23 June 2013 - Iguazu Falls

The city of Santa Fe has a loaner bicycle program, so on Tuesday we decided we'd go for a bike ride around the city.  We met at the old train station, which as with many old train stations around the world, has been turned into a tourist information center, coffee shop, museum, and shopping area.  Alas, the tourist ladies informed us that 1) they didn't have five bikes available for us, even though I'd made a reservation; and 2) our girls were too young to ride them even if they'd had them, which they didn't bother to tell me when I made the reservation.  So our plans for a family bike ride were dashed.

So we set off on foot.  We crossed the suspension bridge to the east side of the city.  As you can guess from the attire and posture, it was cold on Tuesday, especially on the water.

Then we walked back along the river, stopping at a ship and a shopping mall along the way.

This week was Argentine Flag Day, so I had a long weekend off work.  After much investigation, we decided to rent a car and drive to Iguazu Falls National Park in the northeastern region of Argentina. We broke the 1,500 mile round trip up over several days.

It rained hard on Friday, so we decided to make Saturday our day in the park.  It was sunny and relatively warm (about 65 degrees).  Here are the girls on the train that takes you to the falls once you're inside the park.

This was my fourth visit to Iguazu.  It was the first time however that I did not visit the Brazilian side of the falls.  Unfortunately, the borders between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina have become *a lot* less porous than they were in years past (especially for Americans).  I've always preferred the Argentine view of the falls anyway, but I was a little disappointed that I could not take the girls to Brazil.  Here are two of the smallest falls at Iguazu.

I have been to Iguazu during the month of June once before, which is traditionally a very rainy month and thus, high water, but I've never seen this much water going over the falls.  Usually Iguazu is a ribbon of hundreds of slightly separated waterfalls spread out over a nearly 2 mile rift.  This time, almost that entire distance was one continuous waterfall, as you can see here.

Joanne took the panoramic photo below using her phone.  On the left is the Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat), which James E. Faust once talked about in General Conference.  In this photo, it is almost completely hidden by the mists generated by the powerful force of the water pounding over the falls.  On the Argentine side, there is a sidewalk that allows you to walk to the very edge of the Garganta, however for our visit, this was closed because it was under water.  On the right are the other major falls.  The two main portions on this side are referred to as Adam and Eve.  In the center is the Island of San Martin, which visitors can sometimes hike on for additional views of the falls.  Unfortunately, in my four visits to the falls I have never had the opportunity to hike San Martin Island because high water prevented the shuttle boats from accessing the island.  This trip was no exception with the water around the island so high that stepping off the boat onto the island would have been impossible.  Perhaps someday....

Until then, here is someone's video taken from San Martin during a time of year when the water was much lower.

This little coati was friendly, but quite scared of people.  Joanne got a nice photo of him before I accidentally frightened him back into the jungle.

This angle gives you some idea of just how extensive the falls are.

Joanne captured a rainbow in the mist of the falls.  You can also see in this photo just how close some of the elevated sidewalks get you to the edge of the falls.

All three girls on the walkway above the Eve falls.

This is the edge of the Adam falls with the Garganta in the distance.  Yes, that's Madeline, leaning over the railing to look over the edge of the falls.

Madeline couldn't resist a little bow and arrow from the many Indian souvenir stands inside the park.

After such an amazing trip, I can admit it was a little hard to come back to work on Monday, but if not for this work, I would not have had the opportunity to take the family to Iguazu at all, so we look at all thinks in perspective.

16 June 2013 - First week in Argentina

So we are officially settled in now in Santa Fe.  Monday was my first day of work at the university.  Here is the building I work in.  It is very large, and comprises the schools of engineering, science and technology.  It's actually laid out kind of like UVU, where it's all one large continuous building, but with open spaces and walkways that connect the various parts of the building together.  It covers the entire city block.

This is my office.  Pretty fancy huh?

The office does come with a great view of the lagoon.  There's a parrot building a nest in the tree on the left.  Sometimes I get distracted watching it work.

Having fully embraced their geeky-ness, the university has themed their cafeteria after The Big Bang Theory. Good food and lots of geeky company to be found here.

I was walking around campus at lunch one day, and this university van reminded me too much of the TV show Lost, so I had to take a picture.

This is our apartment building.  The university fixed us up with the penthouse on the 13th (top) floor.  The ring you can see going around the top is our wrap-around balcony.  You can walk around the entire building on the balcony for 360 degree views of the city.

Here is one view of the city of Santa Fe from the balcony.  The population of Santa Fe is larger than I had originally thought -- about 350,000.

This is looking over the edge of the balcony.  It's a little dizzying.

