Iguazu •Visit a Guaraní community • | The Escapades of Pookie and Allan

Accommodations: American Portal Del Iguana

Activity Note: Today’s excursion involves hiking through jungle over uneven terrain. Some agility is required in order to participate. Temperatures in Iguassu can be over 90 degrees with 90% humidity

This morning after breakfast, we rode in our bus to the Rio de la Plata basin’s verdant forest to visit a Guaraní community, where I hoped to learn about this native South American culture. We had to cover ourselves in insect spray since the mosquitos are abundant and we also had to be liberal with the suntan lotion.

According to our guide book… “The largest population of Guaraní people can be found in Paraguay, but they also live in Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia. Today, you’ll discover their use of medicinal herbs, handmade crafts, and commonly grown crops, including corn and sweet potatoes.”

The Indigenous Guarani in Argentina fight to protect their ancestral lands from illegal logging and government neglect. They have electricity and cell phones and the children go to school. They are happy with the simple life that they lead. The community was similar to the one we saw in the Amazon, but the Amazon people did not have as much in the way of electricity, etc. as this tribe had.

Some of the people on our trip started with colds and coughs about a week ago and guess what…the past few days I’ve been battling bronchitis which I always seem to come down with. I have medication that has been keeping the cough at bay, but I haven’t had much of an appetite. Didn’t eat the fish last night and the eggs this morning weren’t very palatable.

So….While in the jungle, I really felt like I was going to pass out, so Jon was very attentive and spoke to the man who drove us into the jungle by truck. Jon insisted I ride up front with the driver and so the driver took me back to the Biocentro where everyone would be meeting for lunch. Jon stayed with the group, but he arranged for me to use the driver’s cell phone to call him if I needed more help. Poor Allan didn’t know I was not coming back, otherwise of course he would have gone with me. Things had happened so quickly… I was in the jeep before I knew it, so I couldn’t let him know. Jon told him what had transpired, so Allan felt a bit better although he was still worried. I tried texting him, but he didn’t get the text until we reunited for lunch.

I drank a lot of ice water at the restaurant and felt much better, and finally, everyone from the group returned and we had lunch. I had empanadas and some other foods that I didn’t know what they were, but they were very good. One of the empanadas was made from the same fish that we had last night, so I passed that over to Allan after tasting it. Too fishy!

We then walked through a tropical garden with gorgeous orchids blooming everywhere, and then we went into the butterfly garden with beautiful butterflies flitting all around.

In the afternoon, we all rode the bus back to the hotel because everything closes down in the heat of the afternoon.

Some folks went swimming in the hotel pool when we returned. I came back to our room and took a nap.

We walked to a place for dinner, stopping to take a picture of where the borders of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet. I still wasn’t overly hungry so I ordered a burger. It was HUGE and I could barely eat half of it. Allan ordered a Malbec and it came overly warm…almost hot, so that wasn’t enjoyable for him.

We get up very early tomorrow to be on the bus by 7:15.

Buenos noches.