Iguazu with Jacob!

Hola amigos! Last week was quite an adventure. Jacob came to visit! I was so excited to see a familiar face and the whole experience was pretty surreal. For the first few days we just poked around the city and he tagged along with me to the university. I attempted to show him the ropes and lead him to the try the "best" local foods. He fell in love with empanadas, just as I did in those first days. It was really cool for me to speak Spanish in front of a non-stranger. Jacob thought that it was pretty impressive how well I knew the city and how well I speak the language. Having an affirmation that I have improved immensely since being here gave me a lot of confindence.
For the weekend, we boarded a two-tiered bus to Iguazu Falls with my friend Mac and her boyfriend who was also visiting. Jacob and I had the very front seats on the top level of the bus so it looked like we were flying when watching out of the front window. The bus ride to Iguazu was 22 hours long, 12:00 p.m. Friday-10:00 Saturday.
We arrived in Iguazu on Saturday morning at about 9:30, found our way to Hostel Park Iguazu, and planned out our day. After getting medialunas con membrillo (another of Jacob's new loves) we caught a bus to the National Park Iguazu Animal Reserve. There, we took a tour of the reserve which houses and rehabilitates animals that are found wounded in the area, are there to mate, or just need to be taken care of. The most bizarre reason for some of the animals being there was these racoon type animals that were taken from the area where the Falls are located because they have really high blood pressure and blood sugar from eating the snacks left over by the tourists.
Iguazu has a tropical climate, so there was an abundance of birds. For dinner that evening, we braved the motorcycle rally that was occuring in the city to find some pizza. On Sunday, after having more medialunas for breakfast, we made our way to the Cataratas de Iguazu (Iguazu Falls!) The waterfalls were beyond amazing, beautiful, breathtaking, etc... We were also so far North that we could see Brazil. The park had numerous waterfalls that were all different sizes and had different volumes and scenery. On the way back from the park, we stopped for dinner at an Asador. Jacob and I shared the "assorted meat" dinner which included enough meat for a small army including chorizo (sausage), carne de vaca (steak) and pollo (chicken) all cook on the asado barbeque. I think he was impressed with the meal.
We left Iguazu on Monday and arrived back in Cordoba on Tuesday. On Wednesday night, I took Jacob on a tour of the Plaza San Martin and we had a nice dinner of Lomitos (again, a new one of his loves) and then had my favorite, Grido Helado. I was sad to see him go on Thursday, but my time here is running short so I didn't have too much time to be sad. I will be home 5 weeks from today. Since I've been here for nearly 12 weeks, 5 weeks seems like nothing.
Chau y besos,
Alex