Iguazu

After putting a week's worth of sunshine in bank, we thankfully cashed in everything today and were extremely fortunate to have the Brazilian weather that was in our minds as we escaped the cold Chicago air the week prior. The morning started out especially early with a wake up call a little before quarter till six. Perhaps, we were dragging a little bit, but we all thought it was worth it for the opportunity of spending more time at Iguazu Falls. Upon arriving we applied our sunscreen, dawned our sunglasses and grabbed our plastic bags for what was going to be a sunny and wet stay at the national park. The gift shop was the place to be while waiting for the tickets and bus to come, and we scouted out the best souvenirs to take home as gifts. First on the itinerary was a boat ride into the heart of the Falls. As I have mentioned before it is the rainy season, so we expected to get pretty wet on this trip. The boat was an inflatable one that looked like a white water raft, only in the shape of a boat. It was pretty impressive to check out the engines before we got on as well, I don't know what they were, but there were two, and they were big. Once the 20 seats were filled, we took off on the river towards the falls a few kilometers away. The river was peaceful, and hardly showed an signs great waterfalls upstream, but as soon as we turned the bend, there they were, a white cascade of water between the cliffs making up the edges of the river. We soon got closer and saw that the first photo opportunity was on our right looking at a set of falls on the Argentina side. About a hundred feet tall, and coming out all sides of the mountain, it was hard to believe that at that moment, what we were looking at was just a fraction of the whole picture. Once the photo-opp was over, we handed over our cameras and put them in a water proof bag at the back of the boat, the fun was about to begin.

Hear is where the two large motors enter into the picture. We approach the falls futher up towards the main part called Devil's Throat. To the right we are starring at more water that is pouring over into the river, and at this point we could just feel a little mist. The driver put it on full throttle and we went right up into the falls, just a few yards from being directly under the water. He circled into the cloud of mist and popped right back out again. It was quite a loud rush. After a few more times of that, and a little enticement from John in the back we headed through the heavy mist into the deeper part of the falls and even closer to the Devil's Throat. By now we were in some rapids, and it took just about all the engines had to keep us in one spot as we gazed at the falling water that was surrounding us on three sides. In little time, the boat turned around and heading back to the safer waters, but not without a fight. The rapids got us, and as the boat came down after pointing into the sky from a wake, we were momentarily drenched as it spilled over on all sides. The experience was unforgetable, we were wet, but that is what the trail was for; to see the falls from above.

It started at the southern most point, around where the first Argentina side was visable. A few falls were visable when we looked straight out from the trail, but the best was ahead. The falls kept getting taller, wider, and faster; and as the descent of the trail was coming we could start to see the platform that was positioned above some of the fastest water. During this 1200 meter walk, a lot of picture were taken, and it would be safe to say that between the 12 of us, 1500 was a pretty attainable number for the Iguazu Falls tour. Once we reached the walkway to the overhang, the mist was pouring down the mountain just as it had from the boat, just as everyone was dry too. But it was worth getting wet again to walk out over the rushing water to peak over the cascade and see below. We were worried about the cameras getting wet on the boat, but they were out here, getting soaked from the mist. Quite an amazing site. Iguazu had one last surprise for as we continued back on the path. When the engineers built this tourist hub, a tower and observation deck was put just a few feet from the biggest waterfall in the park. You could stand at the edge and see in amazement the 450,000 gallons of water flowing over the edge every second. A breathtaking view.

The day was full of excitement and we thought that perhaps we would never see anything so spectacular again, well at least not in Illinois.