Speechless.

Speechless – incapable of speech; lacking the ability to speak temporarily unable to speak; silent, as from shock not expressed or expressible in words.

Back in April I ran into a friend in Bellingham (the town where I went to college) and I told her about the possibility of me going to Paraguay in the fall. The first thing she said back to me was that I HAD TO GO SEE Iguazu Falls!!! “Iguazu Falls?? What’s that??” I asked. We immediately went on Google and she showed me pictures of this “Iguazu Falls.” It looked like a dream to me. Something that looked unreal, yet at the time, I couldn’t really take in the fullness that it potentially would offer me. My friend said that when she went the previous year, tears rolled down her cheeks at the mere sight of the Falls. She could only describe it as incredible.

About a week ago, my friend Nicole (who is currently teaching English in a school in Uruguay) informed me that her and her friend Alex decided to buy a plane ticket to see the Falls and they wanted us to meet up with them. After organizing things and talking to Lilian about it, Kristin and I were able to plan a 2 day trip over to Brazil and Argentina to see the Falls with Nicole and Alex.

Our journey began on Tuesday night when Lilian drove us from our house here in Paraguay and across the border of Brazil. As soon as we got close to the border, my stomach started to turn and I got super nervous. Here we are, in a line of trucks and cars, crossing the border into BRAZIL. (People here keep telling us that they are SO surprised that Kristin and I got cleared for our Brazilian visa’s, because Brazil STRONGLY dislikes the U.S. So having this in mind, my nerves began to run). As we were driving through the line, truckers would honk at us and stare us down as well as the men walking by our cars and knocking on our windows trying to sell us their illegally imported trinkets. “Keep your window up, don’t look at them” Lilian told us. My stomach continued to turn in circles as we slowly approached the Brazilian border. After getting out of the car, Brazil immigration asked me a few questions, Why am I in Praguay? Why do I have a Paraguayan visa? Why am I going to Brazil? How much longer do I plan on being in Brazil? Fortunately, I understood and spoke well, so it went smoothly and we made our way into Brazil.

Nicole and I planned on meeting each other at a Bar in Brazil. When we finally met up, we both laughed at the fact that we had said to each other, “Ok, so let’s meet at this random bar in Brazil.” It was comforting to see two other people from the U.S. (especially for Kristin, now she had two other people to talk to!), let alone be able to meet with a friend of mine. Such a small world that Nicole and I were both in South America at the same time, available to meet up.

That night we found our hostel/hotel (this place was kind of in between a hostel and hotel) and we checked into our rooms and unpacked and made plans for the next day. Another twist to this trip that made it all that much more exciting was the fact that they do not speak Spanish in Brazil, they speak Portuguese. The nice thing is is that they can understand Spanish, but when they reply, they reply in Portuguese. So whenever Alex, Nicole or I would ask the Brazilians questions (in Spanish, the only other language we know), they would rattle off a 5 minute answer in Portuguese, apparently thinking we totally knew what they were talking about. Um….what???? It was quite interesting….people say that if you can speak Spanish, you can speak about 80% of Portuguese…yes the languages are similar, but they are different languages, so it makes for a challenging time. We would just smile and nod our heads and say, “Obrigado!” (“Thank you” in Portuguese).

In our rooms, we soon realized that each bed only had one small sheet on it. Alex noticed that on a shelf was 4 other blankets available for our use. They looked extremely comfortable, yet we couldn’t help but laugh when we saw that the blankets were hard core cheetah print. So, if you were to walk in our rooms, it would closely resemble a jungle full of cheetahs.

Our hotel :)

The pool :)

We woke up early on Wednesday morning in order to get a good start to our day. We ate the complimentary breakfast which our hotel supplied (it was so nice to eat an actual breakfast again!) and then headed off to the store to get some snacks for the day. (At the store in Brazil, they had APPLES!!! YES!!!! Kristin and I bought and packed as many as we could carry, because we missed the simple delicacy of fruit so much!!). We caught a bus from the bus terminal and it took about 30 minutes to get from the bus terminal to Iguazu National Park. Here, we got off the bus to a crowd of tourists from all over the world, excited and ready to see the natural wonder of Iguazu Falls. We got in line and looked at the park entrance fees. We noticed that it was cheapest for Brazilians to enter, then the next line had a bit higher of a price for everyone else, but then the next line had its own line for anyone from “The United States.” And surprise, surprise, our price was TWICE as much as the other prices. We just laughed as this goes to show how much the world loves and welcomes people from the United States. I paid for my entrance into the park with the Brazilian currency of “Reales.” So, at this point, in my wallet I had the U.S. Dollar, Paraguayan Guarani and the Brazilian Real. 3 currencies in one wallet, I had to keep them all straight!

