Tourin' with the Família

Whew! These old folks are wearin' me out! I completely intended on doing a better job of keeping everyone up to date and in the loop with our whereabouts and daily adventures while my parents and grandparents are visiting. But between not having the internet access I was hoping for in Foz do Iguaçu, my internet being down for a couple days at home, and not being able to find time between all the eating and sightseeing, I've failed miserably at keeping up with my bloggy duties. My apologies.

So, for those of you wondering what we've been up to, here you go:

This photo was taken at a Parilla (steak house) over in Argentina

I could probably stop right now and you'd have a pretty good idea of what my last week and a half has consisted of: eating (or planning what/where to eat next).

But, in all fairness, we have managed to squeeze in some great sights between meals.

We spent August 30 through September 4 in Foz do Iguaçu, Brasil and across the border in Argentina. It was absolutely amazing! (I will share more pictures and talk more about what all we did down there next week once my company is out of here and I have more time to kill at the computer.)

Besides the 275 waterfalls along the Argentina/Brasil border, we also toured the Itaipu Dam by day and by night - it is the largest dam in the world in terms of energy production and stretches across part of Brasil and Paraguay.

We got to wear some quite fashionable head wear as well while we were there.


We came to Belo Horizonte and have been in and around the city for the last six days. We took a trip over to Mariana and Ouro Preto (colonial cities here in our state, Minas Gerais), went out to Inhotim (a series of modern art galleries in a gorgeously landscaped spot about an hour from BH), and have run all over Belo Horizonte and the surrounding cities taking in all the sights. Oh, and we've eaten . . . a lot: typical Brasilian food, Mineiro food, Japanese (can you believe they all tried sushi!?!), fast food Arabian, self-service restaurants, food at a restaurant where the monkeys come out of the trees and try to steal your dessert (which they found much less entertaining than I do), and a even little dose of Comida de (food of) Emily sprinkled in there from time to time.

Grandma made the comment one morning earlier this week that "I don't know what it is, but I sure do sleep good here!" Well, I've been sleeping as well as I ever have the last week and I know what it is: by night fall we're all slap wore out and have our bellies entirely too full!

Tonight we are preparing to indulge in nearly our weight in beef at a churrascaria before leaving BH and heading to Rio de Janeiro tomorrow afternoon. We're having a blast but I think we're all going to need some serious recovery time (and not to mention a good weight loss program) after this trip!

BTW, did you know that you can walk several extra miles per day, eat tons of tropical fruits, drink more water than usual, and still gain weight? Darn my food-is-an-important-part-of-the-culture thinking! (And this country for having such fabulous food!)