Iguazu Falls

After Brandon finished golfing on Thursday, the Arza family drove us across the boarder into Brazil to visit “Parque Nacional do Iquaço” (Portuguese for Iguazu National Park). We thought we might run into trouble at the boarder since we don’t have our Brazilian visas, but we were told that the falls is a sort of “neutral” area of Brazil where you’re allowed to visit without having a visa. Sounded good to us.

Guli (the Arza’s 7^th grade daughter) stayed with us as our tour guide as the rest of the family went to do some shopping back in Ciudad del Este. The park was impressive and reminded me a lot of the national parks back in the states. There was a gift shop, snack bar, and museum that you could peruse free of charge. You then paid your bus fare and loaded a double-decker bus that wove through the jungles of the park.

Along the bus route were several stops before getting to the actual “Path of the Falls”. One stop was a trail tour, a 9-kilometer trail (I think it was 9 K, maybe only 7) that took you to an area of the river above the falls where you could raft and kayak. The second stop was another trail that took you down below the falls where you could again board a raft that would paddle right up into the basin of the falls. We saw these boats from where we stood and were quite jealous of their vantage point.

The last stop on the route – our stop – was the Path of the Falls. There was a hotel on site and vendors set up for a canopy tour, a rope bridge walk across a section of the falls, and a repelling wall descent into the mouth of the falls. Maybe next time. We stuck to the trail and were amazed at what we saw.

Around every turn there was a new section of the falls to behold.

Each view seemed more magnificent than the next.

When you thought you’d seen it all, you realized you hadn’t.

The trail wove along the edge of the jungle with several Kodak moment platforms set up with remarkable views in the background. Near the top of the trail, where the first falls cascaded over the edge, we ventured onto a platform walkway that was built over the water. The force of the water created such mist that the full view of their length was masked and we were soaked as we made our way to the end of the platform.

Bailey had been asleep for most of the trip, but awakened in time to enjoy the misty shower. Good thing she’s a water baby! She seemed to enjoy it, even if it did interrupt her nap.

Just above the platform over the water was a lookout tower. After a brief elevator ride, we found ourselves level with the falls, looking out towards the canyon of water below. Simply amazing.

Abierto del Paraguay

Our trip to Ciudad del Este would not have been possible without the Arza family. The mom, Veronica (Vero), teaches kindergarten at ACA with Brandon and their two daughters – Alejandra and Guliana (a.k.a. Ale and Guli) – attend school there, too. The purpose of the trip for them was the Abierto del Paraguay (Paraguayan Open), a tournament that their daughter Ale was competing in. She is an extremely talented golfer, who represented Paraguay in a South American tournament a few weeks back and placed first. The Paraguayan Open boasts itself as the biggest tournament in South America and Ale of course went to compete. In addition to the professional and amateur competition, Brandon also had the opportunity to golf for two of the three days with Osvaldo, the girls’ dad.

The course was set just outside Ciudad del Este, in the city of Parana. The Parana Golf Club was an extremely exclusive community with it’s own school and shops set inside the guarded gates of the club. Apparently it is where the “who’s who” of Ciudad del Este retreat to keep their wealth and family safe from city life.

Wednesday found all of us trekking to the course for Ale, Brandon and Osvaldo to warm up on the driving range and putting green. While they putzed around the course, Vero, Guli, Bailey and I went around to a few other touristy locations to check if they’d be open as usual during Holy Week. Many businesses downtown were closed, but the Itaipu Binacional Dam and Flora y Fauna would be open later in the week for us to visit. Yeah!

Thursday and Friday were the biggest of the golfing days since all three – Ale, Brandon and Osvaldo – were competing. Brandon and Osvaldo were partnered up with two other men from Asuncion, one who turned out to be the step-dad of a student of Brandon’s. Imagine that. And the step-dad was the one who won the event for the non-professionals.

The weather was decent enough, but the course was quite hill-y and the humidity took it’s toll on all the golfers. Friday found Brandon and Osvaldo going half-sies on a golf cart to see if that would help them golf any better. Not so much…

Saturday was the final day of competition for Ale and it was postponed for rain when she was about halfway through the course. The rain continued, but the committee decided that they had to finish golfing regardless; the other option was to postpone the games until the following day – Easter Sunday – and that wasn’t something they were willing to do. The whole family was soaked after trudging through the course in the rain, but had fun all the while.

Ciudad del Este

Tuesday, April 19^th found us leaving the city of Asuncion, making a 327 kilometer drive to Ciudad del Este. Located on the eastern boarder of the country (hence the name “city of the east”), Ciudad del Este connects to both Brazil and Argentina, making it a hotspot for the sale of stolen goods, drug and human trafficking, and all sorts of illegitimate businesses. Good times!

We left Asuncion in the late morning and spent the afternoon driving along a two-lane highway that stretches eastwardly across the country. Similarly to the states, the center lane line was a double orange line that occasionally changed into a dashed line for passing. But alas, as with most traffic “laws” in Paraguay, the dotted line meant little to drivers. We wove in and out of traffic, playing chicken with oncoming diesels and scooting between cars with precious centimeters to spare. And motorcycles traded the madness of the highway for the safety of the shoulder. They had to share the “lane” with pedestrians and stray dogs, but it seemed to be a worthwhile swap.

Bailey spent most of the trip in her car seat with the straps securely fastened around her shoulders. It’s amazing though, in the absence of a law requiring car seats, how quickly we allowed her to sit in our laps instead of leave her crying in her seat (and how nice it was to nurse her without having to stop). About thirty minutes outside the city we stopped for a much needed bathroom break and enjoyed some amazing soft-serve yogurt. Brandon even let Bailey try some when my back was turned!

