Iguacu Falls

Wow.  Just got back from the widest waterfall in the world.  It was pretty big.  Like, really big.  The weather could have been better - it was raining and fairly chilly the whole time we were there, but we were able to see some amazing views in spite of it.

Here's Bean, flying to Iguacu on her 6th birthday!

 Maggie takes airline safety very seriously.

 World travellers.

 Starting out on the Brazil side of the falls.  In the rain.

 From the enormous, to the tiny.

 One girl was having a much better time than the other one.

 We went over to the Argentina side on the second day.

 Looking in a hole, or something, on the short nature trail.  Before it started raining again.

 The Devil's Throat.  I don't have many pictures of the morning because we were in the middle of a thunderstorm.  Rain.  Wind.  Thunder. Walking one kilometer on a metal bridge - right up to the top of a gigantic waterfall. 

 A train ride to another set of walkways over another part of the falls.

 Maggie had just about had it at one point.  I don't blame her.  I had a strong desire to just sit down and stop at one point, too. 

 At the end of the day we took a boat ride right up to the bottom of two sets of falls.

Lily, at the beginning, still (somewhat) dry.

  Coming up to the falls.

 Lily, now wet.  After we went through the bottom of the falls the first time I asked her, "DId you see that!??!" and she said "No!  I had my eyes closed!"  She opened them the second time and had a great time.

 Mac said that Maggie laughed her head off the whole time.

 Notice the boat in the picture below.  That's where we went.  It was awesome.

 Lily is six!

 Maggie is 4!

 Four-year old Maggie on the way home.

 And, proof that she can actually sleep on a plane.

My pictures can't do justice to just how huge the waterfalls were and how much water we saw going over.  It was truely amazing.

Isla do Mel and a visit from the Aunties

I am so far behind on posting, and about to be away from the internet again.  I know there are people anxious to see pictures, so I'm going to load some up.  It will be light on text, though.

Yeah!  We had a great Thanksgiving week.  My sisters and a friend came down to visit.  We started the week by driving around Curitiba on the big green tourist bus.

One stop was at the Opera do Arame (Wire Opera house)
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Here's Mac giving a lesson on scale insects.

Next we took a trip to Isla do Mel (Isle of Honey).  It started on the Serra Verde Express, a train ride up on over the Serra do Mar mountain range from just down the street from our apartment to the town of Morretes.  Even though it was overcast and gray, we saw some amazing views and a lot of Atlantic rain forest.

 

 From Morretes we took a bus to the coastal port of Paranagua.

Then a ferry from Paranagua to the Isla do Mel.

 Walking to lunch in the "town" of Nova Brasilia.  There are no motorized vehicles and no roads on the Isla. 

 The view from my hammock.

 Walking to the forteleza, built by the Portuguese to keep the Spanish out of Brazil.

 Thanksgiving pizza dinner in our inn.

 Then it was time to head back to Curitiba.

 A family pic from the ferry ride home.

 The aunties.

Everyone.

Once we got back we walked around Curitiba some more, including the Sunday handicraft market.

All of the girls.