A Visit From My Parents: Posadas, Ruins, and Iguazu

My parents generously came for a visit over our past winter break.  They arrived during finals week while Kristi was still working, so after a couple days in Asuncion, I took them on a quick road trip to some Jesuit ruins and Iguazu Falls.  Initially we drove South to Encarnacion and spent a few hours wandering around town until a fairly serious rainstorm hit.  We took shelter with some vendors next to the bus station and my parents asked them for some of their mate.  The vendors thought it was hilarious and we all enjoyed watching Greece play the Ivory Coast, until the rain let up enough for us to go find a place for dinner.

 The next day we crossed the Parana River and spent some time in Posadas, Argentina. Unlike Paraguayan cities, Argentinian ones often feature pleasant public spaces, pedestrian walkways, and public art like sculpture and murals.  My parents enjoyed wandering around town.  We watched Argentina beat Nigeria in a local bar and to my surprise they even bought some chori pan con mayonesa from a local street vendor. (sausage on bread with mayonnaise)

After the game we left Argentina and drove North from Encarnacion about an hour to the Ruins of La Santisima Trinidad de Parana. The old missions date to the early 1600's and are one few places in Paraguay that are well developed for tourism.

Kristi and I had visited these ruins before, but the nasty weather we were having made for a very dramatic experience.

The next day we left Trinidad and headed for Iguazu.  We stopped at a parrilla near Ciudad del Este to watch the US play Germany and then crossed the Parana again into Foz do Iguazu and spent the last few hours of daylight at the Brazilian side of the Falls.  Between the torrential down pour and the water fall we were all soaked.  It was a chilly ride into the Argentinian town of Puerto Iguazu as my car has no heater and when full of wet occupants you have to keep the AC blasting to prevent the windows from fogging up.

The next day we visited the Argentinian side of the falls and got quite wet.  This year flooding has been a problem in this part of the world. The Paraguayan rivers are currently over their banks and have been for months.  Northeastern Argentina has the same problem and consequently much of the more impressive parts of the park were closed.

Nevertheless, these waterfalls are always impressive. I don't usually get excited by waterfalls. However, the scale and volume of Iguazu is like nothing I've scene before and the experience of viewing them up close is powerful.

We left Puerto the next day and had an uneventful drive back to Asuncion, stopping only to watch Brazil v Cameroon at a road side comedor.