When we got
to the house, Maria Jose told me that they had 20 girls participating in a
retreat.
“20?” I
asked. “I thought there were only supposed to be 8.”
“So did we.”
she said.
Regardless
of the commotion, it was a great welcome, and it gave Mom and Grandma some
great practice with the greeting custom of Paraguay and Argentina with a kiss
on both cheeks. The next day was a day of rest and laundry (Grandma and Mom got
to see how I dry my clothes with the help of a space heater), but were able to
zip over to Posadas to meet the sisters there and to see the Cathedral.
Tuesday we
headed to Iguazú and my stomach troubles and sickness began. I’m starting to
doubt the “potableness” of the “agua potable” since I felt miserable for the
next 3 days and the water is the only thing we can really think of; however, I'm willing to give it another try because I hate missing out on the fresh squeezed fruit juices at lunch and dinner.
Currently,
Argentina is one hour ahead of Paraguay. Something I forgot as we tried to purchase
our bus tickets at the terminal in Posadas causing me to ask not one, but two
people, if we could take buses that had already left. As I looked down at my
watch and saw 11:40 (12:40 Argentina time) I though great, we’ll take the 12:00
bus. When I went to the first stand and asked, the lady looked at me a little
funny and just said, “No, but you can take the 1:00.” I didn’t feel like
waiting an hour, so I went to another one and asked, is it too late to take the
11:45 bus (when it’s actually 12:40) not knowing if 5 minutes was too soon. The
guy simply laughed and said, “Yeah, it’s too late.” So, we went back to the first
one, bought tickets for 1 p.m. and sat down. Shortly after, Grandma said,
“Isn’t Argentina a different time then Paraguay?” Thank God! By this time my
watch said 11:55 (really 12:55) and about 5 minutes before our bus actually
left. We made it in time, and Grandma saved the day!
In Iguazú,
Grandma and Mom had their first hostel experience. I know they didn’t love it (and
to be honest, I was doubting it as well on our first day/night when people were
still playing the guitar at 2 a.m.) but it got better (especially after they
fixed the hot water in our showe), and they handled it like champs.
 |
| Showing off our backpack packing skills. |
Our
experience at the falls was very different from mine and Caitlin’s since
Argentina schools have their winter holiday for two weeks in July. The first day
(and my only day due to sickness) at the falls we were only able to see La
Garganta del Diablo or The Devil’s Throat—the largest and most impressive
waterfalls in the park—because of the crowds. Not kidding, we waited in line
for 3 and half hours. It was worth it though, and Grandma was nice enough to
let me rest my head on her shoulder while standing in line.
For me, day
two in Iguazú was spent in my bunk bed. Since I’ve already seen the falls we
decided that it would be best for me to get some rest. Luckily, Mom and Grandma
still had a great day at the park, and Mom got to practice some more of her
Spanglish. The next day we headed back to Encarnación. It sure felt good to be
home.
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