Iguazu Falls

I’m stunned. The immensity and beauty of Igauzu Falls is unparalleled. There’s nothing in the world like this place. Igazu is a massive crack in the world. It pulls infinite eons of water into it as if trying to slate an ancient unquenchable thirst. The elemental forces create crystalline castles that, instead of reaching toward heaven, create shining monuments to the earth. These multitudes of monuments create a vast city of light that, even on a cloudy day, can’t be diminished.

The force of the waters and gravity annihilate my illusions that I am something singularly important. It reminds me that I am just a minute organism… and also a tiny fragment of something so vast and so expansive that in my life, I’ll never truly understand how I’m part of it… I just know that I am.

The visit to this place is the fulfillment of a wish that I’ve had for about six years. Then, I was watching a TV special about Brazil. In this documentary, there was a segment about Iguazu Falls. The picture came on the screen showing this gigantic fissure in the earth and water pouring into it -- and I was immediately captured – thinking I had to see this at some time in my life. Here I am, and I have to say that no TV, no photo, no video, no blog entry could possibly capture the power of this sacred place.

I entered the Brazilian side of the falls (there is also an Argentinean side) through a well developed visitors’ center complete with the requisite gift shop selling silly items, as if those would be the things that would have you remember this place. The pathways to the various vista points of the falls were well built and maintained and I visited them all. During my walk to each of these points, I saw groups of cute-but-not-to-be-trifled-with coatamundes, mommas and her babies, that were foraging for food and insects. One even greedily absconded with a woman’s grocery bag full of her family’s picnic lunch to the musical accompaniment of her shrieks. Still, nature was executing on her design in which the strongest or smartest survive.

I saw and felt soft whispers of butterflies of all different colors brushing at my clothes, hair, and face. Black with bright orange, or vivid green, or radiant violet. Gold butterflies. Butterflies the colors of earth and clay. Reds, whites, silvers. One alighted on the top of my head and I decided to believe that it meant I’d been blessed. I felt blessed, grateful, lucky.

I saw the numerous falls from various angles, right, left, above, below. All views were equally as stunning. All the falls seemed to have their own personality, their own beauty, their own force or gentleness. Each seemed to have its mysteries, its spirits. I could stare all day and get lost in the hypnotic rhythm of each singular fall or the bubbling cauldron beneath it with patterns swirling and moving vibrantly or graciously to then morph or disappear.

I felt the rush of the spray from the water hitting earth and rock – fresh and exhilarating and potent, drenching me and reminding me that I was really alive, that I was really living.

Later, I went up in a helicopter (no worries, my carbon footprint is already taken care of) and saw the falls from above. I saw that crack in the earth and the waters pouring into it, feeding it for millennia on millennia. My heart leapt into my throat and I was totally overwhelmed with emotion –- completely lost in awe of how incredible this life is, this planet is, this universe is. Time stopped and moved forward simultaneously creating a moment that will remain endless in my mind. I saw the sun set from the sky.

While I could walk through the particulars of my day… those seem to me insignificant when measured against the whole chronicle. I can feel the experience humming in me, like a finely-tuned vibration. And the only thing I can think is to not become attached to it, but let it keep flowing, like the river that feeds the falls.

The next day, my first day on my month long trek in Argentina, I visited the falls again. On the Argentinean side, you have the opportunity to feel much closer to the waters. The pathways and bridges take you practically inside the mouth of Devil’s Throat so that you can see and feel the massive rush of the water through your whole body and capture a sense of the dramatic, awesome plunge. You can have an audience with Los Hermanas, the beautiful water witch and her little sister as they dance and tell you their stories. You can get baptized by the power and strength humbling you like a child.

My only regret is that I didn’t get to spend more time here. My journey of 30 km from Brazil over the border crossing into Argentina ended up stealing a good part of my day from my visit to the Argentinean side of the falls. I felt a bit rushed, not having the time I would’ve like to sit with the various falls and really drop into the experience that each of them, I knew, held. I was one of the last people in the entire park to leave as the sun started to set.

I saw a good number of other animals, beyond the coatamundes and butterflies. I visited a bird sanctuary and saw toucans, brightly colored parrots, exotic cranes, pink flamingoes and their babies, and a sleepy looking caiman.

In the bushes, wild little things, I saw two wild capybaras and one capybara baby stealing their ways through the underbrush. And yes, on my way through a dark pathway as the sun set, I almost stepped on another snake. Small, brown… I’m sure this one wasn’t poisonous. ??

There was a gorgeous sunset my first night in Argentina. I take that as a sign that there is more beauty and adventure to come as I move through this part of my journey.