Iguazu Falls,Backpacking South America by bus Travel

Iguazu Falls, Brazil
Backpacking Eight Months On the Road
By Bus Through South America
By David Rice

Iguazu Falls
Page Twenty One

Iguazu Falls,Backpacking by Bus In
South America
Eight Months On the Road
By David Rice

Iguazu Falls, Brazil

I left Rio heading for the falls of Parque National Iguazu in
Argentina and the Parque Nacional do Iguacu in Brazil. There are
250 separate falls in the parks and I spent the whole day touring.
I bought a hostel card at the International Hostel on the Brazil side
of the park at Albergue de Juventude Paudimar Hostel, a
reference that I had found through my Lonely Planet. (Puerto
Iguazu)

For twenty dollars each, a guide took five of us to the park and left
us for the day. He took us to a spot near the Igauzu River where
we could see Paruguey and Argentina. The highlight of my trip
was the falls called the Devils Throat.

I stood on the edge of the falls and looked straight down to the
devils throat. My feet were at the edge of the water and I looked
into the mist as the water surged over the cliff and thundered into
the gorge. I was mesmerized by the sight of the rushing water and
stood for an hour in the throat enjoying the many feelings that
came to me.

Standing on the edge as I was, I could feel the power of nature
and I felt a compulsion to jump, a strange thought indeed but
jumping off and spreading my arms like a bird would make me
one with the birds and with the rushing waters. These were strong
feeling to be sure but luckily only a feeling and I did not act on
them.
Another feeling came and it was a feeling of freedom, the
freedom of a traveler to stand on the edge of the world. If only I
could be suspended over it and sail above it, if only I could
become one with the rushing waters and preserve this
light-headed rush that I felt from the power of the water and the
deafening roar that vibrated through me.

This is why I travel, to experience new events powerful enough to
produce an out of body experience. To let my mind drift out over
the falls and to look down from the outside and see my body
floating in the mist: powerful images that I can still feel today. My
mind will take me right back to that day when I looked down the
devil's throat, the day I got giddy and laughy, the day I turned to
the person next to me and they were giddy and laughy. This why
is I travel.
Experiences like this are more powerful than any I might have at
home where everything is familiar and safe and, yes, old.
Experience is why I travel and travel to places like the falls. New
places get my heart pumping and my blood rushing even if it just
for an hour.

The feeling of standing on the edge of the Devil's Throat will last
for years and the memories of those falls will last a lifetime.