Dem girls got pipes

So for Saturdays dinner we ate at the hotel. The hotel had an amazing buffet of food for us to choose from. It was splendid. I noticed tonight's dinner had two kinds of soups. The one soup had the word Garbanzo in its title so assumed it was a bean soup. I was going to try some but then i looked at it and it reminded me of the soup my roommate told me NOT to eat. She told me this story about how she ordered this soup to go and started eating it and realized it did not taste like it normally did. She showed it to Coque and Coque was like that's not ______ its mondongo soup. I'm tempted to make you look it up and not tell you what it is......oh fine I'll tell you: mondongo is pig intestines, aka tripe :) So Elizabeth by accident had tripe soup. She was NOT a fan. 

Yeah so this Garbanzo soup looked an awful lot like the mondongo soup Elizabeth described to me so I decided not to get any. I'm all for trying new things but slimy, rubbery looking pasta did not look appetizing to me, sorry. Anywho, so a few boys next to me got the soup and one of them started eating it while the others sniffed it and sipped a little of it. They asked each other if they knew what was in it and nobody had a clue. I was like, "I'm not 100% sure but it looks a lot like this soup my roommate told me about so it might be pig intestines." They all laughed at me and were like, no way! Well, the waiter came by and one of the guys asked him what it was, and what did he say, yeah that's right, it was mondongo soup. Thank you very much. I just smirked and was like, don't EVER doubt me! jaja no but really i was like, "told you so :D". All three boys stopped eating the soup. The rest of the dinner we watched as others in our group tried the soup and we played dumb when they asked if we knew what the soup was. It was priceless watching people's facial expressions as they ate the soup and THEN found out what it was. jajajaja it made dinner ten times more interesting. The best was this girl Morgan, she was like "did you guys try the pasta soup? Its not bad, but it has this funny after taste." jajaja We all busted out laughing.

So the next morning (Sunday) we got to sleep in a little and have a late breakfast. At breakfast everyone was making sandwiches with the bread and lunch meats to save as a snack for later. Funny, I wonder were they got that idea? Yeah, that would be from me. I'm a seasoned traveler and I've learned a few tricks to save some money along the way (kp knows what I'm talking about!). You can just call me Miss Trendsetter for now on :P

After breakfast we boarded this truck/cattle car and headed to the Aldea Guarani M'Borore. This is the reservation that the indigenous people of Argentina, the Guarani, have to live on. It is not a very large piece of land but they never got a say in the matter. I don't mean to sound offensive, but we looked like we were immigrants being transported across the border in this truck thing. It looked pretty funny. (picture 1) We were driving on this bumpy, holey road and about half way through the trip the seat I was sharing with my friend Justine split down the middle the long way so we were balancing ourselves by holding onto the poles on the side of the truck. It was pretty funny. I had a feeling that i was eating a lot this trip, but that was a pretty clear wake up call that I need to start running again on a regular basis. 

So yeah we finally got to the reservation (in one piece thankfully). We had a Guarani guide and our Igauzu Falls guide Margarita was the translator. He was very nice and taught us a lot about their village. He showed us three or four different traps to capture animals. He set them up and showed demonstrated them for us. You look at the traps and its mind blowing how simple they really are. They are made out of sticks and roots only. The traps are very basic, but extremely efficient. It just baffled me how simple the setup of each trap was. Who needs guns and technology when a basic stick trap works just as well. I don't know why but it just really got to me how plain these people live and yet they are so happy and content with their life. I'm envious. Next the guide showed us where they wash their clothes, where they sleep, and lastly the futbol field. jaja Sign me up. The kids were adorable. This one boy strutted over to our group, struck some model poses, collected our money, then pranced back to his house. (picture 2) Lastly, the children of the village sang for us. I don't know why, but I just got caught up in the moment and I my eyes started to water. Whenever I see kids less fortunate then I, it strikes a cord in me and makes me cry. The oldest boy played the guitar and lead the singing while the older girls lead the rest of the children with the chorus. The girls had some pipes for their voices were loud and beautiful. It was a touching moment. After they preformed for us, we got to take pictures with them. (picture 3) After picture time we were escorted to their craft area so that we could purchase some handmade jewelry, crafts, and weapons. Yes, I would say the ticket item of the day was the homemade dart gun jaja along with spears and bow and arrow sets. Unfortunately dart guns are not on the list of suitable items to check in your bag at the airport (wonder why?? Jungle to Jungle reference anyone??!?!), so everyone had to take a gamble and check them at the airport. It wouldn't have been a big problem, but ISA told us before we left that we should pack light and not check bags at the airport because people slash bags open or just plain take them. I didn't purchase any weapons so I wasn't concerned. 

After the Guarani tour we returned to the hotel, got some lunch, then headed to the airport. It was a jam-packed weekend but I was really grateful that ISA set up an excursion like this. None of the other programs set up excursions to the falls, so we really lucked out. I would say my favorite part of the trip was La Chacra ranch, but it was all wonderful.