More of Iguazu

I forgot to mention how calm the water around us was while we were walking to "Devil's Throat", the largest of the falls at Iguazu. We hadn't seen any of the falls yet, so we kept thinking, "Are we going in the right direction? It doesn't seem like the falls could be close by at all!" We went from very calm waters:

To this:

To this:

Amazing! We also made a few new friends in the Iguazu rain forest:

Iguanas - you have to look close, they hide pretty well

Costi - these little guys were so cute!

They're not afraid either - guess they want some lunch!

Large lizards

Crocodile

Very large spiders, whose webs stretch for several yards throughout the trees

More beauties:

Our 2nd day there, after a scrumptious lunch of empanadas (at the same restaurant we ate at the day before) we boarded another long distance bus that would take us to Rosario.

Good bye, Puerto Iguazu!

We weren't as fortunate this time and were on a bus a level down from the nicest buses. Our seats didn't recline all the way back, and the meals were fairly sub-standard. In addition, I got wonderful stomach cramps and all that goes with them, all night long.....but no worries, it was all part of the Argentine experience!

We were on the 2nd level of the bus, though, in the very front seats looking out the front window - that was cool. The terrain in northern Argentina was very different from the Rosario/Buenos Aires area, (more red dirt like the St. George area) so we really enjoyed seeing the countryside and Caitlin showing us all kinds of interesting things along the roadsides. We got to see things like this:

At one stop, Caitlin and I got off the bus so we could take a picture at the back of the bus:

Translated: Proud to be a missionary!

The bus driver came around the back of the bus and really got after us for getting off the bus at all. We hurried and got back on, and at least we got our picture! (Misiones is the province in Argentina where we were)

Caitlin, still a full-time missionary, struck up a conversation with the young man sitting next to us. They talked for quite awhile about all sorts of things, family, etc. and eventually about our church and quitting smoking (which he's really been wanting to do), and she loaned him a spanish nice music CD to listen to. In the end, another referral for the mission home. :) Throughout our trip, I was constantly amazed at how Caitlin could strike up a conversation with someone nearby, and before we knew it, the conversation had gradually changed to talking about the church. Of course, she was always talking in Spanish, so some of what she said we could tell was about the church, and some she would relay to us later.

We were about 1 1/2 hours outside of Rosario the next day when the bus came to a halt in the road and ended up sitting for quite some time. Then we had to take a detour, some of which wasn't even on a true road. (that was fun!) It was awhile before we figured out what was going on. Turns out that farmers were protesting increased taxes, and were blocking the roads. Again, all part of the experience! But we finally got to Rosario, where we would experience truly the best part of our trip, visitng the wonderful people Caitlin taught and grew to love.

Stay tuned......