Wednesday I got an e-mail from my mission president saying that he would be in Iguassu Falls for an Institute/Seminary training meeting. He told me as long as my flight wasn’t late he would be there waiting at the airport for us when we got there. Of course our flight was late though and I figured he probably wouldn’t be there. To my happy surprise though he was!! Along with his friend Marcelo who he served a mission with and who has been a bishop in Iguassu Falls for going on 14 years now. President Tobias couldn’t stay long because he had another training meeting to get to a few hours away but it was great to be able to see him though even if it was just for a few minutes.
Marcelo is one of the nicest guys I ever met. He insisted on taking us anywhere we wanted around Iguassu Falls including Argentina.
Friday morning we got up early and went to the Brasilian side of the falls. I’ve heard it debated whether the Brasilian or Argentinian side is better but my vote would personally be for Brasil. The panoramic view of the falls is breathtaking and leaves one without words to describe. The trail goes along the river for about a mile ending in a board walk that goes out over the river almost to the center of the bottom of the falls. I tried to get some cool pictures because it was pretty much amazing but since the camera was inside a plastic baggy the pictures kinda turned out blurry.
After that there was an elevator that took us to the top of a cliff where there was a fantastic view of the falls from the top.
All that walking, while well worth it, didn't agree so much with my back. Originally we were going to use the afternoon to head over to the Argentina side but I didn’t think I could handle that much more walking. Instead, Marcelo picked us up and showed us some places around town. First we headed over to Argentina where things were a lot cheaper and there was some pretty cool stuff. After that, we returned to Brazil and went to the Tres Frontieras or, Three Borders. There you can see Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. Each country has its own obelisk painted in the colors of the country so it’s really cool as you stand at the lookout point and see the markers from the different countries.
The next day we went to the Argentinian side of the falls. The Brazilian side is good for the overall panoramic view but the Argentinian side is cool because you actually get to take this boardwalk up over the falls. The most intense part is called Garganto do Diabo or Devil’s Throat where most the water surges over the falls. It was hard to take pictures there because we got drenched from being there so close.
After walking around the boardwalk for a while we went on a boat ride to the bottom of the falls. Bad Idea!! I figured it would just be a nice leisure ride to get a different view of the falls. Not so much, for some reason they thought it would be cool to take us as close to the falls as possible. It brought back all those great memories of nearly drowning in the Nile last summer and every other time I’ve almost died in white water (Ok, that’s slightly mellow dramatic I didn’t really almost drown in the Nile but it sure felt like I was.)It was all I could do to just close my eyes and focus on breathing… Ha Ha, of all the things to be scared of my one fear is of waterfalls and white water. Random?
Unfortunately we couldn’t spend too much time on the Argentina side because we had to get back to Brazil to catch our flight to Rio. Before we left Iguacu falls though, I had the chance to meet up with my first District Leader from the mission, who also just so happened to be the nephew of Marcelo. It was fun seeing him again and reminiscing about all the good times we had. He helped me a lot when I was first trying to adjust to life on the mission.
Sadly our time in Iguaçu falls passed all too quickly but it was an amazing experience and one more thing I can cross off my bucket list. Happy Days J
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