A River Runs Through It

I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding. – John O’Donohue

Our adventure so far has largely unfolded along the banks of a river.  On December 29th we landed in Montevideo on the coast of the massive Rio de la Plata, which Chad will argue is not a river, but rather a gulf.  I don’t think he is alone in his thoughts, but any map will confirm that here it is considered a river.  After our time at the beach we returned to the  coast of Rio de la Plata in Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay. From the historic cobblestone streets of this UNESCO World Heritage site we got our first view of the broad expanse of water.  My first thought was that we discovered Willy Wonka’s chocolate river, the color is such a milky brown!

 

We then took a ferry across the river (90 minutes) to Buenos Aires.  Our Hilton was along the harbor canals and we crossed the water countless times during our days in the city.  Especially enjoying the view of this sculptural bridge.  

 At the time we didn’t appreciate that this massive expanse of water was downstream from our upcoming destinations.

I started this post at a rainforest reserve and ecolodge on the banks of the Iguazu River named Surucuá.  Here we walked through the jungle to the waters edge and have kayaked along the river from the Argentine side over the Brazil side, as this river divides the two countries here.  It is a majestic setting with towering trees, a magnificent assortment of butterflies, occasional monkeys, and a symphony of sounds giving hints to the secret inhabitants that hide in the dense vegetation of the rain forest.  This spot is furthest upstream from all of our other adventures.  The family owned lodge was run by Adrian and his wife Laura.  Adrian grew up playing in these jungles where his grandfather once lived.  And Laura was a magician with food.  She delighted us with local dishes and introduced us to new and unfamiliar ingredients.  Breakfast with papaya and banana jam, lunch with Cassava fries, and dinner with the most delicious seared river fish.  We also discovered new flavors on our rainforest hike when our nature guide would show us what fruit in the forest we can eat, and found sugarcane for us to suck on.  It was a very nice experience at Surucuá.

Iguazu Falls was a few miles downstream and justifiably claims to be one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World.  We spent 6 hours wandering around the Argentine side.  It was wonderful to see so many different vantage points of the massive falls.  Our first view was an overview of the falls seeing most of the 2.7 km width.  We arrived when the park opened and this first hour was delightfully devoid of other tourists along the trail. There are sections with massive gushing water and some with delicate falls that find their own way.  The surrounding jungle sits atop a massive stone cliff, the combination is a sight to behold.  After that view we continued towards the falls, ultimately standing directly at the base with a refreshing shower of the spray raining on us.  And with this spray, came rainbows – lots of rainbows.  The next trail was the Upper Trail.  This led us to the edge of the falls looking over the edge as the water curled to the 200 foot drop below.  Through the different trails we seemed to see every vantage point possible.  Each one was exciting, but none more exciting than the last one, Garganta del Diablo.  The Garganta del Diablo section is the tallest and most powerful section.  The boardwalk here was packed with people as if we were watching a parade and trying to get a good vantage point.  Once we jostled through the crowd to the balcony we could see why it was so hard for folks to move on.  It was amazing being so close to such power.  Leaving that section my heart was racing like I got off of a roller coaster.  Pictures capture the beauty of Iguazu, but the energy that it gives off is another thing altogether.    Shia was amazed that this much water could be replenished without recirculating.  I must agree it was hard to explain.  At Garganta del Diablo it felt like we were watching a whole sea drain over the edge, it was so much water!  However, this inquiry led to our discovery that the Iguazu river merges with the Parana river, which eventually merges with the Rio de la Plata river and we realize that our journey has unfolded along the path that this water will travel.

Here also the Iguazu river separates Brazil and Argentina, so the widest view of the falls can be seen from the Brazil side.  Today when we visited the Brazil side we experienced the RAIN part of rainforest.  It was hard to know what was rain and what was mist from the falls, but we were soaked.

Now we are off to a new Rio tomorrow.

Rio de Janiero!