All Blacks in Argentina

On Saturday Mark went to a match up of the New Zealand All-Blacks and the Argentina Pumas.  For the uninitiated, these are the national teams of their respective nations in the sport of rugby.  And the All Blacks are among the best in the world pretty much every year.  Argentina has a good team, but the All Blacks are the best (until someone better comes along, anway).

Aside from being a dominant force in their sport, the All Blacks are also well known for the haka that they perform prior to each match.  You would have to classify a haka as a dance, but that's a pretty aggressive dance.  It is derived from the Maori people of New Zealand and has a long history.  The All Blacks have been doing this prior to their matches for years as well.  It was pretty cool to get to see it in person.

Mark actually did play a little rugby on a club team back in Grinnell.  If memory serves, he scored his first try at the All-Iowa tournament in Iowa Falls.  Good times.  Despite this fact, Mark still never completely understood all the rules of the game.  Now, after years with little exposure to the sport, it's getting hard to remember.  So he had to do the analysis of the match through a hazy memory.  For example:

So we'll start with an easy one.  Rugby is known as a gentleman's game.  The players beat the living daylights out of one another and then hang out together afterwards.  The sportsmanship is such a strong part of the game in fact that the players in this match got together to try to find a contact lens that one of the players had lost:

Ok, so actually, this is a scrum.  It's one of the ways to put the ball into play.

Another way to put the ball into play is a throw in.  In the photo above the Argentine player on the right has just chucked the ball into play.  You can see that the third Argentine player from the right is about to lift the fourth Argentine player from right into the air to catch it.  

Ok, so the basic rules came back to me.  It helped that we were sitting directly in front of the New Zealand crew from ESPN who was calling the game.  It was like having Paul Allen right behind me explaining the Xs and Os.

 Even with the help, though, there were some things that were inexplicable.  The All Blacks won the match pretty easily.  The final was 36-17 (or something along those lines), but it really wasn't that close (29-3 at halftime when they started subbing out the starters).  So NZ pretty much ate Argentina's lunch.  Despite this, they fired off fireworks after the game.

And, of course, Mark does not understand American referees and umpires, he's sure not going to understand refs in other countries either.

Eventually, Mark got the gist of what was going on.  He even predicted that this guy was going to get rocked (and he did).  The circled Argentine guy was out of position and coming up to support on the outside runner from the All Blacks.  The outside guy for the All Blacks had some wheels and built up a full head of steam by the time he got the ball.  The poor Argentine guy  was late to the party and went low to make the tackle.  Which was great, except that the NZ guy pitched it at the last second, his teammate scored and the late to party Argentine player ended up with a concussion for his efforts.  Rough night for him.

But them's the breaks.  Anyway, the All Blacks were all they were cracked up to be.  Argentina played hard, but were a step behind all night.  And I am not sure if that guy ever found his contact lenses.

Getting Around at Las Cataratas

HBomb and Anne heading out to see the falls from above.

Anne, Mark and the HBomb have been to a couple famous waterfalls, so comparisons are inevitable. The most famous falls they have seen are Niagara Falls on the border of Canada and New York.  Mark's comment upon rounding the corner and coming into view of the falls was "Where's the rest of it?"  You don't have that issue with Iguazu.  It's right there, and then later, there's more.  No less an authority than Eleanor Roosevelt saw Iguazu and immediately said, "Poor Niagara."

Anne, Mark and HBomb did not visit the island in the middle (it was closed for the season), but took all the other paths on this map.

But it's not just the volume of water or size of the "curtain" of water that is bigger at Iguazu.  It's also a lot easier to see it.  Whereas Niagara Falls is located in the middle of a medium sized town and has a 'boardwalk' from which one can view the falls, Iguazu is located with two national parks (one in Argentina and one in Brazil) and both have built infrastructure to make viewing the falls easy and safe.

Getcha some!

The Brazilian side is the less well developed side, but it has its selling points.  Primarily - it has a walk-out path that takes hearty visitors to the base of La Garganta de Diablo (~Devil's Throat).  This is the portion of the falls which forms a horseshoe shape, leading to a torrent of millions of gallons of water falling on three sides, as well as mist rising up from below.  If you make the walk out there, you have to worry about being washed away with water.

The last known photo of Mark's glasses.

