Iguazu Falls

IIguazu Falls, Argentina. These were some of the more minor falls.

Dear all:

After several weeks I am getting to work on my promised blog. As you all have been waiting with baited breath, I am sure, I will start with one of the natural wonders of the world: Iguazu Falls, Argentina. Iguazu (big water in native language Guarani) is where Paraguay, Brasil and Argentina meet. It is the corner of the world that the Jesuits ¨civilized¨ for 150 years and then were kicked out by leading powers in 1767, and is captured in the movie ´The Mission´
This movie -- which I finally had a chance to see a few days ago -- is beautiful, historically accurate, and extremely sad. Today I was able to ask a few Guarani natives what they thought about the movie and got an overwhelming endorsement. It is always nice to know when people
like movies that are made about their culture.

The falls are one of Argentina´s major tourist attractions and consist of hundreds of falls, supposedly rivaled only by Victoria Falls in Africa. We saw the falls yesterday and were pretty impressed, even after fighting with seemingly thousands of other tourists to get a glimpse.
Check out the photos!

Here is me in my orange jacket that has been like a second layer of skin to me in Argentina. It is the middle of winter here, and I have been wearing long underwear even in these relatively tropical areas. Today it snowed a few inches in Buenos Aires, and it is all over the news. More on the Southern Hemisphere: I did see the Southern Cross, but I still have to look up the CSN song online so I can sing it while looking at the stars.

This falls is the ´Garganta del Diablo´ or the throat of the devil.


Martha on the walkway to the falls. You can see the spray in the distance.

Well I better run for now. We are taking an overnight bus to Salta, the Northwestern Argentinian wine province.

Stay tuned for my food diary and mate´ commentary, coming soon.

Ciao

Eli