation a year, and are much more lenient on leaving work for extended periods of time and still having a job. I know I'm jealous! But, within the week that we were together we spent a couple of days in the big city of Bangkok. Exploring the Grand Palace and lovely architecture, eating yummy food from restaurants and street stalls, walking the entertaining street of Khao San Rd. - "The Backpackers Ghetto", going out and dancing and partying it up, then more eating, frequenting 7-11 of course because they are everywhere, and lots of walking around and seeing the culture and enjoying eachothers company.
But after we'd had enough of the city, we headed east toward Cambodia by bus and ferry to reach the tropical island of Koh Chang. (Chang = Elephant (in Thai)) We had a scary taxi ride in with some new found friends from Britain, and found a nice bungalow in the small village of Lonely Beach. We spent quite a few days relaxing here on the jungle clad island and swimming around in it's aqua marine blue waters and white sand and beautiful sunsets. (See facebook pics) We also did a fair amount of trying the local cuisine like Pad Thai, Thai curries, fruit shakes, ginger chicken, seafood, etc... and going out at night and meeting fun people and hanging out. Two of the adventure highlights were one; going the the treetop adventure park. Here Brad did ziplinning, rope swings, shaky bridges, and a whole assortment of 'George of the Jungle' like activities. He was like a kid in a candy store. Especially on the 400 feet zipline over the jungle canopy! Second of our adventures was riding elephants at the elephant sanctuary. We had an amazing time with our elephant named Rambo. We rode through the jungle and headed to a stream/pond where we got to bath with Rambo and sit ontop of him and have him splash us and throw water all over us. It was a fantastic experience!!! They really are huge amazing creatures, and it really reminds you how different you are from these types of animals. Plus we got to drive Rambo back! Check off the bucket list!
The week that Brad visited was a fantastic part of my vacation and I had a wonderful time with him being out here.

Physical Tips for trip preparation

Physical preparations for SE Asia:

Now as you can tell, there are multiple preparations you have to make before a trip. But there is one you may not of expected, you better hit the GYM!

Each daily activity while traveling requires fine toned muscles in peculiar places, and if not in shape, you may get left in the 11 pm bus to Bangkok dust trail.



- [Arm curls] Reason: Your arms will be used in the occasional hitchhiking wave, which is not a thumbs up, but rather a palm down wave toward the ground. Benefit: When standing on the side of the road for hours because the Cambodian people won’t give you a lift, your arms won’t get fatigued and you’ll be able to harass every passing car or tuk-tuk.

- [Frisbee toss] Reason: This wrist strengthing and accuracy exercise will be perfect when haggling in the outdoor markets. When that pesky old man selling silk purses just won’t budge another 2 dollars off the price after you’ve been ‘kindly haggling’ for 15 mins., you have two options. You can purchase the product, because in the end, what is 2 more dollars (my choice), or you can use this new Frisbee toss move to walk a few steps away and then pick up an object of your choice, and Frisbee toss it at his head and run like a bat out of hell. Benefit: No explanation needed.

- [Jump Rope] Reason: In case you are ever challenged to walk across hot coals. Your foot hoppin’ skills will be polished! Benefit: Impress the hell out of the locals, and maybe score some free food. Mmmmm.

- [Squats] Reason: Now here in the US, our bathroom experiences are spoiled events. I work at a bathroom fixture company, and trust me, people spend thousands of dollars on the bathroom remodel. Personally, my trips to the bathroom are like trips to the spa, leisurely, time consuming, and like a Coca-cola, refreshing! But, other countries aren’t so lucky. The adventure of going to the bathroom in other countries is exciting, and doing squats will help your cause. If you are traveling by bus, you may be going to the bathroom at the side of the bus where most sitting at windows can see you. If in the jungle, you may be going to the bathroom in an elevated wooden box above the river. Squats will help keep you from falling into the not-so-healthy river :-/ If in a rural town, you may be going to the bathroom in a public facility. Public…no doors…just flimsy siding. Squats help so you don’t have to touch the walls! And if you run across the occasional nice bathroom, you may have such thunder thighs (;-p) from all these squats that you won’t think twice about squatting over porcelain. Benefit: Pre-trip meditation over squats may save you some extra baths and cleansing.

- [Yoga] Reason: Uh…. Buddhism, duh. Benefit: Uh…relaxation, duh.

