Tourists and Waters are never the same at Iguazu Falls

Muslim women from far away in many colored dresses 

This post is about a specific visit on October 20th, 2018, according to my notes. There were lots of people. The water discharge at 3 p.m. when I got there was 3.030 cubic meters per second roughly 8000 gallons or over 3 million liters of water per second. 

When I left at 6 p.m. the water flowing had jumped up to 3.300 cubic meters a second which made me think of Euraclitus’ quote: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” First I learned that the water had gained 300 cubic meters before my eyes, I saw it swelling. But as Eraclitus says not only the water is not the same as the people going into the river is no longer the same. Something changes in the river and in the beholder’s eyes.

Encounter with a many-colored plush-crested jay

When I got to the main lookout point it was packed full of colorfully-clad Muslim women who had flown around the world from places like Indonesia, Bangladesh and Malaysia in order to participate in an anticorruption congress being held in town. 

Ahead of me a Muslim woman dressed in a many colored dress stopped to take a picture of a plush-crested jay and for sure that is a "plush crested" living being. The bird is a living show among other things because of its yellow eyes that matches the yellow of its body and again it has more colors. This is what I call an "encounter". An Iguassu Falls Jay came to greet the Far Eastern lady. Where is she from? I always feel something heavy in my breast when a I can't say where visitors to "my" Falls are from. 

On the way back, I noticed that not only  had the water gone up a bit as the people following the trail had also changed. Now they were Chinese with waves of Argentineans, Brazilians, Peruvians and coatimundis - the Falls' dwellers that follow visitors with an eye and a wish to grab whatever food they might carry in their backpacks. 

Towering over the multitude

Way ahead I see a young man, perched on the guard rail of the time-worn trail on the Brazilian side.  I say perched because he looked like a hawk towering over the multitude as if he were choosing a prey. He was strong-built, his body denouncing him as an athlet of sorts  as well as a dancer due to the ease with which he poised on the wood protective frame, fearless of height and danger. Must be nuts, I thought wishing I could see a Park Ranger or Park Police to tell him that It is forbidden to stand tall above others specially on an illegal place.  

Her dream: a Yoga Asana in a Natural Place 

Not far from this muscled guy, I see a likewise atlethic-looking woman getting ready to stand on her head with feet pointing straight up to the nest of a Toco Toucan up above on the treetop. When I was passing by her I decided to go the extra-mile Jesus spoke about so I decided to compliment her for her ability and en passant asked her wheather that was a Yoga Asana. She nodedd yes and said that she was happy to have been able to do that in a natural environment. I asked her where she was from thinking that she travelled around the world to make it here - to the spot I called the Yoga Spot. She told me that she was from Foz do Iguaçu thinking that I was a photographer from a distant country. No I am from Foz do Iguaçu too, we are neighbors.      

Barbara from Poland but lives in NY

I little ahead there was a beautiful woman. She also attracted my attention. She was in a group of people that I identified as from Argentina and by the accent from Buenos Aires. After taking several photos of her, smiling to her cell phone, and saying somethng to it, a I finally approached her in Spanish. That is when she tells me in English that she is from New York, works for Unicef but that she is from Poland. I asked for pemission to use her photos if necessary to illustrate something that only God knows I was about to write. She said OK. I gave her my card with my official information and she gave me her email address so that I could send her a photo or whatever I could share.   

Barbara came in with a gropu from Buenos Aires

Later on, I returned to the point where the walking trail starts to wait for sunset across from the Hotel das Cataratas or as Americans say Das Cataratas Hotel. I sit quietley and see a fight between toco toucans and and plush crested jays. The fight for the tallest bare branch on trees overlooking the Iguazu river canyon. The I glued my eyes to my camera's viewfinder and started panning the sky above, he space in front of me till I got the plane view of a toucan taking off from his a branch, swooping down towards the water and rocks in the bottom f the canyon and ocassionally stopping his wings and falling feet headfirst in what seemed to me not to be a good idea.

 Lost in thoughts sitting in a forbiden dangerous place

Then all of a sudden between my eyes and the toucan I saw, guess who, the same guy that was perched of the crowd this time sitting on he guardrail, with feet dangling in the air with his eyes kind of fixed on the rocks and upset waters down in the canyon. I stopped clicking so that I could concentrate on cursing him for this kind of behavior. Then I thought, and what if he wants to kill himself, I won't let that happen. So I started moving closer to him so that I could grab him by his shorts since he was shirtless. I stopped beside him and began to check the photos I had taken. That was then that I saw the photo I had taken. There I have this guy sitting dangerously on the guardrail looking kind of downward, and between him and the Falls, a toco toucan on a recovery flight from the previous down swoop. Then I talked to him. I said, may  I talk to you, are you OK? Can you come here I want show you a thing. So I showed him his picture. You got the toucan and me. But I didn't see the toucan, so close to me. Inviting him out of the guardrail we exchanged those basic information. The gentleman told me that he is from Denmark.

Sometimes a make great friends by observing how people watch the Falls and how the Iguassu or Iguazu Falls and its creatures watch these people back.