On the bus on the way to the Falls!

 We took another bus which took us into the remote rainforest where Iguazu Falls vibrantly thrives. As soon as we got off the last bus, I could hear it. Water. The sound of water crashing everywhere around me. I could feel the condensation of spray in my hair, on my arms. I could see the water on the ground. I could taste it. Finally, after looking at pictures of this place for nearly 6 months, I was here.

We walked down a path (amongst an obnoxious crowd of other tourists), and there it was. “Wooooooooooooooooooow” was all I could say. I looked at Nicole, Alex and Kristin, shaking my head at what was in front of us. Little did I know, this was nothing in comparison to what I would later see.

Not only has Iguazu Falls been the most spectacular natural wonder I have ever seen in my life, but it also serves as something else which I think is very special. Typically in our world, in order to separate countries, we have manmade immigration terminals, fences, walls, a border of some sort. Yet here, Iguazu River and Falls literally serves as the dividing line between Argentina and Brazil. It was almost as if I could imagine God saying, “No man can separate themself from another kind in this place at this time. Here I will place this heavenly wonder to show that my creation has the power to separate man. Here, it will not be a wall, an immigration terminal, nothing.” As we walked along the Brazilian side, we were able to see the Falls from more of a distance, which served to be wonderful photo opportunities. As we continued to walk, I was in more awe as I was from the beginning because I was starting to realize the magnitude of this wonder. It seemed as if it stretched FOREVER. We walked for about 45 minutes, and the Falls still continued, around this corner, that corner and the other one behind it. My mind couldn’t fathom its scale.

4 very content ladies

Check out the video below!!!

We finally reached the end of the Brazilian side of the Falls. I soon learned that our viewing from afar would turn into a literal shower as we finally were able to get right up close to the Falls, instead of just seeing it from a distance. As we walked out onto a viewing deck, we all put on our raincoats and prepared ourselves to get drenched. As people were walking by us after exiting the viewing area, we noticed their hair was completely drenched, their backpacks dripping with water, not a dry spot on their clothes. “Time to get wet! It’s the time of our lives!!!”

We spent about 10 minutes out on the viewing deck, getting absolutely drenched. What an exhilarating moment of my life. As I stood out on this deck, I realized that 300 degrees around me were waterfalls plummeting water to its new birth into the River. I took a risk and brought my camera out to take a few pictures of this unforgettable moment. It was as if for 10 minutes, I was standing in the middle of death. All around me was millions of gallons of water falling to its demise, and I couldn’t help but disregard the severity of the danger and just smile at the fact that I was standing in the middle of one of God’s most beautiful creations. I felt like I was standing where He once stood, where He made this all into what it is. I feel like He spent a little more time in this place than He did in any other. This made it all that much surreal.

The viewing deck, nearly surrounded by Falls

I am absolutely psyched!

About to jump??

Nicole and I. Can´t get much closer than this!

Check out the video below!!!

After seeing as much of the Brazilian side as possible, we hiked back up the hill to sit down and have a snack. Previous to entering the park, we were warned that an animal by the name of a “Cowadie” teemed the national park, always approaching people and stealing whatever food they could get their hands on. As we walked to a place to eat, we passed a few of these little guys (who are actually a part of the squirrel family, to give you a better idea of them. However they were about 3 times bigger than a squirrel) and soon learned that yes, they are not timid, and yes, they will steal any food they can get their little paws on. We went and sat down to eat in a place where we had a view of the river. As all 4 of us sat on a bench, we were talking and enjoying our snacks, then suddenly, as I looked to my right, about 3 feet from my backpack was a curious little Cowadie, about THIS close from stealing my chocolate bar in my bag. I quickly snatched up my bag and ran to the left. Soon after this, the girls saw what the problem was, and they got up, grabbed their food and ran as well. Soon, a little family of Cowadie’s began approaching us, almost as if they were threatening to hurt us if we didn’t give them food (we were told they they will bite if you get too close or are mean to them). After Nicole shoved them away with her coat, they finally began to retreat. But not for long. About 10 minutes later, after relocating to another bench, one of the sneaky Cowadie’s approached us from behind and snatched Alex’s banana before she could grab it. Mission accomplished Cowadie´s, you finally got some of our food. Now will you leave us alone?!?!

