Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Iguazu Falls



Barry patiently waiting his turn in line


Mom waiting in line to find out about our luggage 


Our view from the hotel. The sunset over the falls. 


La Garganta del diablo 


The Majestic Falls 


 I just came to the  end of a great two week vacation with my Mom and Step-dad Barry. We traveled to Carmelo, Uruguay, Buenos Aires, Iguazu Falls, and Rio de Janeiro. In the duration of their two week stay everything went pretty smoothly except some unfortunate bumps in the road like $120 pesos worth of fake pesos and lost luggage. I'll start from the beginning. 
    We arrive without delay to Iguazu's tiny airport after leaving Buenos Aires behind in the rain. The three of us wait patiently for our suitcases on the slow moving carousel jam packed with people boxing out others to get their bags. Nearly twenty minutes go by and there is no sign of our bags and the carousel has come to a complete standstill. We walk over to a group of people gathered around a worried looking airline representative. He makes an announcement in Spanish, "If you don't have your bags, I am afraid they are still in Buenos Aires." Ughh. There is only one flight a day that comes to Iguazu and we were on it, apparently our bags weren't. This is the point where I check in with the parents, apologetically almost I explain how Argentina is "special" and kind of beats to it's own drum, things like this happen all the time. Barry, my step dad, starts huffing "I bet you the bag workers didn't want to load the bags because it was raining so hard. They didn't want to get wet." He had a point. It was raining, storming actually. Thunder, lightening the whole kit and kaboodle but our plane took off, I'm not so sure it have would in the States. At this point my family is spread out between three lines, uncertain which one will be first to get to the front. Eventually after 45 minutes in line and 3 people working where there is counter space for 6 we make it to the front. We ask the airline rep in Spanish, "when will our luggage arrive?" In calm, crisp English he tells us "4 AM." I look around and check my parents faces for reactions, they still look pretty collected. In Spanish I try to get more information, "4 AM? You don't have any other flights?" Again the game continues and in English replies, "the plane with your luggage is flying into Posadas a 5 hour drive from here. It will get here around 4 AM." Ok. "Do we get compensation?" He finally begins to look flustered, "100 pesos a person but you need to pick it up in Buenos Aires." Seriously??? Who are these people? Now Barry, the expert traveler and ex-actor steps up to the plate. "I have pills in my bag. Pills that if I don't take I might die, and you don't want that to happen now, do you?" He holds eye contact. A small trickle falls down the rep's forehead. "Um, no sir we don't." "No you don't want that blood of my untimely death on your hands." I give Barry a look, enough the rep looks like he might go into cardiac arrest. "So what are you going to do about it my good man?" Barry asks again. The rep pauses for a second and scribbles something on our lost luggage form "Medical Emergency" it read, "Priority" and shows it to us. "Your luggage will be the first to arrive." With that good news and the fate of our luggage out of our hands we head to the Sheraton inside the Iguazu National Park overlooking the waterfalls. We sit outside enjoy a strong cocktail and gawk at the beauty of the sunset casting it's lights on the falls. At 4:05 AM the door bell rings, it is our luggage. 100% soaked and smelling like a pack of wet dogs. 
    Despite our moldy clothes, we had a wonderful time at Iguazu falls. The falls themselves were immense and powerful. La garganta del diablo (the devil's throat), a lookout point at the top of the fall shows their strength. We even went on a jungle adventure boat that cruises right beneath the beating of the falls. I don't know what is more intense, the sound of the pounding water or the feel of it on your skin. We have had a photograph of Iguazu hanging in our living room for years so seeing it in person was magical, it gave so much more meaning to the falls that we knew existed somewhere in Argentina, it gave the picture a story and memories. 

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