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I went to Iguazu, which is like… the Niagara of Latin America. It was gorgeous, humongously impressive. It’s in the middle of the rainforest and absolutely gorgeous, because you can hear the falls long before you can see them, then you come out of the jungle and it’s there. Bam.

But, I went without having seen Niagara and now, I need to compare. It was kind of embarassing having to admit (over and over again) that I’d never been to New York, nor had I seen Niagara. I need to go, for a matter of pride, but also because I was so in awe of Iguazu, that it made me want to see Niagara. (And for me it’s Iguazu, even though I saw both the Argentine and Brazilian side because I was living in Argentina.) Of course, I will have to see the falls from both sides of the border.

I’m not claustrophobic, but I felt very shut in here and uncomfortable. I did not enjoy being in the cemetary. In a way, I almost want to say that it’s decadent (in the negative sense of the word), but I think it goes beyond that because there’s not a lot of upkeep so you can see where things have been broken in, broken glass, etc.

If you’re into the cities of the dead type things or if you have family burried here I imagine that it would be worth visiting, but for me, it definitely wasn’t. I had to leave. It was creepy. To me, it wasn’t a nice place to visit at all.

Some of the sculptures and things are very beautiful, but they tower over you so that they are more imposing than anything else. Perhaps if I’d gone on a (what is it Tuesdays?) day that they give the tour I would have enjoyed it, as it was I did not.

If you have claustrophobia or don’t like having a shut-in feeling, I would not recommend it.

I don’t know if I’d want to stay here for a long time, but it’s fun to go for a day trip. The guy I went with was kinda not into the whole tourist thing, which, if you go to someplace like Colonia you’ve got to enjoy being a tourist. I’ll admit it is a tourist trap, but it’s a fun one.

To me it was real pituresque. I wouldn’t have minded doing the whole stereotypical sit out an easel and paint type deal, but I’d left my paints at home when I went because I only had so much space in my backpack.

Also, it’s good if you’re say staying in Argentina for more than the 90 days you get with your passport, you leave, go to Uruguay, come back in, and low and behold, you’re back to day zero. And, it’s just across the river on the buquebus.

When I went, my friend and I saw the missippi queen from the buquebus window and it made me laugh.

Do the mini-trekking. Period. Hands down. It is so awesome. you get to walk on the glacier—no not the part you see in the picture, that’s the face, and it breaks off… which is really cool to watch, but still pics don’t do the falling masses of ice justice, so get it on video and don’t waste your still shots trying to get the falling ice, unless maybe if you got a really good zoom.

I did the short mini-trekking, I want to go back and do the longer one, unfortunately, it’ll be awhile before I can go back to Argentina. I need to save. This place though is gorgeous.

When I went the dandelions were all bright and yellow, it’s got the world’s southernmost forest all around it, and in the forest and where you get off the bus to go on the pasarelas there’s dandelions which were so pretty.

Oh, and dress in layers, because in some places it can be warm enough for short sleeves and in some places (like on the boat) it’s really cold.

Last spring, I knew I wanted to go to Latin America and teach English somewhere. I wasn’t entirely sure where, I was kind of thinking maybe Argentina, maybe Costa Rica (but doesn’t it seem like everyone goes to costa rica?), maybe Chile… But, anyway, at a job-fair thing at my University I went and I interviewed with an internship company’s head honcho and he told me about General Villegas, Argentina.

It’s a small town. The entire municipality (meaning the town and outliers) has about 20,000 people. There’s a handful of English institutes there and it’s a farming community. Seriously, I swear, half the people I met there were agronomical engineers, which generally means they do stuff with the soil.

I got it all set up to go, but somehow when it came time for my flight and stuff I hadn’t heard from him about all the hard facts of who would meet me at the airport and stuff. So, I got on the plane worried about what if no one comes to meet me at the airport. Well, no one did. Silly miscommunications. So I had to go and call my supervisor type person there, Carla, she was awesome. She’s all, finally. Okay, now you’re going to go take this bus to that bus station and then you’re going to ride the bus for six hours to get to villegas. I did.

I loved it. The people were super friendly and awesome. Throughout the whole country too, not just in Villegas where I was at, but everywhere. I went to Bs.As. I went to Calafate, I went to Iguazu, I went to the beach, I went to a couple other small towns near where I was. I saw flamingos from the bus window—wild flamingos so cool. It’s beautiful, and it’s huge.

The food is great, the people are friendly. I want to go back!