Iguazu in Pictures

Since the sun came out for the first time in our 4 days in Argentina, we went back to the falls for a second look! Although we had plenty of company this time around, the views were well worth it!

No, this is not a green screen. The main attraction seems to be the Garganta del Diablo or Devil's Throat, but this was by far our favorite part of the park.

Some brown capuchins in the trees at Iguazu. They entertained us for quite a while. This guy on the right looks pensive, doesn't he?

We were disappointed when we missed the Toucans in Costa Rica.

In Iguazu, we were lucky enough to spot two different kinds. This one flew right onto the trail!

Marc, this one's for you, the local cuisine. Empanadas and Quilmes.

Iguazu Falls

Today we spent the day at beautiful Iguazu Falls. They are by far the most impressive waterfalls we have ever seen. From any angle that you look, the view just gets better and better! Although the weather was rainy (torrential at times), we still managed to get some great views and great pictures. We spotted some monekeys and toucans (they are awesome!) and tons of beautiful butterflies. It was a great day!

On a sidenote, we had a totally random runin today that proves it really is a small world. We saw some girls walking along one of the paths at the falls and one of them had a disc so obviously we asked if they play ultimate. Of course they said yes and, as it turns out, I knew one of the girls from playing with her together at a NY hat tournament and then seeing her throughout the summer playing on Smartwhores. Pretty crazy huh?

We are going to keep it brief today because the computer we are using has a hyperactive spacebar and the keyboard smells and feels like it has been doused in beer. We will try to post pictures as soon as we find a better computer. Missing the commodore!

Buenos Aires, Argentina

We made it to Argentina! After a long, overnight flight from Miami, we arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday morning. Although it was pouring rain, we managed to navigate the airport and bus to get to our hostel. After refueling with some lunch, we decided to take a tour of the city to get our bearings. We were underwhelmed with the tour guide, but we did visit some great places in the city. we stopped at the Plaza de Mayo where we saw the big Pink Presidential Palace (Casa Rosada) among some other beautiful, old style buildings.



Then, we entered the artsy neighborhood of La Boca, filled with brightly colored houses (especially near El Caminito) and the stadium of the Boca Juniors soccer team. Of course soccer is huge in all of South America, but here it´s REALLY extreme. For an athlete who peaked over 20 years ago, Diego Maradona´s popularity is overwhelming. He´s like Michael Jordan + Tiger Woods + Peyton Manning and then some. His face, his jersey, his number is everywhere, and Argentina won the cup in 1986. If only Darryl Strawberry was still as popular.

Finally, we made our way back to the center of the city where the tour came to an abrupt end. For dinner, we armed ourselves with the info. from our trusty Lonely Planet and then ended up eating someplace totally different than we had intended. But it was great! We each ordered some nice steaks and a bottle of wine, all for only $40! The food here is really cheap, which is helping our budget considerably, but it it also really tasty! Marc, we´ll be sure to take some photos of our meals for your enjoyment in the future.

Today, we went to see some more sights of the city. We visited the upscale neighborhood of Recoleta. Getting there was our first experience using the public bus system, and we were pleasantly surprised. Looking like confused tourists, one passenger offered us change (no bills accepted) to pay for the bus. Another young passenger jumped up and gave his seat up when an older gentleman got on the bus. Finally, when we got off, another man gave us directions, unsolicited, when we started staring quizzically at our map. After our bus ride, we were blown away with how nice people can be to each other in a big city.







In Recoleta, we went to see the tomb of Eva Peron, more for The Amaing Race reference than anything else (check out the photo). Then we took your advice, Sofia, and went to Freddo for some delicious ice cream. Great recommendation!



We also saw the obelisque on the widest street in the world, Avenue 9 de Julio (it takes at least 5 minutes to cross, and don´t expect the taxis to stop turning to let you cross, they´re ruthless!) The city has really kept us busy for 2 days.

Tomorrow we head north and back into nature at Iguazu Falls. Oh, how we miss the clean air, Buenos Aires is actually quite an ironic name for a city with as much air pollution as we´ve noticed.

ps. Speaking of references to 1986, we are posting this on a Commodore. Who knew they still made those? We think this is their hottest release since the 128!

The Cloud Forest of Monteverde

Sorry it´s been so long since our last post. We did not have internet access in Arenal, so now that we´re in Buenos Aires, we´ve got a chance to catch up!

From Jaco, we drove the long, sometimes trecherous, "road" to Monteverde. Without our 4 wheel drive car, we never would have made it! It´s hard to believe that there is a whole town all the way up in the clouds, but there is, and it was an interesting place.

