Friday, June 1

What the HECK. It's June 1st already??

This morning we woke up at a bright and early 4:30 AM to catch the bus to the airport. We caught a flight to Foz Do Iguazu, at the southern tip of Brazil, where the country meets Paraguay and Argentina. With way too little sleep, we were all exhausted, but we were rewarded with beautiful sunrise and great views of the lake above Itaipu Dam on the way in.

Doesn't justify getting up so early but it was a nice view, I guess.  

Views of the lake

We rolled into the airport, met our temporary second tour guide, Fabio (Team Renato for life), and then drove to the airport. I was exhausted and immediately took an hour nap before heading to breakfast. Daniel and I walked to find some food. The city was rainy and humid, and looked like small town America. There are only a few tall apartment buildings, and food options aren't too fancy. We had lunch at a little buffet, then I got some delicious baked goods. I went home and immediately passed out again, sleeping until 4:30 when we had to leave for dinner. 

We drove in the rain to the dinner spot, which lies at the border between Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. The countries are separated by two rivers. One, the Parana, splits Brazil and Paraguay, and is dammed up by the Itaipu. The other, the Iguazu, splits Brazil and Argentinia. Upstream are the gorgeous Iguazu Falls, which we will see tomorrow. From the restaurant/museum/theater complex, you could see markers on the two hills on the other side of the river marking those countries. We took touristy pictures, watched a short film about the history of the region, then went to dinner for a delicious buffet. It was rainy and unfortunately there was no sunset for us to see from the vantage point. 

Argentina on the left, Paraguay on the right. I'm in Brazil, of course.

1/1,000,000th the majesty of Foz Iguazu

After dinner, we got to see dancers perform traditional dances from each of the three countries represented at the river. It started off with some stiff European ballroom dancing, but then got progressively more crazy. Some of the dance moves were extremely impressive. I wish I could move like that...

Fancy pants (and dresses)