JumpEarth Around the World Adventure

Hi! I want to start this post off with something that I forgot to mention last time. As some of you may know, Aba is a very committed Bikram yogi back at home. Therefore, when his friend Esak invited him to participate in an online backbend challenge, he signed us all up. We’ve been doing backbends for about a week now, 5 per day, and I can almost reach the floor! I’m very happy with my progress because today I did nine backbends just for fun and it didn’t hurt at all! Anyway, on with our trip. After we got to our hotel in Iguazu, Argentina, we settled in and walked around the town. We were able to see the water border between Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil before waiting for two hours at a restaurant before finally being seated. The next day was very eventful. We woke up and drove to the falls, but in order to get tickets for a boat, we needed mine and Asher’s passports (because we have to be verified as over 12 years old). We hadn’t brought the passports and the car was very cramped with all of us in there, so Merrill and I stayed behind while Aba, Troy, and Asher drove back to the hotel to get the passports. We entered the park and trekked a couple of hiking paths, getting soaked with the mist from the falls.

In order to get around the park, we also rode a small train. At one of these stops, there were tons and tons of animals called Coatis. They are really really cute, and we couldn’t resist feeding them a little. Coatis are part of the raccoon family. They have fizzy striped tails and long snouts and tongues. Again, ADORABLE!!!

We stopped for a break next to some play structures, and I accidentally knocked Merrill off of a see-saw. Sorry, Merrill! After we toured the park more (and fed the Coatis), we went to the bus/boat dock. We got on a bus-jeep thing and drove through the jungle. On the way, we saw our first wild Tucans! They had marvelous, vivid orange beaks and were absolutely breathtaking. Also during the drive, a giant spider fell inside our guide’s hat, causing everyone to panic. It was hilarious! Anyway, the boat ride was amazing, but the driver kept purposefully drenching us! He even drove us under a few of the waterfalls!

The ride reminded me of riding on my grandfather’s boat in North Carolina. He and my uncle Marty always try to throw us off while tubing. In the morning, we drove across the border to the Brazilian side of Iguazu falls. We saw the falls from the park there, still wonderfully beautiful, and also crossed the street to walk in the nearby aviary. There, we saw the most lovely assortment of birds. Some of them were kept in cages, but the majority of the fowl we left free to roam. In one room, there were many couples of birds cuddling together and chirping or squawking. We also saw blue macaws. They, as well as many other species of birds we saw, were a lot larger than we expected them to be! We even saw eagles the size of penguins!

After the aviary, we tried to go to a cinema museum, but it was too expensive.

That night, we ate at an amazing steakhouse with scrumptious steaks! I’d forgotten what great steak tasted like because, honestly, Argentina had let me down. Don’t get me wrong, the steaks weren’t horrible, but they didn’t live up to the expectation everyone had set for them. However, I hope that Brazil’s steaks all taste as they did in the restaurant. It was so delicious! Yesterday, we flew to Rio de Janeiro! That’s where I am now. We had a stopover in Sao Paulo, another Brazilian city, but nothing exciting happened. Today, we walked around our neighborhood and did homework. There were two funny and odd sites that I saw, so I’ll briefly describe them to you. The first was two homeless people sleeping on blankets. They had two dogs sleeping with them. Next to the blankets, there was a shopping cart overflowing with trash, among which another dog was asleep. On the peoples’ other side, there was a pink baby carriage. Inside, there were two cats and a pigeon. The cats were hilarious because they slept like cats on internet cat memes sleep, but I’m not sure, though I’m willing to bet, that the pigeon was not likely alive. The second site was an old lady, but completely goth! It’s hard to describe, but it was really funny. I’ll update you soon!

Ella

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After Dad and Marc left, we didn’t do very much. Our days consisted of walking, homework, working on Troy’s Anniversary project, and shopping. We went to an amazing clothing store called Custo Barcelona TWICE and bought tons of clothes. I bought tank tops, dresses, and shirts! I know that we’re on a trip and can only have carry-ons, but this stuff was too good to let go. Besides, we had Merrill! I can’t think of anything monumental that we did, we went to the Evita museum and that was interesting. I also bought my friend Una another postcard for her collection but I haven’t mailed it yet (sorry Una!). Today, we flew from Buenos Aires to a town next to Iguazu Falls, the largest waterfall system in the world and one of the seven natural wonders of the world. We are going to tour the town soon, but for now, we are just settling into our hotel. I read and slept on the short, uneventful, plane flight. I really enjoyed Buenos Aires, and I even learned my new favorite Spanish word! It is sobremesa, a period of relaxing and talking after a meal. This is what we do every Shabbat in Colorado, and I love that there’s a word to describe it! I’ll end this post with that, so goodbye!

