Friday, December 20, 2013

Merry Christmas To All!!!

Hey all,

Sorry I missed this week's posting.  Moving to Rio de Janeiro took all my time and energy.  But I promise to be back with some new pics and info about what I'm doing in this most famous of Brazilian towns.  Until then, check out the view from my hotel window.

Not too shabby, right?


It's wierd to be celebrating Christmas in such a warm climate.  Santa still wears his woolies, which just tweaks my brain.  Not like in Australia where they have him in shorts!  That made sense.  LOL 

But we're trying to get all Christmasy, even with Jonathon having to work that day.  We'll make it happen and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas as well.

Hug your loved ones.  Eat a turkey or ham for me.  Open presents.  And celebrate the reason for the season whatever that may be for you.  For me, it's the birth of Jesus.

Merry Christmas everyone!  Hugs from CJ in Brazil!!!

CJ England
 http://www.cjengland.com/home/domeafavor100x154.jpg
Follow Your Dreams
http://cjengland.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CJsaysFollowYourDreams/



Thursday, December 12, 2013

There Be Beautiful Falls Here!!!

Hey all,

I'm doing a bit better.  I made sure I rested last week and stayed down so I could be well enough to go on a vacation we've been planning for several months now.  And it was so awesome and spectacular, I had to share it on my blog. 

We went to Iguazu Falls (see the pic taken from the air) which sits on the borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.  It is the biggest falls of it's kind, meaning it has the largest number of falls, if I remember right, 256 different falls coming together to form this spectacular cataract.  Beyond beautiful and gianormous.  What a wonderful long weekend we had.  I'm exhausted and will probably have another episode, but damn!  It was worth it.

Iguazu Falls was something we'd been told we HAD to do.  We didn't know much about it, other than it was a HUGE waterfall, so we set up our flights and headed there as soon as we had a free weekend. Our friend Ian went with us--he's been to Brazil before but hadn't done the falls--and he was looking forward to it as well.

But none of us realized just how wonderful our weekend would be.  The falls were utterly amazing!!  Beyond anything I've ever seen before or expected.  No wonder First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt on her first sight of the magnificent falls, said, "Poor Niagara! This makes Niagara look like a kitchen faucet."

And I have to say I agree.  Niagara was impressive, but like I said, I've never seen any thing like Iguazu!!!  I'd go back in a heartbeat and do it all over again!!!  But don't take my word for it.  Check out the pics below and see why this is now one of my top 10 favorite places on the planet!!!

 We started our trip out by taking a boat trip up the river to the falls.  This was our first site of the falls on the Argentinian side.  We hit rapids, other boats wakes and then the falls itself.

 Yes...we're a little damp.  This pic was taken right after we'd gone right through the falls.  That's right...through the falls itself.  Awesome!!!!  We did it twice!!!!!

Looking down from the top of the falls on the Brazilian side.  (See the boardwalk?  Remember that for later.)  Many smaller falls put together to make one grande one.

The falls from one of the observation towers.  Now, as big as the ones you see are...that's only a quarter of the falls overall.  There are two other areas just as big, if not bigger.  Pretty amazing, right?

 Down at the base of the falls itself.  The Amount of water that comes off this main fall on the Brazilian side is tremendous!

Remember the boardwalk I mentioned earlier?  This picture was taken from the end, right in the middle of the falls.  There are falls all around me in this pic.  360 degrees, something I'd never experienced before.

View back at the main cataract and the observation tower from right smack in the middle of the falls.  It was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had.

 Ian took this great pic of Jonathon and I on the boardwalk at the base of the falls.  One of my favorites and I have it on my desktop right now!

The main set of Argentinian falls.  As you can see they are even bigger than the Brazilian set of falls.  The panoramic view is spectacular!!!

 From the lookout over the Argentinian falls looking back towards the Brazilian falls. Here you can see the copious amount of smaller cataracts in the area.

And one last picture of yet a third set of falls.  Still considered Argentinians, they seem to go on and on and on and on...

So you can see why we had such an awesome time.  It rained on us, but we didn't care.  We were already wet!  LOL  The hiking trails, the views, the critters, the birds, the boat trip...all of those were just another part of what made Iguazu Falls one of the best adventures I've ever experienced!!!

Until next week!

Hugs,

CJ England
 http://www.cjengland.com/home/domeafavor100x154.jpg
Follow Your Dreams
http://cjengland.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CJsaysFollowYourDreams/