And here is a cowadie.

Nicole trying to shoo away the cowadie!

And here he is...with a firm grip on Alex´s banana! 

(I didn’t write about this, but for anyone who knows Molly Perara, now Lunde, Kristin and I agreed that there is a good possibility that if she had the opportunity, she would wear the pants this woman on the left has on)

After a long day of walking around in the heat, we took the 3 different necessary buses back to our hotel and we enjoyed the rest of the day in the sun by the pool. Well, I will say that Alex, Nicole and I enjoyed the pool while Kristin decided to stay in the room to sleep. We decided that we would keep the door unlocked so that if Alex, Nicole or I needed to get inside the room, we could just go in. This wasn’t a big deal because we could see our room from the pool, so we would be able to know if anyone was trying to sneak inside while Kristin was taking her siesta.

Well, of course there always has to be a funny story when Kristin is involved. When I left the pool and returned to the room, Kristin was laying on the bed half awake. I asked her how she was and she replied, half asleep, “fine. Except….did you see that man?” “What man?” I asked. “The man who came into our room a little while ago.”

“WHAT?!?!!?!?!!” I semi yelled.

“Well, I was turned toward the wall, taking my nap, then I heard the door open, so I turned around to see if it was you, Nicole or Alex, but it was this man who had opened the door, leaned his head inside, and was looking at me. But when he saw me here, he quickly left and shut the door.”

“Kristin!!! What!!?!?!? Are you serious!? What did you do or say to him!?”

“Well, at first, I was wondering why he was here…then once he left I figured it wasn’t a big deal, so I just went back to sleep.”

Oh man. I tell ya, I love traveling with Kristin and I appreciate her relaxed outlook on things, but sometimes, when a random Brazilian man walks into your hotel room when your laying on your bed, you might want to ask them what they’re doing or why they are in your room. But of course, Kristin’s response to my statement was, “Well…he left….so I thought everything would be fine.” At this point, I just laughed. Readers, just picture being on your lonesome in a nice hotel, taking a nap, and hearing your hotel door open and find that a random man has entered your room and he does not speak your language, and is creepily looking in your room. Would you be concerned about this intrusion? Well, if you’re Kristin Cappellano, you wouldn’t care. Hahaha.

It’s at this point that I came to the conclusion that yes, the rumors of Brazil being “kinda sketch” are somewhat true.       

The next morning we were up again bright and early for our adventure on the other side of the falls, the Argentinan side. I was a bit nervous for this day because Lilian had told me that getting to the Argentinan side of the falls was a bit difficult due to the numerous different buses you have to take and the immigration crossing from Brazil into Argentina.

We got on our first bus, the bus that would take us from the bus station to Argentina. As we approached Argentina’s immigration, the bus stopped and the driver got up and told us that anyone not from South America who would re enter into Brazil later would need to get off and go through customs. So, us 4 girls got off, and there went our bus. “Uh…hopefully another one comes for us later….” I thought. We walked over to customs where they stamped our passports and allowed us to enter Argentina. I began singing the famous song, “Don’t cry for me Argentina! The truth is I never loved you!!!!” (This was sung by Madonna in the famous movie titled, “Evita.” If you are around my mom’s age, you would appreciate this song J).

We went back to the bus stop to wait for another bus which we hoped would eventually come to bring us to the Falls. There we met (can I just say, a quite attractive) young man who was from Israel and was traveling around South America by himself. We talked with him a little, and turns out he spoke good English. I always love and appreciate young people taking advantage of the opportunity to travel and see a world outside of their own.

After another bus finally arriving, we went through another part of immigration where we had to put our bags through a scanner then go find the bus that had just dropped us off. Boy was it confusing. I felt like I was in a maze, having to figure out which turn to make in order to get to the end of the game. We got back on the bus that would eventually take us to Iguazu National Park, Argentina’s side. At our surprise and delight, there were much less tourists on Argentina’s side. We had to pay another park entry fee, yet they only accepted The Argentinan Peso. Before all of this, we fortunately were able to exchange some of our Brazilian Reales for Argentinan Pesos in order to be able to get into the park. So at this point, before we entered the park, I had 4 different currencies in my wallet. (This really made me appreciate the fact that even though the U.S. is so big, we can travel across the country, and we can still use the same currency. This also made me appreciate the Euro much more).