The Brazilian side has one main trail that takes you from the welcome center to the Devil's Throat.  It's probably best to do this side first, because you can also see the Argentine side, and you can choose which of the paths you want to take when you go on the Argentine side the next day (at least that's what we did).

The Argentine side, on the other hand, is a bit more of a hike.  They have two main paths, the upper and the lower, one which takes you above the falls and one which takes you to the base of some of them.  They both wind through the Amazon and are filled with one postcard view after another.

Like CCR said, Gonna Run Through the Jungle

There are boats that take tourists directly under the falls, but HBomber was not up for it during out visit, so our trio did not embark.  The three did manage to get drenched, however, just by getting close to some falls that had some serious splash back.

Did the parka help?  

The upper level hiking trail also took visitors to a train, which then took them to the back side of the Devil's Throat.  From there, visitors can look down almost directly into the most violent portion of the massive falls.

HBomb and Mark point at the guy who dropped his souvenir stuffed llama into the falls while trying to take a picture of to sitting on the guard rail.  

HBomb decided that he was not going to walk during any portion of this trip, but it was probably for the best as the safety rails had some not-so-safety gaps that HBomb might have been able to squeeze through.

Looks kind of steep from that angle.

The park went even further than the safety rails to ensure the well-being of its patrons.  Recognizing that a low center of gravity is one of the best things in life, especially when walking around on wet platforms suspended over rushing water and 300 foot drops, the park instituted the "no children on shoulders" policy.

Self-explanatory.

One thing the park did not seem too concerned about, however, was any safety concern arising from the presence of quati.  What's a quati, you ask?  So did Mark.  The answer is this:

So ugly, it's cute.

Or the one below.  These little guys which Anne and Mark decided were raccoons with anteater faces and prehensile monkey tails, were everywhere.  They seemed tame, but will not hesitate - according to the signs all over the park - to dismember, maim, kill... or worse.  So head's up for that.

...nope, just ugly.

For the Birds

Iguana Falls are located in the Amazon, more or less.  There is a lot to see in the Amazon, however, much of it will kill you if given the chance (Anne's friend reports that his visit to Iguazu Falls was cut short about a month earlier because of an infestation of pumas in the national parks.  Pumas!)

So rather than venture off into the hellscape that is the Amazon jungle, Anne, Mark and HBomb took a little trip into a sanctuary.  It happened to be a bird sanctuary, operated on the Brazil side.

Statler and Waldorf check out the visitors.

Quick side note on "the Brazil side."  Normally, Americans need a visa to visit Brazil (Brazilians need a visa to visit the U.S., so they make the reciprocal requirement of Americans).  However, due to the Olympics and Paralympic Games being held in Rio, the visa requirement was temporarily waived by the Brazilian government, so Americans are free to enter Brazil for tourist purposes for a few weeks.  Mark already took advantage of this on his trip to Rio, and was a little nervous about doing it again.  The policy technically stated "one entry" and he was pushing it for a second one.

After checking in the hotel in Argentina, Anne, Mark and HBomb grabbed a cab and headed to the border, not knowing exactly how the border crossing would go.  It started out rough, as the Argentine authorities were thorough in their examination of our trio's passports, prior travels, when they entered Argentina and how long they had spent there.  Would the Brazil side be equally thorough?

In a word, nopeskidoodles.  Our cab driver actually drove right past all of the passport control booths on the Brazil side of the bridge.  Mark asked him if we needed to stop and he said no.  However, he offered to go back and try to get one of the workers (assuming there were any) to stamp our passports for a souvenir.  Thanks, but no.  We will have to live without our Brazil entry stamps in our passports for now.

Hey, look, a bird!

Back to the birds.  So, the sanctuary houses birds that have been injured or rescued or captured from exotic pet traders.  The entire thing is like a big bird house and the visitors are allowed to walk through and check out the residents.  The more aggressive types are kept separated from the humans.

Almost all of the birds were natives to the Amazon.  We saw toucan Sam, macaws that looked like parrots....

Buuurds!

And Anne met up with the ghost of Phyllis Diller who had apparently come back in bird form (RIP, Phyllis).

Anne's got a way with goofy looking animals.

But all that bird watching can really build up a thirst.  HBomb took care of that with some local flavor.

You put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up....

