Hopefully this helps someone.

1. Star-Spangled Banner - Preformed by: Matthew McCanaughey and Blake Neely
2. Xavier Rudd - Mother
3. Xavier Rudd - Come Let Go
4. Xavier Rudd - Fuk It
5. Daniel Heath - Chasing the Dream
6. Daniel Heath - Thump it
7. Potent - To Far Away
8. Potent - Run and Play
9. Psideralica - This is my Life
10. Bermudez Triangle - Este Amor (Carnival Version)
11. Deep Sonic - The High
12. Nekal B. - No Pants Requried
13. Nekal B. - Too Tired to Quit
14. Dirty Heads - Hip Hop Misfits
15. Mishka - Coastline Journey
16. Mishka - 3rd Eye Vission
17. Higore - Virgin Lust

View from the Upper Trail sunrise

Since I’ve already gushed about how much I love the Igazu Falls so I’ll try to refrain from too much fawning over the most amazing site I’ve ever seen and stick to the best way to enjoy the falls.

Here are my suggestions:

• Take the 2nd bus from central bus terminal to the park, while you could take the first one the park is not open by the time you arrive so you’ll be standing at the gate waiting, might as well sleep in a little bit longer.
• We skipped the overloaded train and walked the “Verde Trail” which takes you to the same place as the first train station but without the masses.  Be sure to pick up a free map of the falls from the entrance.
• Now here is the key: Most of the crowd stays on the train and goes directly to the Garganta Del Diablo which is definitely amazing but if you skip the Devil’s Throat and walk to the upper trail from the first train station, you’ll be greeted by some of the most amazing panaoramic views you’ll ever see without hardly seeing a person.  I believe Scott and I saw 4 other people the whole time we walked the upper trail.  Not only that, but it is the perfect light for photographs if you’re into that thing like I am.
• After a few hours on the upper trails, get on the train to the Garganta del Diablo (or walk the 2km trail) and check out the waterfall that everyone talks about.  It’s amazing and if you are lucky enough to dodge the Asian tour groups you’ll be able to get a good picture or two.  It’s pretty easy to stay ahead of them if you walk with a quicker pace.
• Take the train back to the main station (where the Verde Trail lets out) and head on down to the lower trail.  From here you’ll be able to take the boat over to island and after a quick dip in the river, hit the 200 plus stairs up for some more amazing and even more up close views of the falls.
• After that, you should be close to worn out and able to catch the last bus back to town which I think was around 4pm.
• A few more quick tips.  Bring lunch and have a picnic overlooking the falls, you won’t regret it.
• Wear sunscreen and comfortable shoes.
• Bring WATER, it was hot as hell while we were there.
• Plan on getting wet, especially at the Devil’s Throat and the Lower Trail.
• If you have the time go to the restaurant named Color and order the Lomo in pepper sauce, it was one of the best meals I’ve ever tasted, too bad Scott ordered it!  Around 10pm it picks up and we were even lucky enough to have Los de Igazu playing some amazing live music for us.
• Another surprisingly good meal was the chicken tenders from the bus station restaurant, they were actually some of the best I’ve ever had.  We liked them so much we went back a few times and the guy behind the counter would laugh as we’d order them again.
• We stayed at the Marco Polo Inn room #1 it was a nice and friendly place with a good location near the bus terminal but we heard the Hostel Inn was a really good place to stay.  The location was well out of town but they arranged cheap transportation for the quick ride into town and also had a lot of cool sounding activities.
• If you are flying in.  Book your minibus return trip to the airport in advance, it will be a good deal cheaper than a cab and its impossible to get the minibus if you don’t book before hand.
• Also, we found out late that for the 5 days surrounding the Full Moon you can visit the Falls at night which should provide some amazing views and night photography.

Hope this is semi helpful for anyone planning on visiting Puerto Igazu and the Igazu Falls.

Have a great time Annie!

We used our last day in Buenos Aires to explore a few unseen areas, shop at some local markets and visit the famous Recoleta Cemetary. We got off the plane, jumped in a cab and asked to go to the cemetary, which must have been an odd request bc the old driver looked at us like we were crazy. The cemetary is unlike any other cemetery Ive ever seen. There are no rolling hills of green grass lined with small tombstones, but instead a few blocks of large sarcophagi (monuments) stuffed into every square inch of this place. And discounting the tourists in this place, it felt alive. Scott and I both felt a very odd vibe walking through this place and didn’t linger around very long.

We left and thought it would be easy to walk to the nearest subte (subway) station and catch it to our hostel which was yet another bad Buenos Aires decision as we ended up walking what must have been 55 blocks! At least we did our best to see the entire city.

Back at our hostel to do some planning for the next day’s trip and take a very Argentinian mid-day nap. During which Scott scouted out a classic tango show nearby that we figured we’d check out while in Argentina. So around 930pm we stumbled to the uncrowded show and paid yet another price that was at least twice as much as specified in our trusty lonely planet! We were told the show was delayed and we could head upstairs to the tango class to participate or watch. Since I couldn’t get Senor Scott to tango with me we just watched for a bit until we were told the show was canceled and given our money back. We left still ignorant of the tango and hit the streets in search of dessert and cerveza and when we found a place Scott got a bit over his head with his dulche de leche crepes and ice cream soda, but it was delicious!

Back at our hostel it didn’t take long for us to get ready for our early flight and pass out.