- [Crunches] Reason: This exercise has multiple benefits. These countries have beautiful beaches. When your prancing around on the beach, you don’t want the locals laughing at you, so I’d suppose a 6 pack is required! Haha, not. More importantly, when snorkeling or scuba diving in these world-renown dive spots, you’ll want the fish and turtles to be saying, ‘WOW, she must work out!’ Yes, it is very important they say this. More importantly even yet, when you try that mystery meat at the hawker food stand, you’re in for a surprise benefit of crunches. Crunches happen to be the same motion you’ll be using when your throwing that food up in the toilet, while doing squats!! It all comes together!!! Benefit: You’ll be able to hang with the locals, because one, your stomach is prepared for that sun tanning, and two, you’re able to eat what every mystery food they throw your way with those toned abs! (Side note: I don’t endorse the lap band belt, it will not get you the same effect with the locals!)

-

Sooo with your new workout list, you can now take it to your personal trainer and say 'I need Thunder Thighs, PRONTO!!" I wish you luck on getting in shape for your next adventure.
 
(p.s. I hope you find as much humor in reading this post as I did in writing it!)

Travel Update ***next trip***

Buddhist Temples, equatorial hot climates, street food, elephants, odd bowel movements, busy streets, foreign languages, world famous monuments, beautiful beaches, and jungle excursions.
Can you guess where I am going?
It all sounds like PARADISE to me!
Still can't guess where I'm going next...

Alright another clue: The region is a word scramble  esuaotsht siaa.

That's right, Southeast Asia!!




Last night, I booked my trip. My travel dates are from February 17th through June 16. 4 months. Let's say it again, together now, ready... 4 m-o-n-t-h-s. (wowza!) I know, I know, it ain't a year. But a year is a long time, especially when you've got something great going on here at home. Some would ask, if it is so great, then why the heck are you leaving again? hhmph, thats a great question that I don't know the exact answer to. But I have some uncharacteristically witty come-backs.


Why are you going then? Why are you not?
Why are you going then? TO SEE!!! Seeing is believing, seeing is learning, seeing is experiencing.
Why are you going then? Well I found this great word from a friend, Kent, 'Dromomania'. Dromomania is suffering from an uncontrollable impulse to wander or travel. Check out his website. I fear I suffer from a similar disease. He is far more experienced in travel than I, and I find him quite entertaining.


I am flying into the wonderful sounding city, Bangkok. Yup, who names a city that? Honestly? Well they didn't name it that originally, originally it is much more pleasant. The original name of this city is Guiness Record long, Krungthepmahanakornamornratanakosinmahintarayutthayamahadilokphopnopparatraj

athaniburiromudomrajaniwesmahasatharnamornphimarnavatarnsathitsakkattiyavisa
nukamprasit
That is the official name of Bangkok. which roughly translates to a story of the history of the place, but has been abbreviated to BANGKOK. ??? again, hhmph?


But this is not the only place I plan on going.With four months to explore, I plan on familiarizing myself with Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Other optional places I have my eye set on, and if the opportunity presents itself, Burma/Myanmar, Malaysia, Phillipines.
Now you guys may say, Cambo-da-what? Alright, quick geography lesson.
If we head from CA over the pacific, we'll wave down at the fishies, then wave down at the surfers in hawaii, then look upon the bright lights of Tokyo, then vere south toward China and Taiwan, probably wave down more fishies, start to decrease altitude, then land and come to a screeching hault in the peninsula of Southeast Asia. Arrived!

I'm very excited for this trip for quite a few reasons. One big reason is that, yes I have been to South America and Central America, but these countries I think will be a whole different story. Growing up in San Diego, the latino culture is very present, and boy do I love my comforting carne asada burrito, horchata, and rolled tacos, and the mixed english-spanish signs, songs, and commercials, but this will be differnt. South America is very different than the United States, but there is still something familar about it. But I won't discount that maybe in the entire world, people are just people, culture is just culture, places are just places, and as different as they may seem, they are quite similar indeed.
To find out if these are true or not, I travel.

I put together a simplistic list of goals, acheivable yet not too extravagent. Because truely, girls just want to have fun.
GOALS:
1. Ride an elephant while there
2. Scuba and snorkel some awesome places
3. Pick up a bit of the language
4. Trenza, Southeast Asian style, thanks Beth :-)
See those are acheivable and simple. All the rest of the experiences will be awesome too!!



OH, one more goal....

THIS IS ME IN 2 MONTHS!!!!




So, leave me a comment, your support, criticism. plans to join me? anybody out there?

I'd love to hear from you!! :-)

Until then, stay happy, and remember life is good.

Devil´s Point and Devil´s Throat

The Devil?????



