BR-364 The real `Road of Death`

After visiting Iguasu Falls from the Brasilian side, we went and toured the Itaupu Dam. I´ll let you all google it to get the details, but this thing is BIG.

We headed north towards Dourados and Rhondonopolis through more soybean country. The soil here is really red, kinda like Mars.

The rains west of Rhondonopolis had slowed the soy harvest, but not the truck traffic on the BR-364. In a short stretch from Rhondonopolis to Cuiaba we must have passed 80 trucks in an hour. Throw in a drizzling rain and the trucks swerving to dodge 3 foot wide potholes on a two lane road, and you have an adrenaline filled day, or two.

The two lane BR-364 doesn´t do alot of meandering, it´s either uphill or downhill. The trucks might slow to 40 kph at the top of the hill, but they make up time by getting up to 140 kph on the way down the other side. Makes me wish I´d taken more physics classes, all this velocity and mass and oncoming traffic stuff.

San Ignacio

Just north of Santa Ana is San Ignacio, an old Jesuit mission that has been partially restored. Above is the front of the church. Below are some shots of a few of the wonderful doors and windows.

The final picture is another view of the front of the church.

Santa Ana in the Misiones district of Argentina

North of Posada on the way to Iquazu Falls, we stopped at two old Jesuit missions. The first was Santa Ana, which has been excavated, but not restored. The above is a view across what was the plaza.




The people lived in long rows of houses organized around the plaza. Here are the foundation stones of one.

To the right of the church was the cemetery. This is a grave without a door.

Here is a closeup of it´s contents. Reminds me a little bit of the Easter Gospel.






The creation wants this place back.








This is the final shot of Santa Ana, the church. Reminds me of some congregations I know in Texas.

Iguazu Falls from the Brazil side

Earlier in the blog we posted pictures of the waterfalls from the Argentina side. Now that we have the $150 visa we have been able to cross over into Brazil and to see the falls from the more panoramic side. It cannot be captured by my little camera, but the pictures below are most of the parts of a truly wonderful sight.

Northward

Leaving the Estancia el Refugio was tough, but the road was calling. The area was in need of rain, but the soybeans looked good.

I went to San Justo to meet up with Horacio, who took me to dinner with his brother and their wives.

The next day they treated me to an asado at their weekend house, or quincho

His son, Juan Martin, gave me a tour of the area, and showed me his best crop of soybeans. Yes, he is standing up.

Uncle Richard would be proud, 1/4 kilo of heaven

I went to Reconquista the next day and got to eat lunch with some of the Rotarians from the last time and one of their newer members.
After lunch, Octavio(l), toured me around and we went to Raul´s(r) wheat flour mill. I got a personal tour from the owner. It was quite interesting for me.

Raul even showed me the BMW Isetta 4 seater he is restoring.

Images of Buenos Aires

My sister and brother-in-law, Marcia and Irv, and friend Shawn met me in Buenos Aires and these are some randomly arranged images of experiences we had in the city. The first was taken during the mass at the German Lutheran church.

Musicians at the San Telmo Sunday steet fair.

The San Telmo parish of the Church of Denmark before services. After the mass we went to the basement and enjoyed a beer and the hospitality of the members.

Soldiers marching down the stairs to guard the Isla Malvinas monument near San Martin Plaza.

Congress building

Two friends, Andres and Luis, at a Parrilla for lunch (mostly grilled meat) after church.

Shawn, Marcia and Irv at the apartment just before they left for the airport and home. I hated to see them go.

Some happy dogs.

The sculpture of a rose that opens and closes each day.

Iguazu Falls

We took a quick flight to see Iguazu Falls in the north, where Argentina meets Brasil and Paraguay. Nothing really needs to be said about this wonderful, peacful place on our planet. They speak for themselves. I hope you enjoy the pictures below, but they fail to do them justice.