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When we were planning this trip Iguassu Falls was one of the places that made me want to come to South America and it was one of the sights I was determined to see. It did not dissappoint and it almost made the anticlimax of Ascuncion in Paraguay worth it. Paraguay did not leave a huge impression on me and will be remembered more for the balloon slashing antics of the proprietor of a campsite in Trinidad after a cake fight in his resteraunt (it was Luke The Drivers Birthday, his face got pushed in to it, he put the topur leaders arse in to it then the pudding started flying, owner called us animals and other terrible things, took out a huge knife and slashed all our balloons to death. He was lovely the next day though, also I must categorically state Laura and I did not hoy a single crumb at anyone). This will be what I recall when someone says Paraguay to me, and not the UNESCO Jesuit Ruins or the deflating balloon that is Ascuncion City. Though it was Lizzies birthday which we spent listening to harp music in a Por Kilo resteraunt (food is sold to you according to wheight) which was excellent before adjourning to a local karaoke bar where, if I may say so, I did a very passable Jumpin Jack Flash.
But Iguassu. More than 240 seperate waterfalls along a 2 kilometre line between Argentina and Brasil. A sight bigger than your cameras viewfinder can fit. The Brasil tourist board have kindly erected a walkway that starts 1200m downriver from the main falls. You start being unable to see any of the falls except for brief glimpses through the trees and a faint roar of water. As you get closer more and more spectacular views are revealed to you and you start to feel the water droplets in the air and the roar of hundreds of thousands of gallons of water falling gets louder and louder. Much of the ground over which the falls flow was shapped into 2 steps by a giant lava flow. Added to this there were added deep fissures from plate activity so we get huge horse shoe shaped gorges. All of this earthly architecture has a 1.5 km wide river to decorate it. Tomorrow we are going to visit the Argentinian side of the falls. The Argentinians have a smaller horseshoe than the Brasil side but they do have a very long waterfall curtain that we will be able to go under with a boat and over with a walkway. I´m very excited about it. You can´t help but stand agog. I found myself wondering how the first explorer to discover it must have felt. I could understand such a discovery to prompt the thought that something as majestic, beautiful and powerful must be the work of some power higher than ourselves. Obviously I know its not but this is the sort of profound reaction I had when I saw Iguassu.
Chris
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