06/09/2024
Day 7: Foz do Iguazu, by Air, by Water, and by Land
Our small group climbed into a helicopter to get our first glimpse of the massive Iguazu Falls from above. We had flown past them the day before, but saw them from thousands of feet in the air. Our helicopter took us much closer, and we began to get a sense of just how astounding this location is, which is a UNESCO Heritage Site, and has been named one of seven New Natural Wonders of the World. Stretching across the borders of Brazil and Argentina, Iguazu Falls are the most voluminous falls in the world, stretching for 1.7 miles across the ancient landscape formed during the Paleozoic-Mesozoic era.
Those are the statistical descriptions. Elliott put it best as we left the helicopter: “We’ve seen something that until a few years ago, only the Gods could see.” Aside from our gasps of amazement which were a little different for everyone, we had no words to describe what we saw, especially as we came upon the narrow chasm known as “Garganta do Diabo” or “Devil’s Throat,” where nearly half of all the river’s flow falls, madly churning the white waters below.
The Guarani and Tupi people were the first humans to lay eyes on this spectacle. I wonder if they blinked and shook their heads, like some of us did, unable to comprehend what they were seeing. The name Iguazu comes from their language: “Y” meaning water, and “ûasú” meaning big. There is a story among the Guarani people that tells of how the Devil’s Throat was formed:
When the first humans came to this place of the gods, agreements were made in exchange for the gods allowing the people to live there. Each year, a maiden would be sacrificed to the Serpent God who rules the rivers. One year, a beautiful young woman named Naipi was walking along the river. The Serpent God fell instantly in love with her and planned to marry her. But Naipi was betrothed to her mortal love, Taroba, who pleaded with the village elders to find someone else for the Serpent God. The elders refused, as they did not want to offend the deity. Late in the night, Taroba went to Naipi and the two planned to escape. They climbed into a canoe and began following the river, planning to find a spot far enough away that would suit them to live out their lives in peace. But the Serpent God saw them, and in a rage, he charged through the canyon, cutting the waters as he chased them, making his way in dizzying zig zags trying to catch up with them, while the waters around him swelled and churned, but no matter how much the Serpent God moved the waters, the canoe carrying the two lovers remained afloat. Just as it looked like the pair would escape his grasp, the Serpent God violently cut a chasm that split the earth beneath them. Taroba was thrown from the canoe onto the muddy banks of the Brazilian side of what became a huge cascading waterfall. Taroba could only watch as the canoe, carrying Naipi, fell into the Devil’s Throat. But the Serpent God, still in love with the girl, saved her from death by turning her into the great rock, that stands on the Argentine side. Turning his anger back to the boy who robbed him of his bride, the Serpent King turned Taroba into a palm tree for punishment, as he would be forced to look upon Naipi for all time, but never be able to reach her.
To describe Iguazu Falls, one needs the language of the Gods. There is no mortal word that adequately captures the majesty, the spectacle, the beauty, the mystery, the fullness of the falls. Perhaps we would find the words in the waters below. We took the trail through the jungle, and then a funicular down to the water’s edge, and climbed into a boat that would take us along the river to edge of the falls, and for a glimpse of the bottom of Devil’s Throat. Safely adorning life jackets, we climbed aboard, feeling somewhat like Naipi and Taroba, at the mercy of the churning water. Our two captains expertly steered us through swirling eddies around great stones that emerged from the waters. Instead of looking down at the falls, we were now looking up, catching the spray, especially near a trio of three called, “The Three Musketeers.” We were filled with wonderment as the captain pulled into a safe area to stop for a moment and gaze at the rushing wall of water plunging off of the top of Devil’s Throat and landing into a turbulent froth. Something about being in the water, in that landing zone of the falls filled and flooded the senses in unexpected ways. Some of us cried, others screamed and laughed in joy, while others just breathed it in, unable to utter the indescribable feelings.
We floated, then flowed, and now it was time to find footing. Making our way back up to the trail, we strolled along the cliff sides and taking in the sublime panoramas that lay before us. Every turn was a new wonder, every bend in the trail a new mystery opened before us, and we humans were not the only ones drawn to this area. Capucine monkeys climbed along this trail as well, eating, swinging, and playing among the trees. We stopped to watch the antics of one brave little cousin, and feared for him as he crouched at the edge of one limb and made ready to jump to the branch of another tree, while the landscape below him dropped in another mind-boggling waterfall. He sailed through the air, grasped a branch which immediately dipped dangerously low, but he bounced back up and reached higher and higher, and to our relief, he made it! How much more could our hearts take on this day!
We followed the mile and a half long trail which ended on a bridge that led out over one of the big water flows, and saw the river cascade down the rocks, the cold spray refreshing us, perhaps waking us from the dream-like state we found ourselves in for most of the day. Here, you couldn’t speak, but even if you found words, it wouldn’t matter, because the greatest sound was the water itself, churning endlessly in a display of Nature’s power and greatness. Perhaps it is the Serpent God’s way of letting us know he still rules these waters, and we humans are only visitors in his realm.