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Published: October 30th 2006
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Hello, everyone!
I hope that all is well with you! I can't believe that it is almost November! Time really does fly by. I will be finished with classes by the end of November, and then I am taking a field trip with my program before my parents come to visit for 2 weeks in December. I am really looking forward to seeing them!
I have done a bit of traveling since my last update. The weekend after I returned from spring break, I headed off to Iguazu Falls in the north of Argentina. It was absolutely incredible. In comparison to other waterfalls in the world, it is the 2nd largest and is made up of over 270 different falls. The park has a lot of nice walking trails, and a group of us took one that led to a waterfall that we could swim underneath. One of the most impressive parts of the falls is called the Devil's Throat, and it is made up of three waterfalls that form a "U" shape. To get to the Devil's Throat, you have to walk about half a mile on metal walkways - which was a little scary when we got
caught in a lightning storm on our way back to solid ground! Also, while we were up in Iguazu, I did a zip line through the jungle canopy and repelled down a waterfall (thankfully, this waterfall was not as big as the ones at Iguazu Park)!
The following weekend, I headed off to Colonia, Uruguay with my study abroad program. Colonia is a very quaint town along the river that separates Uruguay from Argentina. The Portuguese founded it in 1680, and many of its streets are still cobbled and because the car mechanics are so good in Uruguay, many of the cars are over 30 years old. It really feels like you have stepped back in time. It was a great place to relax. While we were in Colonia, I rented a moped from a grandpa, who was more than a little bit skeptical of my riding abilities. As he watched me putt away and nearly ram into the curb, I decided that he was right to be skeptical! But after an hour on the thing, I was able to buzz around like none other.
Etc. - It returns!
- I saw something interesting today. While cars
were stopped at a rather long light, people stepped onto the crosswalk and held up huge boards in front of the traffic. At first I thought that the city had finally realized the need to physically prevent traffic from jumping the lights, but in reality, the boards were huge advertisements for beer. Hmmm.
- We are studying Eva Peron in my culture class now, and some of the things that happened to her after she died are almost more interesting than those that happened to her while she was alive! When Evita died in 1952, after a brief public display, she was embalmed by one of the most skilled embalmers in the world. It took him 2 years to finish the process, and he considered the job one of his finest works. Apparently she looked just like she was sleeping. Her husband, Juan Peron, was planning to have a statue built - larger than the Statue of Liberty - to house her body for permanent display, but he was run out of the country by the military before the statue could be finished. In his haste to leave the country, Juan forgot to make arrangements for his wife's body, and
thus the military was stuck with the corpse. The body was then constantly moved to various secret locations around Argentina to avoid the creation of a shrine to Peronism. At some point, up to three wax copies of the body were made to add to the confusion. Finally, the military decided to send the body to Italy and had it buried there under a false name. However, in 1971 Juan learned of the location of Evita's body and had it sent to Spain, as that was where he was residing at the time. At this point, Evita had lost part of her finger, her ear, and had tar all over the bottoms of her feet. When Peron was elected to serve a third term as President in 1973, Evita once again returned to Argentina and was finally laid to rest in the Recoleta Cemetery under 7 meters of concrete and steel. Recoleta is where only those of the most wealthy families in Buenos Aires are buried, and thus Evita is buried among those that she despised the most (they hated her too).
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Marna Brown
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We just love reading your adventures...either you are the best writer ever, or you are having the time of your life. Keep em coming