"Poor Niagra"

Public market
Originally uploaded by sj0m0

Given that I'll be working 40 hours a week at an internship when I'm in Brazil, I don't anticipate traveling too much around the country. This will be my first visit to Brazil, but I hope it won't be my last. And so, I have to keep reminding myself, "I don't have to see everything there is to see in one go. I'll come back again." Besides, there's something to be said for trying to immerse yourself in the city where you're living. So I'm definitely looking forward to getting to know Porto Alegre in a way that's only possible if I stick around most of the time and experience the daily life in the city.

However, that's not to say that I don't have some places on my wishlist....

Iguazu falls is one of them (Spellings also include: Iguassu, Iguazú, and Iguaçu). If they were enough to make Eleanor Roosevelt pronounce, "Poor Niagra," rather unpatriotically, upon seeing them, they must be worth the trek.

Looking at a map (that big circle in the middle), they're technically not even that far from Porto Alegre.

275 waterfalls over a span of several miles. A "a Natural Heritage of Mankind" according to UNESCO...I'm not sure what number Iguazu falls are on my wishlist, but they are definitely up close to the top.