The Power of Poseidon

 A few things before I shower you with stories of my waterfall week-end: My friend Valeria from Spanglish and I have become close friends in a short period of time. We can really open up to each other and she is already somebody who I feel like I can trust. Thinking about leaving her and my other friends in a month makes me upset, so I choose not to focus on it. Sometimes we switch off languages because she likes to practice her English and I like to practice my Spanish. I was walking to Plaza Italia wearing my rainbow dress last week and a man who looked like an older version of John Lennon stopped me on the sidewalk. He told me he was a painter and notified me of an art fair close by. He then asked if he could take ten minutes of my time to draw a picture of me. I was caught off guard and said yes, I suppose you can do that. He had me sit down on a park bench and asked me questions about myself. He told me I had beautiful form and a very nice face to draw.. I was flattered until I talked to my friend Maja afterward and realized that the same man had drawn her a few days previous.

Okay, here we go. My friends Sarah and Kayti and I flew to Iguazú in Misiones, Northern Argentina on Thursday. There was a special discount and the flight cost less than the 20 hour bus ride (thank goodness!). We arrived in an hour and 45 minutes and took a shuttle to our hostel. Hostels in this country are great; 8 dollars a night for a bed, a lukewarm shower, and guaranteed new friends (we met people from Chile, France, Hong Kong, Canada, and Mexico). However, 8 dollars a night implies a few things that I sometimes forget. The man at the front desk gave us the wrong key and we walked into a room with a king sized bed and luggage all over the place. I don't like the idea that the workers are offering up my possessions to the rest of the hostel world. We returned the mystery key and he let us into our room, but then took our key with him. We told him that we needed it so we could lock the door when we left, but he told us that the doors are usually left open anyways, no worries. There weren't any lockers to keep our valuables, so this open door policy was worrying. Later when we went to get the key, it wasn't even there. What a madhouse. We kept our passports, money and cameras behind the front desk, which was a good idea since we came home one day to find our door wide open and no one inside. Nothing was stolen, but this was still an uncomfortable sight upon returning. The tube that connected to the toilet tank in our bathroom came loose, resulting in clean water splashing all over the place every time we flushed the toilet. Did they fix this during our stay? Of course not. We concluded that the hostel workers were trying to re-create the experience of the waterfalls in case we missed them too much at night.

It was not as hot as I was expecting it to be in the far North of Argentina, but it was still warmer than Buenos Aires. It was beautiful and sunny for both days of our stay in Iguazú; I'm not sure if it's always that beautiful or if the world was just on our side. The National Park of Iguazú is essentially a jungle filled with wildlife and waterfalls bigger than you can imagine! We took an open-roof tour bus along the jungle path and saw tons of exotic trees, plants, and animals that I had never seen in real life before. There are a lot of native plants like papaya and guava, but also many foreign ones such as eucalyptus from Australia, mangoes from India, bananas from Africa, and oranges from Asia. We saw lots of toucans in the trees (how thrilling!) and turkey vultures in the air. Our guide told us that there are 120 mammal species in the Iguazú forest. Some of the most common are the cappuccino monkeys and the coatíes, which are cute furry animals that resemble a mix of raccoon, anteater, and beaver. They dig in the ground and are not scared of humans, so we were very up close and personal with them. They reminded me of nifflers from Harry Potter because of their long noses and digging habits. We saw a small spieces of crocadile on our raft tour. All of this crazy wildlife really made me feel like I was in South America.

I learned that "Iguazú" was a word from the Guaraní language, spoken by the indigenous tribe that used to inhabit the Iguazú Forest. It translates to "agua grande" in Spanish, or "big water" in English. There are many versions of the legend of the Falls, but the one that I heard is that long ago, a woman was sacrificed every year to appease the giant river spirit, a serpent named Boi. A beautiful woman named Naipí was to be sacrificed, but her forbidden lover rescued her and they fled the serpent in a canoe. The serpent was so angry that he slammed himself on a rock, creating the Iguazú Falls. The couple was doomed to separation and was said to only be reunited when there was a rainbow in the Falls. Due to the sun and the constant mist from the impact of the water, there are visible rainbows in the different waterfalls at various times of the day. These definitely added to the magic of the experience.