Cataratas de Iguazu

View from the Argentine side (yeah, there were rainbows)

If you live in Argentina, there are a few things you have to do.  You have to eat steak like 9 times a week.  You have to change lanes in the middle of an intersection for no reason whatsoever.  And you have to visit Las Cataratas de Iguazu.  Las Cataratas are actually a set of hundreds of separate smaller waterfalls (the number depends on how high the river is) that crash from the Upper Iguazu into the Lower Iguazu.

Brazil side looking at the Argentine side.

Las Cataracts are situated on the trip-border region between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina.  Paraguay kind of got left out of the "vista" sweepstakes, so Anne, Mark and HBomb did not visit it, just the other two ("We don't visit countries just to say that we've been there.")

This was pretty loud.

Our trio first encountered the falls on the Brazil side.  Both Argentina and Brazil have national parks that encompass the falls.  The Argentine side is better developed.  Anne marveled at the infrastructure on the Argentine side, which includes a super slow train that runs on sunshine and children's smiles (or some of equally non-polluting fuel) and takes passengers to the various popular views of the falls as well as the pathways around the falls that offer outstanding views from many different angles, some of them pretty close to the water.  The Brazil side has pretty good paths (still better than what you would find at say, Niagara Falls, NY), but its main claim to fame is the view you get of the "Devil's Throat," which is the high water volume show-stopping bend in the "U-shaped" falls. Mark and HBomb are marveling at the Devil's Throat in the photo above.  The photo below shows the same area, but from the view on the walkway above, provided by the Argentine national park system.

Devil's Throat as viewed from above on the catwalk on the Argentine side.

And since we were there, why not walk out into the spray.  The photo below is of Anne venturing off into the crash zone of the falls at Devil's Throat. (Anne is in the black jacket).

Anne ain't scared.

View from the Brazilian side.

HBomb enjoyed his time at the falls and has actually been having a little trouble letting it go.  The day we got back, he put on his swim floaties and went to the door asking to go to the "waters" and the "rains."  While I appreciate his ambition as well as his recognition of potential danger and instinct to ensure safety first that led him to strap on the floaties, I am at the same time terrified by how inadequate his solution is.

More Argentine views.

According to placards placed around the park, the term Iguazu is from the language of the Indigenous  Guarani people and roughly means "Big Water."  It might not be the most eloquent description, but it definitely tells you what it is.  Big Water indeed.

HBomb liked the "waters".

The Fans

Do not stare directly at the suits.

The Olympics are a lot of fun for a multitude of reasons: being able to watch great athletes competing at the highest level, traveling to a foreign city for a 2 week long party, and of course, drinking your first beer of the day at 8:54 am (again, this is not a normal thing).  But the thing that makes it fun and a little weird, is the fans.

Mark sat next to the gents in the top photo at the weightlifting event.  Although there was a significant language difference (they were from England, so Mark had a real difficult time understanding what they were saying), Mark was able to divine that the three guys with the Union Jack suits were planning to wear those suits every day for the following week.  The other guy, apparently didn't get the memo and was trying to play it off with the flag cape (no one was buying it).  Seriously, though, a full suit for a week in Rio?  That's going to get pretty ripe, fellas.  Maybe work in some cargo shorts?

That's a lot of beef for a rooster.

Here's a guy who I am pretty sure rocks the cargo shorts.  Brazilian rooster head gear guy.  Outstanding commitment, really nailed the landing.  Not the highest degree of difficulty, but very well executed. 

The higher degree of difficulty scores went to the full costumes.  For example, these (let's assume they're French) guys in the full body blue spandex suits.  Not really sure what they were going for, but I think they pulled off.

spandex is a privilege, not a right.

Not to be outdone, there was weirdness by some Japanese fans.  

C'mon Japan.

As near as Mark could figure, this is a Japanese television reporter doing a report in the Olympic Park while a weird-o in a Pokemon suit sneaks around in the background of the shot.  Apparently "Pokemon Go" hasn't caught on in Rio yet, because no one tried to catch the little yellow guy with an app on their cell phone (Mark is not certain that is how Pokemon Go would actually work or why Pokemon Go is a real thing).

Mark also identified a "Viking fan".....

...not to be confused with a "fan of the Vikings."

The Food Lines Were Long and You Get to Keep the Cup...

