Iguazu Falls

We did it! We finally visited the Falls and it was definitely worth the hype.

We left on Thursday morning, July 4th which was a holiday for us and a normal Thursday for Paraguay. We drove to the halfway pointed marked by a McDonald's and stopped for gas and lunch. We stayed about an hour to let us stretch our legs and let Mackenzie play in the play-place. We now understand the beauty of a play-place. 

Thank you McDonald's.

Car naps are the best naps!

"I'm ready!"

Got back on the road and very soon it divided into a two lane highway! We thought this was a sign of better things to come. We can drive 65mph, pass slower traffic, make up lost time, get there in no time, etc. But oh how wrong we were. We soon found we still had to slow down going through towns because they have speed bumps... on the highway! And soon after that some idiot pickup truck was crossing the highway slowly and, thanks to Scott's terrific driving skills, managed to get by with just a sideswipe from the guy. Everyone was fine.

And then the real fun began. About 45 minutes after the McDonald's traffic came to a dead stop. We sat there for 10 minutes, 15 minutes and then 20 minutes and realized we weren't going to be moving any time soon. Other people were getting out of their cars so we did too. Scott and Mackenzie took a walk up to see what was going on and discovered a line of people with a Paraguayan flag banner spanning the length of the road on both sides. They even blocked off the side roads so you couldn't avoid them. And the police were there doing absolutely nothing. The people weren't doing anything other than stand there. What ever, no big deal, we get to take a little break from driving.

We let the baby do some driving!

Practicing some lettering during the stoppage.

Here are the protesters.

Two hours later they just up and left. That was the end of their protest. Everyone started driving again and off we went. By now it was getting close to dusk (remember it's winter here so the sun goes down around 5) and when we finally got to the last big city before the Brazil border, we were heavily in their rush hour traffic. Long story short, we didn't get to the hotel in Brazil until about 7pm which was actually 8pm because they are one hour ahead of Paraguay. We checked in, ate dinner and went to bed.

In the morning we ate breakfast and got ready to visit the Argentinian side of the Falls. We crossed the bridge from Brazil to Argentina and thought all was fine... again, we were mistaken. The boarder crossing was actually a little past the bridge and we got in the line of cars and moved slowly but then, another dead stop. Much shorter this time before we moved into a line to cross officially but all in all it took about an hour to get into Argentina.

Waiting....

She slept through all the excitement.

Made it to the park and got on the little train to take us to the entrance of Garganta del Diablo (The Throat of the Devil). It was about a half mile walk over the water to get to the viewing platform and it was incredible. Mackenzie informed us she didn't like it because it was too loud. Finley was asleep.

Train!

The entrance to Garganta del Diablo.

Yeah, it was cold.

Lots of walking.

But we made it!

She would not smile. Family memories!

We went back to the train, got lunch and then visited a few other falls. Mackenzie was amazing and walked almost the whole time. Finley took three naps in the baby carrier and didn't complain once.

Making friends with the very friendly coatis, Argentinian raccoons.

A lighthouse which we couldn't go in.

Dos Hermanas

Salto Adan y Eva

Our little monkey being a monkey.

When in Argentina, drink matte!

Around 4:30 we ended the day and went back across to Brazil. This time it took 20 minutes. Dinner was included with our room rate so we had to wait for dinner which was at 7pm because it's South America. Mackenzie had napped in the car but Finley was beside herself exhausted and just cried so we cut dinner short to put her to bed. But that night she woke every 3 hours and then took an hour to go back to sleep. Mackenzie magically slept through all of this and was the only one who looked well rested in the morning.

Saturday we decided to rest in the morning so Finley could nap (which she did for 2 hours) and let the day warm up a bit. It was 31℉ when we woke! After the baby woke from her nap, we went to a Buddhist Temple which we'd discovered on our internet search the night before of Foz do Iguaçu, Brasil which is where we were staying. It was a nice green space just outside the city center.

You can see how miserable F is from her poor sleep.

Enjoying her first guava fruit.

At the Resort.

Giant hammock!

