Argentina...Curitiba and back home to SP

I thought the falls in Brazil were beautiful, but now I know why we visited that side first! The falls from the Argentine side were absolutely breathtaking (these posts about the falls are really going to test my vocabulary...there are only so many positive adjectives I can use :) ). We spent the entire day in the park, hiking around to different viewpoints. Thanks to the sunshine and mist there was a beautiful rainbow visible from almost everywhere. I have never seen a rainbow that seemed so close and that I could see from one end to the other all at once. It made pictures just that much more amazing to have not only the waterfalls, but a rainbow on top of them as well. There were all sorts of interesting animals we found hiding around too. I saw a Tucan which was pretty exciting thanks to growing up with Fruit Loops! The falls are so powerful and incredible...I guess everyone needs to go see them, because I can't come up with the words to explain it! Certainly, one of the most amazing things I've seen in Brazil!

After leaving the park, before making it back to the hotel, we went to a place where we could see the three borders. We were standing in Argentina, we could see Brazil straight across the river from us and Paraguay was across the river to the left. I've never seen 3 countries at the same time before! Oh, side note, it was really funny in Argentina because it was so hard to remember any Spanish! I took a few years in school and thought I knew a bit, but after being in Brazil it was pretty difficult to change pronunciation and such. All I could think of was Portuguese! It made me laugh to watch all of us stumble through the little spanish we know, well except for our resident Chileno, Gustavo.

Church in Foz was nice, though I was called on to read during Sunday School and I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest. Pretty pathetic huh? It was fun to understand most of the lesson though! Sadly, I think by the end of the 3 meetings we were all struggling to stay awake and stay warm. Our ride to Curitiba was long and it was hard to sleep. I ended up talking to one of the guys in our group most of the time and that helped it go by faster. We were pleasantly surprised to find our hotel in Curitiba was really nice and we were all on the same floor for the first time, which was lots of fun.

Curitiba was really nice. It was a lot cleaner than Sao Paulo and felt really safe in comparison. Because Curitiba is farther south, there's a greater European influence and you could see it in the architecture. I wish we had more time to spend there exploring the city. Our first full day in Curitiba we went to several parks. On the one hand it started to get a little tiring, but at the same time it felt really good to just walk around, relax, enjoy the fresh air, and the calm atmosphere of the Botanical Gardens and various other parks we visited. We ate at a yummy place for lunch where we could basically "build our own pasta" and then watch the chef make it right in front of us. It was a fun change from all of the churrascarias we've been frequenting...

Our second day in Curitiba I woke up early to walk around the nearby square with Jon, a guy in our group who served his mission in Curitiba. I wanted to take some pictures of the cathedral and some other neat buildings near our hotel and I knew this was the only chance I would get. Afterwords we checked out of our hotel and headed to the temple in Curitiba. It was cold out, but the temple was beautiful and it was nice to spend some time on the grounds. Then our last stop, we went to the Oscar Niemeyer museum and then headed out of town! Once again, the bus trip was a bit long. A few people watched Twilight and it was particularly enjoyable to hear one of the guys reactions to the whole thing. Personally I really enjoyed the books, but I think the movie is pretty bad...all the more amusing though. Jeff and I talked again and studied for our test the next day, and eventually we made it to Sao Paulo.

Back in Sao Paulo we took it easy after our first day of class. Instead of going somewhere in the city we met up at the institute building in the afternoon for some futebol (soccer)! I was the only girl who played, but I'm really glad I did. Here they have courts and you play with a smaller sized ball. It made the game a lot more fast paced. I'm totally out of shape, and it's been a long time since I played soccer, but it was so much fun. I didn't realize how much I missed playing. Who knows maybe I'll check out intermurals this fall... I have quite the leg full or war wounds though! I came home with everything from bruises, scratches, a ball print, and an awful scrape that feels like a burn, all on my right leg. Totally worth it!

For almost a week now we've had a lot of rain. Aside from classes and futebol, we've gone to Instituto Butantan to see some big snakes and other reptiles, we saw a movie and had dinner at the mall, and we went to the temple. It was my first time going to the temple here in Sao Paulo and I'm so glad we were finally able to. A bunch of the guys came to help in the baptistry. It was a bit complicated at first just because they have a different, seemingly more complicated system than I used to in Provo or Atlanta, and it took quite a while to get started, but once again...totally worth it. The temple always is right? When the temple president spoke to us I had a neat experience of being able to understand him and feel the Spirit strongly testify of the truthfulness of his words. What a blessing to know that the Gospel is the same no matter where you are! The language of the country might be different, but the language of the Spirit is always the same.

I had a brief day of staying in bed and not feeling very well this past Saturday, but it's passed (knock on wood!) and I'm doing well. I can't believe 2 weeks from today I'll be home. I know I'll miss Brazil and I'm so glad I came, but a lot of me misses home. I think I hit that point in the trip... Right now I'm really missing the dryer because we desperately need to do laundry and the rain is making it pretty difficult! Looking out my open window I can see that the sun is shining right now though, so I won't complain.

Yesterday I had a rather embarrassing experience where I got lost heading home by myself after hanging out with some other people in my group. I'll spare you the details, but what could have been my worst and scariest experience in Brazil turned out to be a really good one. I know Heavenly Father answers prayers and that we are never alone. I saw a group of people I felt comfortable and safe talking to and got help from a kind man who saw the necklace I was wearing (my Young Women's medallion with the temple on it that I had worn to church earlier that day), asked if I was Mormon, and by taking me in the direction of the temple helped me find my way home.

Thanks to all the e-mails, comments, prayers, and opportunities to talk on skype. You're all in my thoughts and prayers. Cross your fingers the rain stops at least by the time we head to the beach this weekend!

Tchau! Beijo!