Iguazu Falls

When my Dad was working on cruises in Alaska, he would come back and tell us about the glaciers and whales and say, “It’s one of those things you look at, and you just know God exists.”  That’s the best way to describe Iguazu.  There are no words strong or descriptive enough to explain the sheer power of the Falls.  So I’m not even going to try; I’m just going to do my best to write about my experience there.

You will find Iguazu Falls on nearly every list of “The Wonders of the World.”  The Falls, which are situated on the Iguazu River between Brazil and Argentina, are one of the largest waterfalls in the world.  When moving to South America was just starting to become a not-so-unrealistic idea, Meredith sent me a link to a video of Iguazu Falls with the caption, “WE ARE GOING HERE!”  That was in October.  Little did either of us know that eight months later we would be standing on a slippery metal walkway, squinting up through the mist at waterfalls so powerful we could hear their thunder from half a mile away.

Meredith and I decided to take the 18-hour bus ride to Iguazu about 18 hours before the bus was scheduled to leave.  She came into the Alamo while I was working and said, “Let’s go to Iguazu tomorrow morning.  We can be back before your Tuesday afternoon lesson.”  I looked at her, realized she was serious, and said, “Sounds good to me.”  The next afternoon – after sleeping for a whopping 5 hours – we picked up some empanadas and a couple bottles of wine before making our way to the bus station.

We found out shortly after we’d arrived in Iguazu that a dam had recently broken and flooded the Falls, so a lot of the upper part was closed.  We’d really been looking forward to seeing La Garganta del Diablo, which translates to “throat of the Devil,” but it turned out to be one of the places that was shut down.  La Garganta del Diablo is this area in the Falls where a bunch of the waterfalls meet and it looks like a huge crater in the top of the world.  I definitely recommend Googling pictures of it, as I don’t have any of my own to show you.  Though slightly disappointed, we didn’t let this prevent us from seeing all that we could. 

Paved paths through tall trees turned into metal-grated walkways leading us closer to the sound of the waterfalls.  We were thrilled at the first sight of the fast-paced river and the softer hum of smaller waterfalls hidden in the rocks.  When we finally made it to the opening of the big falls, and I stood there looking at this incredible wonder of the world, a chill went through me.  It was absolutely incredible to feel the cold water hit your face even though the waterfall is easily 50 yards away while listening to the crashing sounds of water hitting more water and rock beneath you. 

We bought two tickets for a speedboat ride up to waterfalls.  The motor whined against the current as the driver pushed it as close to the Falls as he could get without putting us in any imminent danger.  Brazil on our left, Argentina on our right, and a massive waterfall virtually above us, a drenched Meredith looked at me through squinted eyes and said, “Is this for real? Are we actually here?”  I laughed in response, as I wasn’t quite sure of the answer myself in that moment.  The only thing that kept me from thinking I was living in a dream was the smell of mildew and body odor emanating from the lifejacket I was wearing.

Now I’m going to let Iguazu speak for itself.

Me, Meredith, and Iguazu Falls.

Usually you can go all way way to the end of this walkway, but the river was so flooded we could only get halfway.

The view from the upper level.

At the top.

The boat.  That's Brazil on the left side of the river and Argentina on the right.

Drenched and very happy after the boat ride.

A video of some of the waterfalls, just to give you an idea of how powerful they are.