Buenos Aires highlights
- Markets
- recoletta cemetary
- 16 lane highway
- unreal cityscapes
- dinner with the girls
- Beef! (and other organs)
- buddy bears
-Bianca
- monster calzones
- converter searching
- painting with fire
- introduction to Quilmes
- sketchy taxis

 

Small portion of Igazu Falls taken with the iPhone

Simply put the Igazu Falls were the most spectacular thing I’ve ever seen, I can not even imagine anything else taking my breath away like they did. Across every catwalk and around every bend my jaw would drop farther and farther. It’s a must see!

Puerto Igazu, the town that hosts the falls is a great little place a bit touristy but still full of charm. They have to be doing something right if it’s the top destination for Argentinians every year.

Puerto Igazu Highlights:
- the Falls
- Scott’s clay face - some local made Scott´s face out of clay while we ate dinner, it was hilarious! 
- best steak ever @ Color… Too bad Scott ordered it and not me!
- Live music by Los de Igazu (bought the CDs)
- super chill hostel outside bar with new facebook friend Ignacio the bartender / DJ with great music.

More to come on the Igazu Falls as I have time.

We stumbled through customs and bumbled our way to a bus to take us to our hostel….or so we thought. The bus lumbered through the slums of BA and eventually came to a stop at a mini estacition. “this can’t be it” Scott says to me, we are in the middle of the city with no landmarks in sight. We sit on the bus for a minute pondering where we are and what we are doing until we realized we were the only ones left on the bus, other than the Dutch woman who was as confused as we were. “this must be it” we said to each other, so we grabbed our bags and hopped off. We asked for directions to a landmark we knew of but had no clue what the guy was talking about. To make a long story short (and less boring) we wandered about 15 city blocks dodging traffic and pedestraians while the hot Sun beat down on us. Sweat covered and starving we finally found our hostel and made bee-line to the biggest steak we could find.

The rest of the day was filled with taking 334 wrong turns as we made our way through the city looking at the sites until we made it back to the hostel and collapsed for a bit.  Breanne had given us an email address of an old roommate who now lives in Argentina and to our surprise she was in Buenos Aires!  I had emailed her early in the day and she promptly replied and offered to drag us two gringos around with her and her friends to dinner and some drinks.  We were dead tired but hell we are only in BA once (ok twice but whatever) so we obliged and she gave us directions to meet her at her flat.  Scotty and I hopped the subway to meet up with Rachel and after a few drinks went out to a typical Argentine dinner at 10:30pm.  We ate at one of their typical favorite spots and it was delicious.  Scotty had an Salmon dish and I had a pasta dish while we shared some misc. dips and spreads that were delicious even though no one knew what they were.   I also found a red wine that I liked, which is  big for me since I am not a big red wine fan but the 2007 Trumpeter Malbec was delicious and right up my alley.  Rumors are abundant that we can ship cases of wine back to the US, which Ill be sure to do if the chance presents itself. 

I have no idea what time we got home but thanks to Rachel, Kelly and Molly for a good time and if by some chance they read this, dont worry we didnt get kidnapped and we dodged all the zombie dust attempts.

Next stop, Puerto Igazu for the Igazu Falls!

ps’ sorry for the lack of punctuation, these keyboards are ridiculous!

The major difference, other than destination, is this year I am taking one of my closest friends with me.  Scotty has never been anywhere and is the first one in his family to have a passport so I am stoked to bust his international cherry and explore new worlds.  I imagine his eyes will be wide and his senses over-whelmed which makes it all the more exciting for me.  After traveling through Thailand and Cambodia by myself, I realized that I’ll be happy to have someone there to share the expericences with.  I do think that everyone should do a solo trip somewhere, it is true that happiness is best when shared.

Scott and I have a rough itinerary which is a little more regimented than my SE Asia trip but mainly because we are covering such a huge amount of land in such a small time frame.

Roughly we will be going in this order
Buenos Aires, Argentina tonight ->
on to Igauzu Falls ->
Buenos Aires ->
Patagonia (El Calafate and the Glacier Parks) ->
Ushuaia (Southern Most City in the world!) ->
Santiago, Chile ->
Lima, Peru ->
Cusco, Peru -> where we are spending the next 4 days hiking the Inca Trail to Machu PIcchu

back to Lima and then home at the end of the month.

Personally, I’ve never been to South America or the Southern Hemisphere (new sets of stars!) and visiting Patagonia is something I’ve dreamed about.  Hiking the Inca Trail is one of last great adventures that is yet to be completely spoiled by tourism and I can wait.  I plan on eating lots of steak, hiking a lot, winning a speedo pullup contest, doing the stanky leg on a glacier, and starting an Argentine revolution if i have time!

Motto: If not now, When?
PS- Scott is attempting to Twitter our trip to hopefully help his mom’s anxiety but if you want to follow along look -> https://twitter.com/ScottK127

It was pretty good but definitely one of the sweetest cakes I’ve ever had. The base layer is crushed up sugar cookie and the dippin’ dots are held together with some sort of caramel-sugary-sweet syrups all which combine to be your daily intake of sugar for a month. While I’m a cookie cake man, its a good alternative for those looking for a unique cake idea.  Oh, and while the cake is not big for $30 it easily served about 12 of us.

Happy Birthday Scotty!

PS - there is also a pure fudge dippin dots cake that looks fantastic.