The city itself was nothing extraordinary. It was dirty and crowded, with the sidewalks packed with street vendors competing for business with the storefronts just steps away. I do wish I had taken a picture of the streets, though, to show just how congested things were. Imagine the streets of Victoria Gardens (a dirty, run-down VG) with the sidewalks lined with carts selling everything from cell phone cases to underwear, imitation crocks to blenders. And by lined I mean jam-packed with no room between carts and the carts placed only two-shoulder widths away from the doors of the storefronts. The streets hosted cars parallel parked end-to-end the entire length of the avenue on both sides with (barely) room for one car to drive in between. Throw in several thousand pedestrians clogging up the narrow walkways and braving the traffic in the streets and you’ll begin to see an image of downtown Ciudad del Este. For a full picture, you’d also have to add trash piled in the gutters, and cardboard lining the sewer grates, and police officers, and mobile money exchangers, and food vendors, and . . .

One more note about the city; rumor has it that the buildings you see above ground are only half of what’s actually here. Supposedly there are several stories of rooms below each store where the black market goods are kept. Then, when you ask to buy an item, they send a runner downstairs to fetch a stolen version of the item, keeping the legitimate inventory in the store. At least that’s what we’ve heard.

Filler

It's the biodegradable popcorn stuffed in boxes for shipping fragile items.

It's what teachers do when they finish a chapter or unit and have only a few days before Santa Semana (Holy Week, a.k.a. Easter Break).

It's what this blog is this week.

Filler.

I have nothing spectacular to report and we are gearing up for our trip to Ciudad del Este where Brandon will be golfing and we will all enjoy a trip to the Iguazu falls.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of what Bailey's been up to the past few weeks:

Just hanging out in the pool with Daddy!

She couldn't decide if she wanted her milk or the toy car...

An onion was dropped on the floor and she spent the next little while chasing it around the living room. Good times!

All smiles for her eleven month pictures!

More pool time, this time Mommy joined the fun.

And a video of pool time with Daddy -

drumming, dancing, singing, and, finally, napping on his belly.

Field Day

Friday, April 8th was the biggest day of the year for Brandon . . . field day. He was responsible for planning events, organizing teams, and recruiting enough volunteers to run an all-day event for the students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. He spent weeks typing up schedules, creating sign-up sheets, tracking down personnel, gathering supplies for events . . . needless to say, he was exhausted by the time Friday actually rolled around. BUT, with all the planning behind him and most tasks for the day delegated to others, he was able to enjoy time with the students as they competed in 11 different events. Plus, his amazing wife made him a "Field Day Survival Kit" full of drinks and snacks to keep him hydrated and fueled for the day.

Now, every year I taught fifth grade, we did a field day for all the 4th and 5th grade students where we set up 8-10 games, divided students into teams, and had them parade from station to station to participate in the activity. That was my frame of reference going into this field day, but my expectations were met with a much more complicated fiasco.

Each station wasn't simply a game or activity for the students to participate in. Rather, the students went head-to-head against each other in competitions ranging from a 50 meter dash to furthest ball kick, most baskets made in a minute to sack races. And the top three finishers from each grade level received a ribbon for their performance.

But it wasn't just about individual performance either. The students traveled around with their grade level, but were grouped into three teams (red, white and blue). That task - dividing all the students into three fairly balanced teams - was another duty for which Brandon was responsible. So, as students completed events, they earned themselves ribbons, and their teams points. A huge chalkboard (and yes I mean "chalk" board) was wheeled out to the field to update the student body of the standings throughout the day.

An "equal opportunity" day this was not. That is, every student did not participate in every event. Too simple! No, every student filled out a ranking sheet for Brandon, ranking 1 - 7 the top events that they wanted to compete it. And it was Brandon's job to place a balanced number of students in each event, "balanced" meaning an equal number of (equally talented) students per grade AND equal per team. It wasn't perfect, but considering that before tallying the final few events two teams were tied and the third team actually won, it was close.

Field day started with a school wide relay race where one student per team per grade level was chosen to run in a huge race around the field. Starting with pre-kindergarten, three students - one from the blue team, one from white and one from red - ran their tails off around the track painted onto the field just for this day. Pre-kinder kids passed the batons to kinder who passed off to first . . . on and on until the senior students crossed the finish line. Bailey was still finishing her breakfast during the race, but a constant stream of cheers filled our apartment as she enjoyed her cereal. After a few words of encouragement from Brandon, the kids were off to their events! Here are some pictures from the day, highlighting most of the activities.

Brandon giving instructions to the students at the start of the day.

6th grade shooting hoops, most in 60 seconds wins; go Rebeca!

Longest ball kick (not that exciting to photograph).

Mr. Christian stretching with students before the longest golf drive event.

"FOUR!"

And they're off! . . . running the 200 meter dash.

Ya Yah's longest frisbee toss efforts (complete with body check by Alvaro!).

Camila jumping rope for a minute.

Ye Ji tossing a football through a tire. Unconventional form, but it worked!

8th grade boys competing in the sack race.

Three high school boys (red shirt & the two in blue) challenging two teachers

(both in white) in the 100 meter dash.

The post wouldn't be complete without pictures of Bailey from the day! We spent our time with the sixth grade class (when Bailey wasn't napping) and watched in amazement as "problem" students morphed into patient caretakers. Surprisingly, it was the boys, too, that were most taken by her: playing with her, stroking her arm, and making sure she was hydrated! Who'd a thunk?

And we have to thank Miss Lily for the outfit! It was perfect for the day. We supported all three teams without choosing sides (though the red team says that the top of the shirt being red put her on their team).