Day 2 at Iguaçu took us across the border into the land of Brazil’s fierce soccer rivals - Argentina. I immediately thought of a couple Argentines, Walter Ortiz and my co-worker Leticia as we drove into the small town of “Puerto Iguazu” bombarded by the blue and white Argentine colors. Although Brazil dominates on the soccer field, it pains me to have to give the nod to Argentina for the better view of the falls. The highlight was a close up view of the aforementioned "Garganta del Diablo" (Devil’s Throat). This is a section at the heart of the falls where [View Full Entry]

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A few more pictures from the Brazilian side of the falls... [View Full Entry]

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Day 1: A great work of man and an even greater work of God; Itaipu Damn and Iguaçu Falls We began our first full day with a visit to Itaipu Damn and hydroelectricity plant - one of the 7 wonders of the modern world. For you engineers out there, it has a capacity of 14,000 mega watts generated from 20 huge turbines that leverage the power of the Parana River. How much power is that? It’s enough to cover 90% of Paraguay’s needs and 25% of Brazil’s! Construction began in 1986 and just finished last year at a total cost [View Full Entry]

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Beds/cribs covered in Mosquito netting. After Lily's initial shock over the mosquito netting over her crib (=high pitched wailing for a few seconds) she seems to like having her own little space. At least that's my mother-in-laws opinion. I think she's jetlagged and exhausted, so doesn't care, just wants to sleep! Uel and I have one on our bed but we decided not to use it last night. So the edge of it is along the wall next to and above the bed. Uel woke up in the middle of the night to the fan blowing it over his face and [View Full Entry]

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After one more flight arrangement we arrived in Brasilia, Brazil to a warm family greeting at the airport at 8 p.m. Friday evening. Upon arrival at the house, we received waves of family coming by to give us hugs, "bem vindos" (welcomes) and beijous (kisses on the check :), including Uel's grandfather who was so excited to meet his only great grandchldren. On top of the greeting, they made delicious late night snacks - pao de quejo (cheese bread) being a favorite. We feel very loved and warmly received. Uel jumped right into practicing his portuguese and Amy stumbled back into [View Full Entry]

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This entry finds us at the Mexico City Int'l airport in the last bit of a 4 hour layover. We were surprised to find "Internet Libre (free)" as a wireless server available. Lily has been enjoying the wide open territory of the airport and has been walking up a storm. It's been amazing and exhausting to keep up with at the same time (a 19 month-old ditching 4 adults!). The day started off with a good scare. We're blessed to have my Uel's parents joining us on this trip. They almost didn't make it due to a discrepancy between his mom's [View Full Entry]

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The Leite family is leaving tomorrow, December 11th for Brasilia, Brazil and will return January 7. We will post to this as often as we can to update our family and friends about our travels. Thank you for checking out our blog! [View Full Entry]

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