After entering, we got on a little train that would take us closer to the Falls. We got off at the stop “La garganta del Diablo.” Meaning, “Devil’s throat.” This part of the falls is the greatest and most magnificent part of the falls. It is where the most water is falling at once, basically, it is the “biggest” falls of all the falls at Iguazu. As we walked across Iguazu River (on a semi sketch metal, crate walkway that held us about 8 feet over a flowing, high current river, may I add) I could begin to hear the screaming of Devil’s throat. As we rounded the corner, I turned around and smiled at Kristin, my eyes saying, “Do you see this?!!?!!!?” Again we were out on a walkway that brought us right up to the cliff of the falls. It was rushing downward off the waterfall, just 5 feet from where we were standing. We felt the strong mist of the water left behind. What was different about the Argentinan side was how CLOSE we were to all the Falls. It was all within reach. We spent about a half an hour just walking around staring at the 15 different sets of waterfalls plummeting around us. I didn’t want to leave. 

Devil´s Throat. Wow.

You can´t see all of it because of the mist. But it goes further back behind me.

Another shot

Taken from another side of Devil´s Throat.

Check out the video below!!!

We made our way back around to the remaining sides of the falls. After walking around and taking over 200 pictures of mere water, the only word I can use to describe what I saw these 2 days was: indescribable. I was and am literally speechless.

Being at Iguazu Falls literally made me realize something I had never really thought about before. I have always known that God is powerful. This is clear through the various happenings of our lives. However I have never thought about the power of God through His creation. After seeing such an indescribable natural wonder, created not by man, I was able to witness and FEEL the power of God. Walking around this park, I realized that no man could ever replicate this. It is only through the power of God and His ability to snap His finger and BAM. There it is. No one could ever do this or replicate this. It is only through the power of the Lord that this came to be. What a revelation it was to me to see that God is not only powerful in our lives, in the way He creates us, in the way He brings people together, in the way He heals, in the way He allows for natural disasters, but also in the way He creates the world in which we live in. All-powerful.

I wish this could capture what it really looked like!!! 

I love this picture because we look like a couple. And there is a rainbow coming out of me! ;)

Rainbows were everywhere!

Kristin and I are the two crazy ones in the pic. We couldn´t get much closer than this!

I couldn´t stop smiling!

Regretfully, we left the park and began our journey back “home” to Paraguay. We got back on the numerous buses and at one of the bus stops, Nicole and Alex got off because they were planning on staying on more night in Argentina. As Kristin and I got out bus tickets and began to drive off, I realized that I still had Nicole’s unopened snack in my backpack. Feeling bad, I told Kristin that it was Nicole’s and that I wanted to get it back to her! Nicole and Alex were waving goodbye to us as our bus drove off, so as quickly as I could, I opened the small window on the bus and threw Nicole’s snack out the window just in time for her to get them. Nicole laughed and picked up her snack and yelled, “Oh yeah! Thanks!” All 4 of us were laughing as Kristin and my bus took off into the sunset and away from our friends.

As Kristin and I approached the Argentinan/Brazilian border to then pass back into Brazil, we realized that no one was preparing to get up to walk over to customs. At this realization, Kristin says, “Katie, I really don’t think we need to get off here….i think we can just stay on the bus with the rest of these people. It really doesn’t matter.” 

After thinking for a moment, an inclination inside of me told me that we should still get off the bus, even though no one else was. So, I approached the driver and told him that Kristin and I were passing through Brazil and were going to pass into Paraguay later that night as well. He replied, “Oh then yes, you need to get off and go through customs. These people are staying in Brazil, that is why they are not getting off.” 

“Oh…..!” I replied.
“I will wait for you” he said.

I ran back to Kristin and said, “Get up!! We ARE supposed to get off here!!!” 

We both just laughed and I jokingly asked Kristin, “Gosh what would you do without me!? You would just sit on all the buses and illegally pass through all these countries!!!” 

Her response, “Well, no one else was getting off and I didn’t want to have to wait for another bus!” 

My response to that, “Kristin, what would you rather do? Wait for another bus or be detained in Brazil because we didn’t properly go through customs!” 

Her response, “ah….I guess I would rather figure out the passport things and do it right.” Oh goodness Kristin. Sometimes I call her my little girl cuz I feel like her mom! 

We both just laugh at it.

As we (legally) re-entered Brazil, we went across this bridge with a river below us and the sunset ahead. Though I was looking at this beautiful sunset ahead of me, I couldn’t forget the beauty of the Falls which I was leaving behind. What beauty this continent has to offer. I literally ended the day with no words. There is no doubt that I was speechless.

The sunset :)