Iguazu Falls Trip... Las Ruinas, La Estancia, Iguazu National Park, and The Gaurani Tribe Reservation!

My Trip to Iguazu Falls, is yet again, one of my most favored memories. The pictures I have posted bellow do not even begin to show how breath taking they are in real life. But overall, this is a good display of the entire weekend, and the incredible adventure that it was! I give it a "Thumbs Up" for sure!!!

On our first day, before arriving at the park, we stopped at another famous site in Argentina: Las Ruinas. These ruins are very old, very large, and very beautiful. It is hard to tell the scale of the wall from this picture, but I was only as tall as 1/4 of the front column!

"El Arbol de Amor"... The Tree of Love, is a frequently visited tree for those insearch of their other half. This tradition is to circle the tree 3 times then plant a big one on the trunk after you have completed the last "go round." This proved to be true for our program leader, Pamela, whom visited the Tree of Love last year and now has met the love of her life! Wow, lets see if it works for me... hahah. Either way, I made out with a tree; so I guess I am now, officially, a Tree Hugger.

Last stop of the day... La Estancia. A relaxing ranch with a pool, large grounds, and a huge open air dinning deck. We had a traditional Argentine Asado and played in the water. It was great!

And then, we went to the Jungle! These are one of the 278 waterfalls of the Iguazu water covering. They were extremely powerful. Once again, I was blown away by the wonders of Argentina!

Another stunning Cataracas, in the middle of the Amazon! I still cannot believe I was there!

A better angle of the jungle. The falls are broken into two levels, upper and lower.

On our final day, before flying back to BsAs, we toured the reservation of The Guarani Tribe. It was facinating. The people as a whole are VERY shy. Our guide, above, told the group that it was very uncommon to share more that 4 or 5 words between friends in a conversation. They keep to themselves. He showed us the village, the homemade traps and cages they used to use, spoke some of their language, and finally led us to a part of the reservation where the children had prepared a song and dance for us. The experience was inlightening. At one point in his tour, he began explaining about how the tribe has evolved over time. They no longer engage in wars between tribes, and are forced to go into town to buy supplies to feed their people. Most of the animals in the area are little to non exisitent from over hunting, thus they are forced to interact with the Argentine people. This has created the neccesity of knowing the Spanish language and a need for higher education, to create more teachers for the tribe. Something that he said in his speech stuck with me... a very powerful quote. He said that the threat to their survival no longer came from neighboring tribes, but from social oppression. If they cannot communicate, they cannot buy food, water, supplies; they cannot live. Therefore, he said "we know now that our only weapon, is education." A truth among all truths.

Two of the girls in the Tribe. The girls were adorable; always throwing up the "thumbs up."

More of the little girls in the Tribe. This was after they performed for us. It was and excellent ending to and incredible day!