The girls have been enjoying the amenities of the apartment, along with exploring the city while I'm at work each day.

It's not all vacation and comfort though.  Very few people have clothes dryers in Argentina, and we're no exception.  Most of our clothing has to be line dried and ironed.

The girls have found time to explore many of the city parks.  While playing at one this week, Madeline slipped and hit her arm on one of the steel pipes.  We had to take her to the hospital for an x-ray.  She wasn't too keen on 3rd world medicine, but we were relieved that it wasn't broken and we only had to treat it with ice and ibuprofen.

Last week I posted a Kika store and Madeline stuffed animal store.  This week the girls found a bonboneria -- a candy shop.  Emily appreciated this store very much.  We all did.

We have a store with a great name across the street from our apartment.  The bishop informs us that the guy who owns the store is so tired of missionaries going in there and telling him that his store is religious.  It's a kitchen counter and cabinet store.

On the walk home from church, the girls found some big flowering trees.  Madeline stood next to this one so it would look like she was wearing a giant flower in her hair.

In primary on Sunday, the kids made me Father's Day treasure chests.  There was lots of chocolate inside, which I appreciated.  The primary president has two kids, so with Emily and Madeline, there were four kids in primary on Sunday.  The primary president speaks English, so it was a fine experience for the kids.

On Sunday afternoon, the girls made me a steak dinner and topped it off with an orange cake that tasted remarkably like Froot Loops.  It was a very fine Father's Day gift.

9 June 2013 - Off to Argentina

On Monday, our former neighbors, Eric and Cristal, invited us back to their house for one last visit around the patio fire.  The deck you can see behind the girls is our old house, and all of us can admit it wasn't easy to go back and say goodbye again.  Once the s'mores were broken out though, there was much joy and rejoicing.

After school on Tuesday, we caught up with our old neighbor Faith one last time.  Faith moved away a couple of years ago, but we wanted to get together and say goodbye, so we all went out for Italian Ice.

On Wednesday, the day we were trying to get ready to leave our temporary home and head for Jerry and Danae's house in New Jersey, Emily and Madeline had an awards ceremony at the elementary school.  Joanne and I spent most of the morning there.  Both girls received several awards.  Here's Madeline with her Accelerated Reader award.

This is Emily receiving perfect attendance, which we still can't quite figure out, but she'll take it.

Madeline got one for being in the orchestra.

After school, we finished cleaning up our temporary abode, packed all of our things into our little car, our cartop cargo box, and unfortunately, into our friends' basement, and finally, finally hit the road for New Jersey.  We arrived at Jerry and Danae's just before 2 AM.  Thursday morning was spent playing with cousins and separating winter (Argentina) clothes from summer (NY/NJ/PA/VA) clothes.  The US clothes stayed in Jerry and Danae's basement, while the winter clothes went with us to Newark Airport.  We flew to Atlanta, then all night to Buenos Aires.  After clearing Customs, we took a bus for seven hours north to our new home city of Santa Fe.  The girls were tired (we all were), but no worse for the wear when we finally arrived on Friday evening at our apartment.

Here is Jessica moving into her room.

After all those hours of travel, Emily wanted to show me that she'd joined the Blackfeet tribe.  We were all pleased to get showers.

On Saturday we took a walkabout the city.  First, we found the church, which is just seven blocks from our apartment.

Next, we found the street market, where Madeline couldn't wait to start haggling for artisan jewelry.

We found Jessica's store...

and Madeline's store.

So far, no Emily store, but we'll find it.  The city of Santa Fe is full of wonderful parks with incredibly dangerous plargrounds -- the kind you and I used to know before about a billion American lawsuits stripped almost everything out of the parks back home.

Madeline was so excited to climb this dragon.

Here are the girls in front of one of the various fountains throughout the city.

Next week's update will include some photos of the apartment, along with my office at the university and other excursions around Santa Fe.

2 June 2013 - Memorial Day Picnic

It wouldn't be Memorial Day in the Washington Ward without the annual picnic.  Brother Lindley let Madeline drive his horse team.

Madeline spent almost the whole time with the animals.  Despite her short sleeves, it was very cold and quite rainy most of the day.  After the picnic, we went back to our temporary house and drank hot chocolate and watched movies.

On Wednesday, on short notice I was invited to drive to Cleveland to watch the US men's national soccer team play Belgium.  It was in the Cleveland Browns stadium.  Although we lost, it was a great time and I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

On Sunday, the Young Women made Joanne and Jessica a candygram, complete with a huge bag of candy and what the girls would refer to as a "cute" letter.  They are all going to miss each other very much.