Nick forgot where Spain be

And it resulted in too many selfies. He got to experience: 

• a true asado and its accompanying meat sweats
• a glorious run down the oceanfront Rambla
• more meat 
• a Candombe drum festival in the streets of Buenos Aires (which, when we found it, we just so happened to be prepared with bottles of champagne)
• followed by steaks at 1 am
• a mini-Uruguayan Ren-fair
• delivery sushi
• wine
• the Pope´s former church
• the Evita balcony
• my fantastic roommate

Pictures!

Proof.

Breakfast 1 with roommate.

Breakfast 2 with roommate.

Alerady cleaning something. Less than 6 hours in the country.

Working out on the Rambla. Less than 24 hours in the country.

Selfie in the Boca. Old immigrant neighborhood of Buenos Aires.

Yes, it´s summer.

Favorite restaurant in Colonia, UY

It´s blurry because I refused to stop dancing.

Trying to capture the magic of a drum festival with over 20 drum groups.

Mate

There are not many things I miss about the US (I'm only here for 4.5 months, not enough time to miss things [I said THINGS and not people, chill out]). However, coffee is one of these things. I usually drink 2-3 cups a day from my large thermos I carry around (thank you Donna Watz). 

Uruguayans drink mate. Or, to be more technical about this, they drink hierba (herb) from a mate (the cup). It's a bitter tea that comes with it's own special cup and a straw. I have not been able to fully commit to it:

1. You must buy a special cup and cure it. That's already 2 steps too many. 
2. You fill the cup with herb and drink from a metal straw that strains out the herb. The straw is too hot for me. Allegedly, there was a time in which the straws were made of glass. However, people became disgusted when they realized they could see the saliva of everyone they shared mate with, so metal straws became popular. 
3. The real reason: the cups are not very large. The Uruguayan solution? Carry a huge thermos of hot water at all times so you can refill the cup at any point during the day. Many Uruguayans walk the streets with an open cup of hot liquid in one hand, and a large thermos under the other arm. I am already prone to spilling hot liquid from my double sealed coffee thermos; there is no way I have the grace to carry a mate cup with me everyday.

Despite the awkwardness of carrying it around. Uruguayans seem to love it, and drink just as much as North Americans tend to drink coffee. It is a cultural institution here and in Argentina. But they are weak in Argentina. They don't carry a thermos. 

A ridiculous number of mate cups 

Mate Carrier. These are surprisingly rare.

That is an entire aisle of herb for mate.

80 degrees at the beach? Perfect time for mate.
That is my Bolivian-ecuadorian roommate enjoying an Uruguayan friend's mate.

Coffee is such a special occasion that they gave me a water, juice, and an alfajor (local cookie). 

Cataratas

Dear Reader,

I finished classes and took two finals, so I thought it was time to get traveling again. I traveled to Iguazu Falls, allegedly the inspiration for Up!, with another American, a Canadian bro, and an Italian girl. Despite waking up early everyday to study, I only woke up 25 minutes before my 6:30 am bus to the falls. Somehow I managed to pack underwear and a toothbrush! I did not, however, shower after lots of soccer the night before.( Side note, large head bands turn dirty short hair in to soccer player chic).

24 hours of buses and travel later, I was in Puerto Iguazu! I will let the pictures speak for themselves, but they were huge and beautiful. I can't remember Niagra's set up, but the Iguazu park is designed so that you can walk along the top of the falls above the water. It's mind-melting.

The falls are at the border of Argetina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Brazil has a better view, but, thanks to US immigration policy, they make it a little more difficult for Americans to enter. There is a high tax on Americans called the reciprocity fee. They're not trying to hide their motivation here. I also needed to solicit my visa months in advance....clearly didn't happen.

Here are some photos. 9/10, would visit again (knocked one point for making me cold and wet at one point).

You're looking down over a fall!!!!!!

Paraguay on the left. Brazil on the right.
Surprisingly, Brazil had the most fireworks go off.

Holy crap, I'm on top of this fall.

To both my left and right, you will see the falls from afar.
Also to my left, you will see the slight flip of a mullet.

Coati.
 South American squirrel that will rip your plastic bags and steal all your cookies. 

It's loud.

Devil's Throat Part 1.
I couldn't really capture this ring of waterfalls very well.
The ring was so tight you could only see mists and birds diving in and out of it.

Devil's throat Part 2.
Excellent photography work.

One day you'll grow up to be large waterfalls.

Here is where the falls are. 

Over kill.

Bonus night bus meal.
Ham/bird meat swirled with vegetables, hard boiled eggs and something sweet is such a regional treat.