Where Is Ron?
Latin America, 10 November 2008 - 3 March 2009
Ron in Sipascancha, Peru, November 2008
Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, January 2009
4 January 2009
Afton, Virginia, USADear family and friends,
Ron is now in Brazil, where he has been visiting the spectacular waterfalls, Foz do Iguaçu, in a national park at the border where Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil meet. The article in Wikipedia tells me that the falls have a flow capacity equal to three Niagara Falls, and the hydroelectric dam is the largest in the world, generating 20% of Brazil's electricity. Tonight he heads for Sao Paulo via overnight bus.
Steven and Laurie have spent the last week taking Quechua lessons at Rosanna's language school, with dinner on New Year's Day at Adela and Nino's (teachers in Sipascancha) home in Cusco, where Laurie reports there were toasts in Spanish, Quechua, and English. An unexpected occurrence was the collapse of the kitchen ceiling in their apartment on 31 December. I quote from Laurie's blog: "so yesterday steve went home with our laundry while i waited at the school for the second session of our class. and you wouldn´t believe but when he walked in the kitchen the ceiling had fallen in!! bamboo, plaster, mud everything, had hit the table and went from there! for those of you who know steve, you can imagine his reaction!! anyway he told one of the workers who apparently shrugged his shoulders saying something to effect, "too bad, tomorrow's a holiday!" well i was waiting in rosanna's office drinking a bit of wine, bringing in the new year. steve came in huffing and puffing telling the story of what had happened. i called the landlord and the worker had told him nothing of the fact our ceiling was sitting on the damn floor! i insisted he get in there and repair it. after the phone call, i was applauded for my firmness by rosanna and her boyfriend mario! so, we came home and it was mostly repaired. but not totally. while cooking, and with it raining outside, it was leaking. oh well. life in peru. hopefully tomorrow they´ll finish up the job!" Today Steven says, "The funny thing about the ceiling was that it didn't collapse in the parts that looked like they would. We have suspicions that when they were working on the roof that day (and apparently replacing one of our kitchen skylights, since it looks new now) somebody put their foot through the roof and just didn't tell the landlord. They did a temporary fix, but it still leaks, and they are supposed to fix it for real tomorrow. We'll see."
I'm delighted to say that I have finally finished choosing and re-sizing photos, and have posted Peru photos, plus some Ron has sent me from Bolivia, Paraguay, and Foz do Iguaçu, on our Web site, along with all the travel emails we've sent out to date. Ron got a new camera for this trip, and we're really pleased with the photos. He's been taking everything at high resolution, which means most of the files end up being a whopping 4 megabytes. I hated to re-size them because they looked so gorgeous! However, since we and many of our friends have slow Internet connections, and a photo page with around 8 photos of 4Mb would be hopeless, I've reduced them to what I hope is an acceptable size that is still good for viewing. Enjoy!
Love to all,
Ellen
Foz do Iguaçu
To see photos of Foz do Iguaçu, click on the thumbnail at the left.
2 January 2009
Foz do Iguaçu, BrazilHello, my dear,
The waterfalls today were quite spectatular. Much grander than Niagara Falls and even better than the ones on the back of the Ethiopian currency [Blue Nile] which were quite dry when I got there. Perhaps several hundred Crab Tree Falls.
Finally booked a bus to Sao Paulo. Didn't want to go to San Paulo but all the buses are booked up to other locations more north and east. So I leave here Sunday night at 6pm and arrive about 11am in the morning. Lots of sleep.
Tomorrow I am going to check out the big hydro dam.
At least today I was not alone on my tour of the waterfalls: joined two Irish and one Belgian ladies. We exchanged email addresses and will exchange pictures of each other in front of the waterfalls some day in the future.
I also went in the Bird Park which is near the entrance to the National Park of Brazil (waterfalls) and got soaked along with the various parrots which really got quite loud in the storm.
This evening I booked my bus ticket and am now looking for a place to eat.
Love and miss you,
Ron
Itaipu Dam at Foz do Iguaçu
To see photos of the Itaipu hydroelectric dam at Foz do Iguaçu, click on the thumbnail at the left.
3 January 2009
Foz do Iguaçu, BrazilHello, my dear -
Today I went to see the Itaipu Dam - the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world in terms of electricity generation. I took the technical tour (for Alan and our fathers) and got to see the inside works of the electricity generation. English speaking guide and hard hat provided. My camera battery quit just before getting to the final level where the power was generated but a Dutch couple, Annelot and Jorrit, took my picture in front of the generator and will send it to me when I get home. I enjoyed their company and found them to be a bright young couple.
Yes, I was carrying a spare battery but they made us check all of our bags into a locker before the industrial tour - and that is where my back up battery was waiting for me, along with my coat and water bottle.
There was another American couple on the tour who are traveling around the world. She was working at the library in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and now they are living in Tennessee. They travel for three months and then stay at home for a month before going for another three months. Their goal is 120 countries. They are doing this on their retirement income without touching their savings and usually stay in youth hostels. They have already traveled from the Amazon region and Brazil's northeast, including all the places I want to go. They suggest I not expose my camera if I want to keep it.
Love you and miss you,
Ron
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Last updated: 15 January 2009
