Impossible to do them justice...
Iguaza is Guarani (the native people) for "Big Water" or "Great Water". Y=water and Guazu = great/big
We left Thursday at 7pm on a sleeper bus. Its two levels with seats that recline back substantially and panels in the seat in front of you that tilt back so you can use them as a leg rest. They show 3 films during this 16 hour bus ride to Iguazu. You get dinner, breakfast, coffee a couple of times and wine,champagne or whisky. Its a long ride, but very manageable, especially if you're with friends. Here's a blurry (interpret at "artsy') pic of Flurina and I sleeping.
When we got to the hostel, which felt very much like a resort with its huge pool, palm trees and huge open lobby - we realized how hot it was. How HUMID it was. Sleeping comfortably is pretty much impossible. We headed to the pool a few times to cool off - it helped, but only a little. I got this picture of Gabriel on a lounge chair at night - the light there made me think of having a nighttime sun which is pretty much what it felt like.
Down to the nitty gritty - the great and mighty "Garganta del Diablo" - the Devil's Throat. You dont really see what you are walking toward until you get there. Its mind-boggling. It truly one of the greatest sights in the world, I'm convinced of that despite not having seen every sight the planet has to offer ;). It has been declared a World Heritage Sight - I'll have to look up exactly what the criteria are, but I think its pretty self-explanatory, dont you? Now - definitely click on this so you get a closer look. I'm suprised the picture is that clear - there is such a tremendous amount of spray that you end up damp and you worry about your camera getting soaked. I'll see some of you in person when I get back and you'll see the video I made of it. You have to tear yourself away from that view, you keep looking back because you want the image to remain in your mind forever.
This is a view of the Garganta from a distance. The day at the park started at 9 AM and ended around 4PM. Sounds like its too long but you dont feel it. Sure - you sweat and sweat and sweat some more, but you also get to feel amazed, shocked, awed, inspired, joyful, grateful, intrigued....
Here you get an idea of how much spray there is...and after that pic is a description of the people in the photo. I just want to say how lucky I am to have met such a great group of people. Smart, fun, easy-going. I'm extremely grateful to have shared in their company - thank you so much kids!!!!!!!
Here is a group photo – from left to right
Gabriel – hilarious kid, born and raised in France but grew up speaking English at home and he spent significant amounts of time in the US growing up. Its great having him around because he catches all the Americanisms I throw out. We also have a great deal of those moments where one observes something and without having to explain it the other understands and you share a good laugh. Love that. He's extremely clever and witty! yay!
Cheef – as Joyce and I called him – the Renaissance Man. Medical student, competitive lambada dancer – good at everything. Born and raised in London. His hair is incapable of laying flat. The only time I saw it lay low was when it was flattenend by who knows how many gallons of water from that waterfall. He seems particularly surprised by my morbid imagination. He just needs to meet Mike and Mayumi now – then he’d understand. He leaves this Thursday :(
Melissa – the Physics Bird (again – thanks Joyce!). From Manchester, England – she gets props for dying her hair bright red and orange. Extra props for being a girl and having a Physics degree with the goal to becoming a professor. I’m very impressed. She makes these very rational/logical observations that are soooo British to me ! Just makes me laugh so much!
Me - if you don’t know me – why are you reading this blog?
Flurina – the Swiss Miss, aka Flu, aka Floozie ;) Finished law school in Switzerland and is looking to get into Human Rights – that’s why she’s doing this internship with a kind of free legal aid place for children and mothers. You know, we’d be walking through the sub-tropics and I would think that Swiss people aren’t made for this weather – but she’s a trooper – no complaints. She’s got a great attitude and an open mind ☺
Okay - now below are some of the Carlos Bossetti Falls - part of the Iguazu Falls. He was a biologist, though I'm not sure what he did to have the falls named after him. You get a clear view of a rainbow in this shot. These falls were "discovered" by the Spanish Explorer Cabeza de Vaca (yes, Cow Head) in 1641 - could you imagine what that must've been like? He hacked his way through the jungle with approximately 300 others (many of whom died from tropical diseases) and saw something that no other European until that point had ever seen. There certainly isn't anything like this in Spain - thats for sure. You feel like you must be in heaven...
I wanted soooo desperately to get to these lagoons - looks like paradise to me.
The park has constructed these walkways to get from place to place - Cheef and Flurina were on a walkway below Gabriel and I so they took a photo of us...
You can be missing your right eye, missing an arm, be drunk and have a monkey jumping on your head and smashing mud into your other eye and you STILL cant mess up this shot. It takes itself. Its an ideal vantage point for a photograph. The biggest struggle is to stop taking pictures.
Here is the last picture we were allowed to take before a boat took us right into the falls only to be completely showered by the spray. That was one of the most exciting things I've ever done in my life. We did it twice, then we went to another smaller waterfall close to the Devil's Throat and my two guy friends Gabriel and Cheef were hosed by the cascade. I saw it happen - it was like watching the three stooges when someone would get hit by a cream pie by suprise - that times 100.
This is a shot that gives you a better idea of what we were boating into. See all that spray? We were right inside it.
Thats it as far as Iguazu goes.
Today I had a cooking class - Pizzas, empanadas and tarts. 9:30 AM from today until Friday.
We left Thursday at 7pm on a sleeper bus. Its two levels with seats that recline back substantially and panels in the seat in front of you that tilt back so you can use them as a leg rest. They show 3 films during this 16 hour bus ride to Iguazu. You get dinner, breakfast, coffee a couple of times and wine,champagne or whisky. Its a long ride, but very manageable, especially if you're with friends. Here's a blurry (interpret at "artsy') pic of Flurina and I sleeping.
