Worldly wonders

Audra:

In the past seven days, I have seen some of the most incredible things in my short but action-packed life. Last Monday we flew to Iguazu falls, which is on the border between Argentina and Brazil, right by Paraguay. Carla met us at the airport, which was handy. Also handy was the tour company that picked us up there and took us to our hotel. After a short break to get situated, we went to see the Brazilian side of the falls. These falls are enormous--the river is probably half a mile wide (total guess; let´s just say it was wide) and spills over tall cliffs that whole distance. I don´t really know how to describe it except that it´s pretty awe-inspiring. I promise that we´ll post pictures again soon!

That night we went to a Pan-American dance show, of which the highlights were the Argentine tango, the abs on one of the samba women, and an act in which this guy spun balls on long cords that looked like they should be on fire, but he banged them on the floor rhythmically. Anyway, the show was good, but the food was kind of disappointing after the high bar that had been set :(

The next day we got up early and went to see the Argentine side of the falls. This time we were able to get a lot closer to the falls, and we even went in a boat and went UNDER them! It was cold, loud, wet, and overall very intense. I LOVED it!! Again, see the forthcoming pictures..

The following day, we got up REALLY early and flew to Manaus, which is right in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. Looking out the plane window, I was stunned by how much of the landscape is clearly devoted to agriculture. Eventually, though, patches of squared-off light green faded into unbroken dark green, and as we descended I could see the mighty Amazon. I was blown away by how vast the river was, how unbroken the landscape, and by the knowledge that I was about to witness the most biologically diverse ecosystem on the planet.

We boarded a little cruise "ship" along with the other passengers. There was a family from Brazil, a family from Atlanta, one from Venezuela, one from Germany, a pair of older professors from Spain/Canada, and a newlywed couple from Spain. Then there were the six of us (Mom, Dad, sister Stephanie, me, cousin Jennifer, and Carla). That first day we did debriefing, ate dinner, and then went out in some smaller boats at night with a searchlight to look for wildlife.

This was one of my favorite parts of the cruise. I don´t know how to explain how it felt to be out there in a boat on the Rio Negro. It was pitch black except for the stars, and completely quiet except for the sounds of frogs and insects. I was just aware how much life was going on all around us, and how out of place we were there as humans. At the same time, we were allowed to experience this place where so few people had been before relative to most places on earth.

The next day, we got up early and went out in the canoes again. Later that day we took a nature hike that was SO INTERESTING! Our guide kept stopping us and pointing out trees that produced gum (we could actually take some of the thick white sap and play with it until it formed tiny gum balls), menthol, incense, and shellaque. We saw carnivorous ants, ants that can be prompted to crawl all over your hand and then get rubbed out to create a spicy smell that apparently makes animals unable to smell human hunters, mound building termites, bark that can be made into fibers, a tree that makes the sound of a giant timpani when hit with a stick... it was simply incredible to learn all about the forest and how many of the products we take for granted in our streamlined lives come from this region.

After we got good and sweaty hauling around the forest, we went for a swim off the boat. We got to jump off the top deck like a high dive (I was kind of a weenie about it but I jumped when Carla counted us off, and though I apparently went down kind of spreadeagle, I did NOT bellyflop). The water was perfect and it was great to get some exercise after several days of sitting on my duff.

In general the trip was full of similar adventures mixed with lots of time to chill with my family. We don´t get to spend all that much time together these days, so it was really nice to be able to shoot the breeze together.

Saturday we all went to the Manaus airport and that´s where we split up; my family went back home and Carla and I flew to Belem to begin the third segment of our trip: backpacking the Brazilian coast.