When we entered the park, there were a number of paths available. We first started on the "parte superior" (upper part), where we were able to see a lot of the waterfalls from the top. This was very exciting but nothing compared to what we would see later. It is cool to see the source of the gigantic waterfalls, but you cannot really feel their immensity when you are at the top. You cannot feel the force of the endless flowing water crashing into the Iguazú river, or the mist on your face. After the upper path, we went to the lower path ("parte inferior"). This was incredible. Some of the view points were more panoramic, allowing us to see many of the 275 waterfalls at once, while at other points, we were able to walk right up close to the Falls. They were so loud and fast, it made me dizzy to look at them for too long. At last, we took a train to the path that led to the most breathtaking part of the Falls, la garganta del diablo (the devil's throat). At this point, I was convinced that I was dreaming. It just did not make sense. Four gigantic waterfalls poured into each other with such intense force that I was sure the Greek god of the Sea, Poseidon, was responsible for their epic existences. It was the most water I had ever seen moving the fastest I had ever seen anything move, and I started to forget it was water. It looked more like fluid clouds coming down in sheets. The devil's throat is the dividing line between Argentina and Brazil. You can see the Falls from both sides and I have heard that they are both worth seeing, but the Brazilian side offers more of a panoramic view of the Falls, whereas the Argentine side offers closer positions to them.

There were butterflies everywhere near the devil's throat, and a lot of them became my friends (I think they were attracted to my brightly colored clothing). We took a boat ride that went right up to the Falls. We got soaked! At least we thought to buy ponchos 10 minutes beforehand. It was thrilling being doused with water from these intense forces of nature. Part of me was scared we would be submerged and never surface. The next day, we had a few adventures in the forest outside of the Iguazú National Park. We traveled in a group with two Australians and two Colombians, so there was a crazy mix of Spanglish happening throughout the morning. We rappelled off a large rock, which was not too scary since I had done some rappelling in my high school gym class. We went on a hike and saw Paraguay across the Paraná River. Our guide told us that there was a point 10 km from where we were where you can see the meeting place of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina. Then came my favorite part.. Ziplining! My knees grew week as I climbed the extremely tall stairs to get to the top of the platform and I wondered if my harness would hold, but I knew that an adrenaline rush was just what I needed. We ziplined three different times to different platforms, and it was amazing! I felt like Princess Leia from Star Wars flying through the lush green trees on her land speeder with ewoks in Return of the Jedi. My only complaint was that it didn't last long enough!

After our morning of activities, we went back for one last look at the Falls. We returned to the lower path and realized we had missed a whole section the day before. The water flow was much stronger this day; we could tell because of the submersion of rocks we had seen and also a highly increased mist production. It amazed us how much the force of the water could change in one day. Along the jungle path, we spotted a group of monkeys hanging around in the orange trees! They don't eat oranges since these are not native to South America, but they definitely enjoyed throwing them at us. I had no problem with this; I ate one and it was delicious! After our monkey fun, we returned to the devil's throat to make sure we did not imagine it. I had the same reaction as Eleanor Roosevelt when she saw the Iguazú Falls; "Poor Niagra!"

I never wanted to leave because I feared that I would someday forget the feeling of such an unbelievably grand presence. All good things must end, so we left the next morning bright and early for another jolt back to reality. But it isn't really reality yet, not while I'm still in this crazy country. Argentina has given me more than I ever imagined, and I am so glad to have this had this opportunity to get to know part of South America. I would love to come back someday and hike through Machu Picchu in Peru and see the pueblos of Chile, but if I never get the opportunity, I know I have been more than lucky to have had these life changing experiences this semester. I came home to Buenos Aires today and was welcomed by a sweet note from Ana Lucía and my favorite alfajor :) I also received a visit from María Sol (Ana's sister), Pablo and Juanita; they had come to walk Tango. I have not seen them much since the beginning of my stay here, and it was refreshing how much more comfortable it was to communicate with them compared to last time. They are taking a trip to London in July for Pablo's work and I offered to help them brush up on their English if they would like some practice. Whew! This entry is a long one. I realize that I tried to describe an indescribable experience.. I hope you got a taste of it.