travelling abroad is always marked with someone, at some point, counting all the different nationalities represented in whatever group you’re in and saying, “we’re like the un!” my trip to iguassu falls was no exception. and it’s neat. i’ve now met my first liechtensteiner (two!). i played barefoot soccer on a concrete “pitch” with all kinds of people, including some brazilians, swedes, and israelis.

now. iguassu falls straddles the border between argentina and brazil and just a little upstream there’s a point where you can overlook the point where the borders of brazil, argentina, and paraguay all meet. the perfect icing on the “hey! we’re like the un!” cake.

not so. the height of mixing cultures came a few hours later when i watched a 27 year old dutchman eat his first bowl of jell-o. he spent ten minutes carefully removing it from the styrofoam cup in order to spend another ten minutes watching it jiggle.