Our first full day, we got up early and went on a guided tour of the Monteverde Cloud Forest. We saw some birds (one of them was a quetzal), a tarantula, a lizard, and mostly, well, clouds. The plant life is really big (literally very large) in the cloud forest and everything is so green!

In the afternoon, we headed to a butterfly garden right near town. When we got there, I made a friend named "Mani" or "Peanut" in Spanish. We found out that he, like many dogs in Costa Rica, lives on the streets, so the people at the butterfly garden take care of him. It´s really quite sad. Once we got into the garden, we had the honor of releasing some newly metamorphised butterflies into their habitats. Some took off right away for their first flight, while others were very timid. It was definitely a cool experience, brought me back to 3rd grade science.

Our last day in Monteverde, we spent the morning on a canopy walk where we saw lots of butterflies. They are so beautiful in Costa Rica! We hope you enjoy the photos!

Volcan Arenal

I woke up yesterday with a cup of coffee out on our balcony, sitting in the shadows of an active volcano. The howler monkeys get up early here and on this morning they were wailing away, really earning their name and signaling the start of a new day. Needless to day, visitng Arenal is a unique expericence.

We´ve seen the volcanoe in Hawaii, but this was totally different. It`s not Pompeii, run-for-your-life active, but you can hear it rumble and see it steaming from everywhere. It looms over the whole area and our room was just a couple hundred yards away!

Most of the time, Arenal just sounds like distant fireworks and on occasion you get a champagne cork pop. When we first arrived after a long day of driving, we were a little road weary and desparate for a meal. Unfortunately, the restaurant didn´t open for two more hours. What better way to kill some time than to sit and watch the show? Just when our time was up and we were ready to go, the second we turned our backs, there was a bone rattling blast that sounded like we were in the center of a thunder storm!

After dinner, the real show started. You need the dark to really show off the volcano´s colors. At night you can see the orange glow that we all associate with a volcano. There was a little bit of slow moving lava up at the top, but the best part of the show comes from the blazing hot rocks cascading down the side of the cone. The best thing I can compare it to is when the driver in front of you throws a cigarette out the window and the ash explodes everywhere. But this is a million times cooler becuase instead of burning tobacco, this is brand new rock bursting to the surface and giving us a natural 4th of July show in the process!

The rest of the area had a lot to offer as well. We took a few short hikes and saw some waterfalls, and of course got an up close look at our friends, the howlers. We also spent some time at the Tabacon Hot Springs.

One of the side benefits of all this volcanic activity is the naturally heated water. We spent the day relaxing and jumping between 5 or 6 pools heated to different temperatures. The was even a cool pool that we needed after spening a little too much time in the hot ones. It was a great way to spend out last day in Costa Rica.

We arrived safely today in Buenops Aires. I´ll have more soon on my driving adventures in Costa Rica!

Some pictures along the way...

Heres a sloth in Manuel Antonio Park. They fight as slowly as they move. We saw this guy and another sloth in a slow motion pursuit and some lazy clawing.











Marc, we tried our best, but these guys are elusive! The park, and our hotel, had monkeys everywhere.












Chris gets acquainted with some local wildlife. The beach was crawling with hermit crabs.













Beautiful Playa de Manuel Antonio.














The "road" to Monteverde took us a while. Thank god for 4 wheel drive!

Ziplining Our Way to Jaco

So, as we´re sure you could guess, our internet connection in Manuel Antonio was not the best. We did attempt to download some photos, but to make a long story short, no deal. We´re going to try again tonight though so hopefully we´ll have better luck.

Now, onto the good stuff...

Yesterday, we took a great canopy tour with 9 ziplines, 2 free fall repels, and a Tarzan swing (yes, a Tarzan swing!). After completing our first zipline course in Hawaii, we thought we were experienced enough, but this course was totally different. It exceeded our expectations, despite having, quite possibly, the most irritating woman ever from California, yapping away nonstop all day long (picture a loud, annoying, stereotypical American tourist and then multiply by 20....that´s how bad she was!). But, the rest of us in the group, united in our collective disgust of "Miss Hollywood", had a great time. The guides were fantastic and the scenery was gorgeous!

After the tour, we drove down the coast to Jaco where we stayed last night. Not much to say about Jaco, as it was just a stopping point on our way to the cloud forests of Monteverde. We just arrived here in the town of Santa Elena (right outside of Monteverde) and we are off now to explore the town.