We spent two days at the Iguazu National Park. The park has a nice trail system. We pushed our way through all the slowpokes and did every trail. The falls are beautiful, although the water level is low. I guess they can be even more amazing at other times of the year!

One nice surprise was the number of butterflies. They were all over and so colorful! I was thinking that if they were moths or some other flying insect I really would have been annoyed. Since they were butterflies it was ok. ItŽs funny that their beauty makes them much more appealing. Sorry, no good pics of them!
We did see a few huge lizards and many small ones. HereŽs a close up of a small one.

We also did a jungle tour (a ride in a jeep). We didnŽt see much except a few birds. The tour guide/driver seemed pretty enthusiastic about showing us things though. He told us all about the plants and trees. He was identifying the birds just by their calls. Oh, we did see a huge rodent – probably a foot tall or more. He was almost fifty yards in front of us and he still looked big!

Our original plan was to go to the Brazilian side of the falls today. Well, we need a travellerŽs visa to get into Brazil. We knew that. What we didnŽt know was that the Brazilian Consulate would be closed all weekend! We got in Friday afternoon after they had closed. So we had an extra day in Argentina. Tomorrow morning weŽll wait outside of the Brazilian Consulate to try to get the visa. Hopefully our last stumbling block on our way home!

This is the view from the lighthouse. It was the only tourist attraction that was open yesterday. They close all the museums on Wednesdays. Oh well, we needed a break from museums anyway!

We did enjoy our first traditional parillada (assortment of grilled meat) in Colonia. It started out great! Outdoor seating, a nice breeze, water view. We had a great bottle of medio y medio (half champagne and half white wine). Then the meat came. We had the steak which was ok, but fatty. Then we tried some other meat that I think was liver. Not so great. Then we tried intestine, and lastly blood sausage. I was really glad we hadnŽt eaten all our bread before the meat came. IŽm starting to understand the appeal of being vegetarian.

We returned to Buenos Aires last night. On our walk back to the hotel we looked at the “Cow Parade” along their waterfront. Similar to the Pig thing in Seattle a few years ago.

Today we really were tourists. We did one museum (Casa Rosada) and two tours (Teatre Colon and Casa Rosada). We learned about Argentinean presidents and one first lady (Evita, of course). At the Theatre Colon we were able to see the not only the main stage, but also the practice rooms, wig room, costume room, shoe room, etc. It was pretty cool. I’m almost inspired to go see an opera! Mike’s a little afraid.

Casa Rosada

Teatre Colon

Tomorrow we fly from Buenos Aires to Iguazu Falls… our last stop in Argentina.