La Selva

Today I went zip lining and reppeling in the jungle.  I ate a big lunch at one of my host-dad's friends houses, and left at 2.  My host-dad dropped me off at the place where about 12 other people were boarding a truck to go on the trip.  Before I got on the truck, the tour guide greeted me in english and shook my hand, which was cool.  There were about 5 other people on the truck that spoke mainly english, and because of this the tourguide spoke in both spanish and english.  On the way to the place, he was telling us about how most zip-lines are about 100 meters long, and how the one we were going to ride was 800 meters long.  Along the way, we drove only on dirt roads, and passed several Guarani "neighborhoods",basically shacks, some with what appeared to be pretty big TVs inside. (weird, i know)  It was really cool to see the jungle, I've wanted to do that for a very long time.  at the end of the 12km truck ride, we stopped to go reppeling, and put on harnesses.  the ledge we went off of was maybe about 70 feet tall, and at the bottom was a beautiful clearing , where there was a 50-foot-tall waterfall and a creek that ran through the forest.  the reppeling was pretty fun, but pretty easy (it was mostly what I expected, which was good nonetheless)  after that, we walked out to an elevated spot where you could see out several miles, including the piranha river, and the coast of Paraguay along it.  during the hike, I talked to a canadian girl who was visiting Iguazu for fun, and staying in a hostel.  Before this she had been to Cuzco, Peru, as well as camping in the amazon, tought english in Ghana, and went on a trip to India through her college.  I was envious.
       After that, we went out to the spot where we would rappel.  we climbed up about 75 feet of wooden stairs to the canopy, and launched off of there.  It was pretty easy, although several people were scared, nervous, or extremely hesitant to lift their feet off of the treestand to lauch off.  It was really cool zooming through the jungle canopy at probably about 25 or 30 mph, very exhilarating.  after that, we went to a Guaraní gift shop, where there was some panflutes, blowguns, maracas, bracelets, wooden carvings of jungle creatures, and stuff like that.  Afterwards, we drove back, dropping off people back to their hotels, and finally stopping back at the place where we started.

Puerto Iguazu, Argentina I

Well, for starters, my name is Ben.  I am currently on a year-long exchange in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina, through the rotary international program.  this blog will be about the few days beforehand, the trip over, and the first week or so. (current time)
       The week or so before I left, I had a going away party with all my close friends.  We went camping, had a bonfire, etc.  It was a really great time, and a great thing to have memories of.
I found out my date of departure 2 days before it occured.  This was mostly a welcome thing for me, because I was so incredibly ready to leave for the entire summer.  I packed my bags the day before my departure, and left from pittsburgh airport the next day.  Saying goodbyes to my family wasn´t near as hard as it's cracked up to be. (no offense intended)  I flew from pittsburgh to Miami, miami to Buenos Aires, switched airports at Buenos aires by way of a taxi, and flew from there to Puerto Iguazu.  overall, I travelled for about 22 hours.  I wasn't near as tired as I had expected to be;  in the 40-ish hours or so from the time I woke up to the time I went to sleep at my house in argentina, I had about an hour of sleep in between.  I arrived on thursday, the 17th.  In the very first moments of my arrival at my appartment, my first thoughts were of how small it was.  the entire apartment is about 2/3 the size of the bottom floor of my house in the US.  But after about 5 minutes, it was't really an issure for me.  I am currently sharing a room with my host brother Lucho, who is going on an exchange this year as well, but his visa is still pending.  I started school the monday after.  At first I wanted to be in my hostbrother's class, because I already knew several of his friends.  but, within about 10 minutes of class, I already had started talking to some kids.  School here is from 7am until noon.  although it´s shorter than in the states, it still feels very long...You can't go to the bathroom in class, with i didn't, and still don't, really understand.  I take a taxi to and from school, occasionally taking a public bus or getting a ride on the way home. (there's no schoolbusses)  The language is coming slower than I'd like, although I suppose it's only been 8 days.  Today in school was a science fair, in which the other exchange students(there are 2 other girls) and I did nothing but get free drinks and talk, seeing as we spoke pretty minimal amounts of spanish, and had only been at the school for a week or less.  Overall, it was pretty fun for me, certainly better than regular class.  I think the classes would be pretty easy if I spoke more spanish, but right now it's still a bit difficult to process things.