Well after Buenos Aires, Beth and I headed to our next country. URUGUAY

Uruguay, yea where the heck is that??? Well in between Argentina and Brasil, you find this little drop of a country where things are priced like the states and the country as a whole has the bigest addiction I´ve ever seen, maté. If you don´t know what maté is, i will try and explain it to you, but you gotta see it. It is a hot tea drink that they make here and drink here. They also drink it out of a hollowed-out gourd and drink it with a decorated straw. People have it here at the park, at the beach, on the bus and EVERYWHERE in between. It is not just one of two people, it is literally everybody in the country. They drink it all day and night. This is also an addiciton of fellow countries, Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay, but Uruguay takes it to a NEW level.

Beth and I spent a couple of days in the developed, Miami-like, beach town of Punta del Este. A popular beach resort for wealthy Uruguayans and Argentinians. It was a little too developed for us, because things were priced in American dollars and you see Fendi and Dolce & Gabana stores. SO we decided to make our way to the anti- Punta del Este beach, Punta del Diable (Devil´s Point).

Devil´s Point is further east on the coast but has a much smaller town feeling and beautiful beaches.Said to be one of the better in South America (after Brasil and all...) but it is all personal preference. After being chased by the biggest lightning storm I´ve seen, we arrived at night and used the lightning to light our way to Casa blanca. There we rented our own room, two beds, kitchen, baño, T.v., and patio with beach view for 12.00/night each. We spent this week as a detoxication of the big city....spent it mostly anti-socially, with the exception of the Casa blanca owner, store-guy, and our Buenos Aires new found friend David.

The days we spent cooking and watching the 2 English channels that came in. I caught up on many of the movies that have come out, so i´m not TOO far behind the times (Including Blades of Glory and the Simpsons movie....really important historical deep movies) We also spent our days lounging on the beach and reading 100 years of Solitude and A long way gone (story of Sierra leone child soldier) The beach looked like something out of Martha´s Garden, rolling grassy dune hills, cottages, woods in the back, and little art places and stores. It was the most relaxing week, not to mention I hadn´t been out of the mountains since the beginning of the year. It was a breath of fresh air.

From Punta del Diablo, we made our way, by boat back to Argentina. Rosario, Argentina, the birthplace of the famed, Ché Guevara. Other sites included the Flag Monument, dedicated to the Argentina flag and the fact that it was the first flag in South America to be raised for an independent country. They are proud, it was a Washington monument look alike. In Rosario, which is up river from Buenos Aires is in the area where the Atlantic Ocean last reaches. More of a river, the ocean creates a series of islands. One day we traveled out to Deja vú and laid on the beach all day in the baking hot sun and continued reading. Now this is probably what everybody at home thinks I do ALL the time, but your quite wrong. This was like a vacation from my travels. (believe you me, it is sometimes needed)

From Rosario, accompanied by David, we made the 22 hour bus ride to Puerto Iguazú. In Argentina, 22 hours is nothing on a bus, it is more relaxing than troublesome. We arrived midday and realized we were in the Amazon, so were pleased when we found the ¨greatest deal¨ I´ve had on a hostal yet, which included a pool and ¨super¨ breakfast (when you get anything more than bread, butter, and jam, I consider it a super breakfast...can´t wait for pancakes and eggs benedict when i get home!). The next day we hoped on the minibus to head to the Argentina side of the famed IGUAZÚ FALLS. I will say right away that this is one of the most amazing things I´ve ever seen. Pictures, movies, even description doesn´t do justice to Iguazú Falls, a must-see-to-believe place. We spent the whole day, 6 hours, walking and exploring the jungle and falls of the Argentinian side, which provided an up close and personal look at Garganta del Diablo (Devil´s throat) and many other falls. This is the Grand Canyon of Waterfalls. There was plenty of wildlife and scenery to blow your mind, not to mention water falling from the sky or blowing up for the heated rocky part below, where the most water i´ve ever seen falling at once pounded rocks. We also watched boats attempt and prevail to go under some of the smaller falls and soak all the screaming excited tourists on board. Within a day, it was impossible not to find a scene that would stick in your head for the rest of your life.

I didn´t take this picture, but it captures a SMALL portion of Iguazú Falls.

The next day we spent the day exploring the more panoramic Brazilian side, where at one point you could see the whole set of falls. If you´ve never looked into it, you wouldn´t know that the visa for Americans to enter Brasil costs 135.00 flat. But Brazilian side was a must see according to other travelers, so we sneaked across the border for a day and axplored the constant views of the amazing falls. (pictures to be seen when i get home in May) Iguazú Falls was an incredible magical place that I would recommend not only to waterfalls, jungle lovers, but to ANYBODY.