Ella

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Hey! When Dad came, we moved into his apartment. I’ve gotta say, his is a lot nicer than Aba’s and Troy’s, but they’re both good. We mainly walked around Buenos Aires and when we were at the apartment Asher played on the Nintendo Switch that Dad brought for him while I worked on Troy’s Anniversary present. On Troy’s actual birthday, we all went out to dinner at a fancy steak restaurant called Don Julio. I think it’s rated the best steakhouse in Argentina. When we had tried to make reservations online, the website said that there were no reservations available until March. MARCH! Anyway, we went to the restaurant at eight to see if we could get in. We ended up waiting roughly forty minutes, but we got free champagne, sparkling water, flat water, bread, entres, and empanadas! Yum! It was totally worth it since it’s been ages since I’ve had good steak. Dad and Aba make the best steaks at home. Aba grills his with smoked hickory salt and Dad marinates his in vinegar. Now I’m hungry! When we finished eating we realized it had started to pour! Aba and Troy got safely in a cab and we got in an Uber, but when we were dropped off, there was a problem. There are three gates to get through in order to get into our small house. That means that we have to unlock and lock six locks. This would be fine except that all the doors, locks, and keys are really old, and they’re all in an outside corridor. That means we got drenched. The next morning when we were trying to leave the house, the door wouldn’t open! The rain had swollen the door frame and it wouldn’t budge! I ended up climbing over a large wall and ramming into the door from the other side. We were free! We basically just chilled by walking around Buenos Aires, but we still had tons of fun! One day, we joined Aba and Troy at the train station and spent the day in the town of Tigre. It was a bit touristy for my taste, but still fun! We went inside an art museum, walked, and ate lunch. On the boardwalk by the river, small boats kept riding close to us and soaking our feet! On Friday, we went back to Aba and Troy’s and ate Shabbat dinner with Dad.

The next day, Aba, Asher, Troy, and I went to a really colorful neighborhood called La Boca. Again, too touristy for me, but I loved all the color!

The day after, Sunday, we walked around Buenos Aires again again again and went to the Recoleta cemetery. Eva Peron, a very important figure for Argentinians, is buried there. However, her tomb is so small that we couldn’t find it.

There was an art fair there, but nothing special. The next few days, we walked around and went to another steakhouse with everyone, including Dad’s friend, Marc. He’s visiting from Paris and he seems really nice. I made him a bracelet made mostly of white string, but with a bright red string clasp. He’s been wearing it a lot.

We hung out and ate and whatnot, and this morning we went out to brunch. Dad and Marc just took an Uber to a ferry. They’re going to Montevideo. Asher’s a bit behind on homework so he’s catching up while I write this so, bye!

Ella

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P.P.S.

I forgot to mention that Dad met a barber called Cristiano and, well, that pretty much says it all!

Our flight was uneventful, and I, at least, spent it watching roughly seven or eight movies!! During our layover in London, we were supposed to meet Aba’s cousin, but we didn’t because we would’ve had to pass through immigration.

We landed where I currently am now: Buenos Aires, Argentina!!! None of us have ever been to South America before, so this part of the trip is particularly exciting for us. We landed on Saturday, and on Sunday we went to a fabulous antique market called San Telmo. Much of it was inside, but there were also many many booths out-of-doors! Along with the antiques, there were also food booths and we ate lunch. I saw a really beautiful white glass elephant that I think I am going to buy for my collection, and I think Aba wants to buy an old Donald Duck movie viewer, which I wholeheartedly support. I think it’s really cool!

Later, we signed up for Spanish school. This school is four hours per day five days a week so we knew it was a commitment, but we’re going to be hearing Spanish for the next few months, why not learn some? Asher was placed in a higher-level class because he can already speak Spanish, but Aba, Troy, and I had to learn from the beginning. We had two classmates, Nathan and Makayla, both in their twenties. Nathan was a true beginner like us, but Makayla had taken Spanish in high school and could have a basic conversation. Therefore, we all fell behind and got lost. Troy got so frustrated that he dropped out on the third day! After the week was over, we decided that only Asher should continue Spanish.

Four weeks just isn’t enough time to learn a language, and it isn’t worth the stress. Other than homework and some TV (we’ve started Desperate Housewives on Netflix), we went to fashionable Palermo street and ate at an Israeli restaurant (courtesy of Troy, again). On Friday, Aba and I made Shabbat dinner and a cake for Troy’s (early) 53rd birthday! We surprised him with balloons and Asher made him a card.

We also found out that we are enrolled in our online school for next school year… Aaargh! I got 59th on our preferable high school’s waiting list and Asher got 98th, so that’s not happening. Aba and Troy spent the next three days writing an email to our teachers to try and figure out a solution. The next day we had planned to go to another city, but the trains weren’t operating so we hung out in downtown Buenos Aires instead.

Today is Sunday, and Daddy’s landing in Argentina this afternoon! We’re all going to go out for dinner, and then we’ll stay with him in his apartment for the next week. Yay! I’m going to give him and Asher their Christmas presents and I really hope they like them. I’ll put a picture on the blog when they’ve seen them. Now, I’m going to continue homework!

Ella

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