When we got to the hostel, which felt very much like a resort with its huge pool, palm trees and huge open lobby - we realized how hot it was. How HUMID it was. Sleeping comfortably is pretty much impossible. We headed to the pool a few times to cool off - it helped, but only a little. I got this picture of Gabriel on a lounge chair at night - the light there made me think of having a nighttime sun which is pretty much what it felt like.
Down to the nitty gritty - the great and mighty "Garganta del Diablo" - the Devil's Throat. You dont really see what you are walking toward until you get there. Its mind-boggling. It truly one of the greatest sights in the world, I'm convinced of that despite not having seen every sight the planet has to offer ;). It has been declared a World Heritage Sight - I'll have to look up exactly what the criteria are, but I think its pretty self-explanatory, dont you? Now - definitely click on this so you get a closer look. I'm suprised the picture is that clear - there is such a tremendous amount of spray that you end up damp and you worry about your camera getting soaked. I'll see some of you in person when I get back and you'll see the video I made of it. You have to tear yourself away from that view, you keep looking back because you want the image to remain in your mind forever.
This is a view of the Garganta from a distance. The day at the park started at 9 AM and ended around 4PM. Sounds like its too long but you dont feel it. Sure - you sweat and sweat and sweat some more, but you also get to feel amazed, shocked, awed, inspired, joyful, grateful, intrigued....
Here you get an idea of how much spray there is...and after that pic is a description of the people in the photo. I just want to say how lucky I am to have met such a great group of people. Smart, fun, easy-going. I'm extremely grateful to have shared in their company - thank you so much kids!!!!!!!
Here is a group photo – from left to right
Gabriel – hilarious kid, born and raised in France but grew up speaking English at home and he spent significant amounts of time in the US growing up. Its great having him around because he catches all the Americanisms I throw out. We also have a great deal of those moments where one observes something and without having to explain it the other understands and you share a good laugh. Love that. He's extremely clever and witty! yay!
Cheef – as Joyce and I called him – the Renaissance Man. Medical student, competitive lambada dancer – good at everything. Born and raised in London. His hair is incapable of laying flat. The only time I saw it lay low was when it was flattenend by who knows how many gallons of water from that waterfall. He seems particularly surprised by my morbid imagination. He just needs to meet Mike and Mayumi now – then he’d understand. He leaves this Thursday :(
Melissa – the Physics Bird (again – thanks Joyce!). From Manchester, England – she gets props for dying her hair bright red and orange. Extra props for being a girl and having a Physics degree with the goal to becoming a professor. I’m very impressed. She makes these very rational/logical observations that are soooo British to me ! Just makes me laugh so much!
Me - if you don’t know me – why are you reading this blog?
Flurina – the Swiss Miss, aka Flu, aka Floozie ;) Finished law school in Switzerland and is looking to get into Human Rights – that’s why she’s doing this internship with a kind of free legal aid place for children and mothers. You know, we’d be walking through the sub-tropics and I would think that Swiss people aren’t made for this weather – but she’s a trooper – no complaints. She’s got a great attitude and an open mind ☺
Okay - now below are some of the Carlos Bossetti Falls - part of the Iguazu Falls. He was a biologist, though I'm not sure what he did to have the falls named after him. You get a clear view of a rainbow in this shot. These falls were "discovered" by the Spanish Explorer Cabeza de Vaca (yes, Cow Head) in 1641 - could you imagine what that must've been like? He hacked his way through the jungle with approximately 300 others (many of whom died from tropical diseases) and saw something that no other European until that point had ever seen. There certainly isn't anything like this in Spain - thats for sure. You feel like you must be in heaven...
I wanted soooo desperately to get to these lagoons - looks like paradise to me.
The park has constructed these walkways to get from place to place - Cheef and Flurina were on a walkway below Gabriel and I so they took a photo of us...
You can be missing your right eye, missing an arm, be drunk and have a monkey jumping on your head and smashing mud into your other eye and you STILL cant mess up this shot. It takes itself. Its an ideal vantage point for a photograph. The biggest struggle is to stop taking pictures.
Here is the last picture we were allowed to take before a boat took us right into the falls only to be completely showered by the spray. That was one of the most exciting things I've ever done in my life. We did it twice, then we went to another smaller waterfall close to the Devil's Throat and my two guy friends Gabriel and Cheef were hosed by the cascade. I saw it happen - it was like watching the three stooges when someone would get hit by a cream pie by suprise - that times 100.
This is a shot that gives you a better idea of what we were boating into. See all that spray? We were right inside it.
Thats it as far as Iguazu goes.
Today I had a cooking class - Pizzas, empanadas and tarts. 9:30 AM from today until Friday.
5 Comments:
Check out the page again - I just updated it. Hey - I told our guide about how you were there and she said the walkways were different back then and that you had to take a boat part of the way to get to the Garganta. That sounded cool to me - just to be near the top of the falls in a boat - crazy.
I think this will be the first time I have nothing deragatory or synical to say...
I am awestruck by the photos. If these cant do it justice, I must see these for myself. Too bad my itinerary for the March trip looks to be full...
By the way, Karen, on my first night there, can we go to the place with the biggest steak in town?
biggest steak? you got it. there's a place called Siga la Vaca (follow the cow). Its basically all you can eat steak. Basicallly a big grill with and endless supply of meat. :D
ummm... "salad bar"... I have lost all respect for you.
they give you a selection of laxatives on the way out...
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