Of all the statues this was our favorite at the Temple.

Our next attraction was the Itaipu Binacional which is a large dam between Paraguay and Brazil. We ate lunch at the visitor's center then caught a tour bus to see the dam up close. We viewed the three giant spillways, the reservoir and the dam itself. It's a hydroelectric dam and produces 75% of the power in Paraguay. Brazil and Paraguay built the dam together and split the power production. Since Paraguay is so much smaller it's energy goes further. Pretty impressive.

The spillways.

Riding on the top of the double decker tour bus.

Yeah, she was tired.

That night was much better. We decided to let Finley sleep on the other Queen bed and she did indeed sleep through the night. Mackenzie woke at 2am with a bad coughing fit for the next hour where she coughed every 5 minutes. Miraculously Finley slept through it all. Maybe the girls could share a room....

Enjoying her dessert on our final night.

After a fun trip, we got on the road as early as we could on Sunday morning. The girls were amazing on the drive. Finley slept and cried very minimally. Mackenzie played, listened to the audiobook we downloaded for her, sang songs and ate so many snacks. We stopped at McDonald's again but stayed less. After an hour back on the road Mackenzie told us she was tired and took a nap! She's learning that tired means its ok to sleep! Made it home by 4 and watched the rebroadcast of the Women's World Cup Finals and called it a day.

Hiding!

Super nice resort. 

Go USA! We've got four stars!

We both anticipated the 6 hour drive would be hard for the girls but they were both champions. They played, ate or napped and were generally happy the entire drive. We'd downloaded some shows for M in preparation but she didn't watch a single minute of anything on the drive. We really have some great girls.

We also brought a surprise new toy for Mackenzie.
My Little Pony has entered our life.

Today Mommy and Mackenzie started her first day of our home Winter Camp with a dance class. We did some ballet and then free-form dancing. We both had a great time. Later in the day we had a cooking class where she made a Goldfish trail mix we are calling "Mackenzie's Pez Mix". She loved it! We brainstormed ideas last week and have enough to do something everyday. It's gonna be a great week!

She is all girl and yes it's cold here too.

The Mackenzie Update:

• We've been working on helping her understand that naps are a good thing and it's ok to take naps. She is FINALLY starting to accept this as truth.

  

  Day before we left we took her birthday chalk out for a spin on the driveway.

• She is remembering so much, especially what we tell her. She'll turn right around and hold us accountable for things we tell her. For example, Mommy climbed into the back seat during the drive to help Finley and didn't put on her seatbelt right away. Mackenzie said, "Mommy you need a seatbelt. Finley is buckled. Daddy is buckled. I am buckled. You need to be buckled." We've used this exact argument with her to get her in her car seat.
• "Eat me like a baby." She means "feed me like a baby" and she asks us to do this when she doesn't want to feed herself or is dragging out her bed time routine.
  
• This week she started to say, "Hola" to people we passed on the walk to school completely unprompted from us.

  

  Walking to school in our "walking school bus".
  I'm borrowing this term from The Blue Zones Solutions book I'm currently reading.

The Finley Report:

• She had some of her most miserable nights sleep during our trip. We seriously questioned any future vacations but thankfully it's just a phase. We blame the temperature, new location, different mattress and possible teething.
• She is dragging herself now. Not quite army-crawl but she is moving and getting across the room. Not sure we're ready for 2 mobile children.
• She had the WORST diaper rash of any of our babies. Luckily we started treating it and it looks so much better. She never complained about it. What a good baby.
• Her adoration for her sister continues to awe us. During the ride home when Mackenzie was napping Finley was awake and for most of that time just stared at her sleeping sister. We think she was confused about how quiet she was.

  

  Their first sister duet!

• Once we got home on Sunday she had a big diaper blowout which required a bath. She timed it perfectly. Good girl!

We are so happy to have finally made it to Iguazu and have that experience. We'll have to do another post of just pictures from the nice camera later this week. And if anyone is still thinking of visiting us, the answer is yes, we'll go back to the Falls with you.