She Tales # 1 - Iguazu Falls, Argentina
A slippery steel catwalk over half a mile long, built just feet above the rushing current below leads you to the thundering falls. On either side of you barely 4 feet below is the milk chocolate brown current, the searing sun above is beating down and drops of sweat are rolling down my cheeks. The roar of the falls could be heard and the vibrations surge through your body before we saw the frothing giants.

The catwalk ends and the thunder begins as I am standing over the falls, right on the edge. The vibrating of the turbulent water fills me and I am awestruck. The size is just incredible, four football fields wide wrapped around you in a horseshoe shape, water rushing from beneath, in front and all around - it is sensory overloud (and an overload, too!). Mouths open as the onlookers take pictures and talk about the beauty, but for a split second I was there all alone, even amongst all those people. The falls consumed every sense I had for just a brief moment of being one with nature's grander, and then a tap on the shoulder from a tourist asking me to take their picture and I was right back with the others.

The lush forest of Iguazu in northern Argentina is home to one of the most natural wonders of the world. On the final approach to the Iguazu airport, you can see the mist rising hundreds of feet into the sky. From the airport you can take a taxi directly to Argentina National Park, which hosts and boasts the largest waterfalls in the World. In fact, the well-known Niagara Falls on the Canadian-US border is just a munchkin falls in comparison. A few months ago, as I stood looking at Niagara, I thought nothing could top that awesome display of nature, but then today I witnessed Iguazu. Once in the national park, the approach to Devil Falls is a journey, an open-air train with butterflies fluttering beside you, leads to the long slippery catwalk to the colossal falls

The excitement does not end there. We climbed all the way down to the base of the falls and, donned with the mandatory orange life vest, boarded a zodiac boat for a trip of a lifetime, into the rapids and 600 meters into the falls. As a funny side note, I have one of those hour glass figures that has a little too much sand on the top half, imagine adding a rather large bright orange life vest. I could not even see over them to step into the boat properly and ran right into the video camera guy. The Zodiac took off into the falls like a roller coaster with no seat belt, through the rapids we went, the mist stinging our eyes so bad we had to briefly shut them against our will. The enormity of the waterfall is captivating and powerful, soaked to the bone we shoot again and again into the plummeting falls. This would never be legal in the U.S. This was extreme, that is extremely fun, and extremely beautiful.

But if you check with CNN Iguazu is also extremely dangerous. The network report Al Queda likes to hang out here in the tri-border area between Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. Being here seems pretty safe, though. It is 11:15 at night and we walked nearly a mile from our hotel to get here to the Internet cafe. It is a quiet and small city, if the Al Queda is here they have a low profile, just as Christopher and I do. We do not do anything to call attention to ourselves or the fact that we are American, hoping not to sound unpatriotic.

Iguazu falls has two faces, one seen from Argentina and the other from Brazil. The Brazilian side has a different look and feel, unlike the lush tropical jungle of the Argentinean side, which leads you to the falls over steel catwalks zigzagging above the river and through the jungle to the fall’s edge. To get to the Brazilian side of the falls, national park guests take an air-conditioned double-decker bus. The bus follows a well paved road and drops passengers off at various viewpoints. Getting to the falls edge was not as adventurous, absolutely tame actually, but a completely panoramic view awaits those who disembark at the first stop. Two Hundred and seventy falls all snaking through the landscape, violently rushing over the edge and plunging down one hundred and twenty five vertical feet. Great view as a whole, but the falls are further away from you. Don’t forget, back on the Argentina side, the falls were coming out from under, in front and all around you.

A winding path descends from the panoramic viewpoint of the Brazilian side down to various other incredible viewpoints until you reach the end of the line, where a hefty flight of stairs culminate in an extremely close-up view of the falls. It is worth the walk even in the balmy heat. As an added bonus to the falls, tapirs are wild and abundant here. Two families of tapirs, who are well accustomed to people, come right up and sniff you, bold and cute little fuzzy animals. I want one. Then on to the falls; it turns out the Brazil has a catwalk of its own. Chris bought me a plastic parka for 4 Brazilian Reals, which is about $1.25, and sent me on my way to see the edge. At the first stopping point to the left is a waterfall 90 feet high. It forms a pool, which then passes under your feet, bubbles like a giant cauldron of cream soda, then plunges down another 60 feet to the river. Further on down the slick catwalk, is another set of falls even bigger than the first plunging directly in front you. Every one around was soaked to the skin, unless they were wearing a parka. It’s thrilling to be here, to feel the mist and the thunder of it again from a different perspective, and this time dry under a poncho.

Chris and I almost passed up the opportunity to see the falls due to the reports on CNN. If we had not taken the risk, we would have missed the most spectacular falls in the world. A world where people stop doing what they want to do because of a threat of terrorism is the day the terrorists win. Iguazu falls was an experience of a lifetime; had we not made the trip I would have never known what I missed. I am elated to say I know exactly what I would have missed, and we enjoyed every minute of the Iguazu experience.