There's a lot going on in this photo, so let's break it down.  Normally, Mark does not have his first beer prior to 9:00 am.  Normally.  It has happened a few times, but only under unusual or awesome circumstances.   For example, maybe it happened once or twice while tailgating before football games.  Maybe once or twice after long plane trips where Mark's body and the local time were not in Sync.  And once after a concert (ironically, he thinks that it was N'Sync).

Anyway, on Saturday in Rio, Mark got his first beer in at 8:54 a.m.  This was not part of the plan, but circumstances conspired to make it happen.  First, the event started at 9:30.  Mark was still terrified that lines would be long, so he arrived early.  He was at the venue and completely through security at 8:45, a full 45 minutes before kick off (or whatever they do to officially start off a day of track and field).  So, Mark decided to get some refreshments.  He found a food stand which served pizza, some weird stuffed bread thing and popcorn, but the line was prohibitively long (we're talking 5-7 people). Right next to it, however, was a beer stand with a line of 1 person.  So....yeah.

Plus, the beer cups had the Olympic event logos on them.  I am told there are 42 different cups (collect them all!).  Mark made it back with 5.

And not only that, but astute fans will notice Mark's Minnesota Vikings cap (this is the year!!!).  Really astute fans will notice the logo on the beer cup is for Skol beer.  Yep, Skol beer.  As in "Skol!" - the phrase Vikings fans yell when the mighty purple make a play.

So, short line, cool cup, Skol beer and I wasn't driving anyway?  Kind of had to do it.

Sports Sports Sports

As previously mentioned, Mark attended 3 sporting events and was a witness to a fourth.  Below, please find Mark's commentary on the 4 events, based on his background knowledge of each event, which is, admittedly, uneven.

Rowing.  So, first thing: they announce that there is 5 minutes to go before a race starts.  This is pretty awesome.  Mark was standing near the starting blocks (starting docks?  who knows?) and heard that he had 5 minutes before it was go time.  Mark decided to grab a quick beer and/or snack.  Unfortunately, there is no beer guy at the starting line to rowing events at the Rio 2016 Olympics.  Go figure.

Anyway, on the event itself, I think they middle guy won.  Or the guy on the left.  Hard to tell, the finish line was really far away.

Next up was basketball.  As you can see, the lights on the court worked, but the lights in the stands made Mark's selfie look like Mark had left the lens cap over the left side of his lens.  But it wasn't just for Mark, the same phenomena affected the Serbian couple sitting in front of Mark.


Regarding the game, the USA got a big lead (like 25-6 or something) and ended up winning by 3.  So, after the hot start, the US team got outplayed the rest of the game.  Now the Serbs are up again as gold medal game opponents.  Ugh.

Serbian couple.

Selfies were a lot easier to take at the outdoor venue of the Olympic Stadium.  Mark is informed that the stadium was used for soccer, as well as opening ceremonies.  The stadium itself is new, clean and has nice sightlines.  Mark sat about 20-25 meters off the starting line of the 100 meters, so he had a nice vantage point for 100 meter dash starts and for the ending of all of the races.

Mark was fortunate enough to see Usain Bolt run 100 meters in the preliminaries.  He started slow, let up early and still won by a lot.  He's just better than the other runners.  The other highlight was the 3000 meter women's steeplechase.  Not normally an event that Mark knows existed, but he got into it this time.  One of the competitors from Kenya got into a crash when another runner stepped on her foot.  Her shoe became dislodged and she tried to slip it back on.  That didn't work, so she just through it off.  Since it was steeplechase, her socks were wet, so she took that off too.  She ran about 2000 meters in one bare foot.  That's compelling track and field, ladies and gentlemen.

You can't finish the race without going by Mark.

Lastly, Mark attended weightlifting.  Despite having some prior interest in weightlifting, Mark had never been to an actual weightlifting event.  He will probably never go to another one because (1) this was the pinnacle, the Olympic games and (2) even so, they could not make it interesting.  Mark saw the only member of the USA men's Olympic weightlifting team compete.  He did well, but did not make it to the finals or on to the medal stand.  But why does USA weightlifting have only 1 male team member?

The one thing I liked about the weightlifting was that there were no assigned seating, just a section.  This would seem to reward the more aggressive fans.  Weird, but whatever works.