It is the morning of our second day
here in Puerto Iguazú.
Johann just walked over to the bus terminal to get the tickets for
today's trip, the Brazilian side of the Iguazú
falls, a 'must', supposedly, to get a complete impression of these
mighty waterfalls. The bus leaves in an hour and a half, so I have
some time to write for a while.
Yesterday,
we boarded an early bus to visit the Argentinean side, a wise
decision, as it turned out. Like at any major tourist attraction bus
loads of people descend on the place every day, and it was nice to
have a quiet start to get a feel for the place.
But
how to describe such magnificence? It seems impossible in the face of
wall after wall of water stretching far into the distance, the force
of it making the ground tremble under my feet when I stand on one of
the many bridges allowing so close an encounter that it takes but a
minute to be drenched. Eternal mist from the spray rises from the
bottom of the falls, enhancing the feeling that this is the gate into
a mythical world – or the wall separating me from it.
Gazing
at this one can almost forget the presence of so many other people
vying for the best spot to take a photo or have their photo taken,
but whenever we turn from a viewing platform to enter a walkway to
another one the shoving begins again. The few restaurants and rest
areas spaced strategically along the way draw the biggest crowds.
Coatis, small, omnivorous animals with ringed tails, related to the
raccoon, but diurnal,not nocturnal, have long figured out the best
place to scavenge food, and are, of course, popular subjects for
photographers. Signs warn of their aggressive behaviour, however: too
familiar by now with humans they don't hesitate to use sharp teeth
and claws to get what they want, and ugly injuries can result. We
encounter a huge family group on one of the quieter paths through the
forest: two adults and about ten cute youngsters root around in the
leaf litter, the babies playing and rolling around while the parents
look for food more seriously. It seems impossible that all these
babies belong to one family, and now I just read that females and
their offspring live together in family groups, during mating season
sometimes joined by a male for a while.
It
is now Thursday, December 4, and we'll be packing up for a new leg of
the journey soon. We'll take a bus to Ciudad del Este, right across
the border in Paraguay, and will find another bus to Asunçion,
the capital, where we'll stay for the next couple of nights.
There
is still a bit of time, however, so I will finish at least the report
about the first day in Iguazú.
After
walking the different trails – paved and well maintained –
with the many bridges allowing different views of the many parts of
the falls on the Argentinian side, we spent part of the afternoon
walking a much less crowded path through the forest, with a small
waterfall at its end. Here, I could enjoy the other aspect of this
area: the verdant lushness of the rainforest. So many shades of
green, so many different shapes and textures of leaves, so many
degrees of light and shade!
Far from the roar of the falls this is a
quiet world where the incessant shrill of insect voices surpasses all
other noise. Its beauty is not as immediately obvious, but there is a
lot to see here, too.
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