INCREDIBLE weekend!

So this weekend was one of the best weekends i've ever had. It started off on Thursday with a 14 hour bus ride. It actually wasnt that bad once we left the city (the bus got suck on a hill, then hit some street lights because we were double-decker, and then hit some traffic). They started a movie and then fed us dinner...which wasnt too yummy...Thank goodness I brought some snacks with me! Bus food is yucky no matter what country you're in! After a few tylenol pm I slept for a majority of the night and before I knew It they were waking us up for breakfast (2 crossaunts, a roll and some toast-good thing i like bread!) and blaring some Argentine pop music-always what I love to wake up to after an all night 14 hour bus ride! Once we arrived in the town of Posadas, we switched busses and headed to the Jesuit Ruins, Ruinas de San Ignacio. I'm not a huge ruin fan, but it was a pretty place!! After the ruins we got back on the bus for another hour or so (it will be a LOOONG time before i'm ready for another bus trip!) and headed to La Chacra-a mate (a type of tea that they drink ALL THE TIME here) and a black tea growing farm...probably one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been. So gorgeous! The pictures do no justice! It was a nice change from the busy city life of Buenos Aires. The air was so clean, we all just layed in the grass and relaxed for a while until it was time for lunch. We had an asado, or bar-b-q and it was AMAZING! The meat in Argentina is known for being incredible, but I didnt realize how incredible until then. ALL of the food was great. The salad was so good we didnt even need salad dressing! There was even fresh squeezed lemonade that was better than anything you could imagine! Then, back on the bus for another 4 hours to head to Puerto Iguazu to our hotel.The sunset along the way was gorgeous! Once back at our hotel we had the night to ourselves with an enormus buffet for dinner! muy rico! The next day we were up early to head to Iguazu National Park! We were all very excited to head into the amazon rainforrest to see some of the worlds most famous waterfalls-there are over 250 in the park alone! As we traveled the trails to the waterfalls we were all amazed at how gorgous the scenery was. We kept pausing to take pictures-but the futher into the park we went the better the view was! We were heading to la garganta del diablo, or devil's throat. The largest of all of the waterfalls in the park. Once again, the pictures cannot even begin to depic the awesomeness of the waterfall. It was ineffable! So beautiful-and SO SO much water!!Aah-so amazing! From there we went into the middle and lower circut of the falls-it kept getting better and better! Here are a few more pics from the rest of the park: After the National Park, we went to a place in Puerto Iguazu where you could see the 3 corners of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil-it was gorgous! And very cool to almost be in 3 countries at once!

In the middle is Argentina, To the left is Paraguay, and to the right is Brazil!

And another gorgeous sunset to end the day!

On Sunday we woke up and backed our bags and checked out of the hotel. We all got onto a farm truck with no windows or siding and rode to the Guarani village a few miles away. The roads werent paved to the ride was really bumpy! The Guarani are kind of like the States version of Indians on a reservation. They live on a small portion of what is left of the Amazon Jungle and do their best to farm and hunt, but the land is becoming less and less of a help to their daily lives. They now rely on tourists to come in and buy their crafts so that they can ask the government for food. It is one of the poorest villages in South America and one of the most humbling experiences i've ever had. They had absolutly nothing-esp in comparison of many of our lives in the States!
Here, our tour guide showed us an example of what many of the Guarani people live in...for a family of 5!

Here were a few houses in the Guarani Village....very simple

At the end of the tour the Children of the village sang us a few songs! They were so cute!

We were also given the opportunity to buy their handmade crafts. Many beautiful neclaces made from seeds and other handcrafts! The weekend was absolutly amazing. Filled with many beautiful things, and things that I know i'll never forget that gave me a whole new perspective on things. We are so blessed to live in the United States and that is something that I understand more and more with the things that I experience here in South America. We have so much that we take for granted that others would pay everything they own to have. It was a very humbling weekend!