Well, another South American experience, which lives up to the description on the tin, the falls at Iguazu, set in a Raiders of the Lost Arc setting are, physically overwhelming. I have never seen such a massive display of power, with endless torrentsof water pouring over cliffs and down crevices, blinding white foam contrasting with blue skies, rainbows and bucolic landscapes. I like to think I can reasonably capture what I am seeing with words , here I am struggling not to resort to cliche (I've failed on two counts in this paragraph alone). Poor Niagra, Eleanor Rosevelt is supposed to have said when presented with this natural wonder. You're not kidding, is the only appropriate response. If you're into the power of nature then this is a must see. Ps if you come here you're going to get wet.
As I've said there isn't one fall, but scores of them, of various power being fed by a confluence of rivers and streams, which straddle the Brazilian and Argentine borders, Paraguay being a couple of miles down the road, as befits its historical luck, misses out on the oportunity to make money out of the local scenery.
Its two South American neighbours, however don't miss a trick, both have set up national parks on each side of the border, and both have to be visited to get a real appreciation of this marvel. Unfortunately it means crossing borders getting stamps two enterance fees and a thirty kilometer detour to get to either side of the falls. This is such a pain that some seek to minimise it by ignoring border formalities on the Brazilian side, thats risky: I've seen a few people being invited for a chat with the local officials for doing that, dont know what the result of the conversation was but it could easily be a financial loss.
As a bonus the national parks dont just supply you with opportunities to look at fast moving water there is also, especially on the Argentine side, lots of trails providing opportunities to see lots of jungle and wildlife: (should that be flora and fauna?) weird plants, strange trees, monkeys, ant eater like creatures, multi coloured birds and butterflies. Unfortunately you also have plenty of opportunities to donate your blood to the local insects.
After a natural wonder a man made one sitting on the border of Paraguay and Brazil supplying 90% of the former's electrcity and 20% of the latters: the Itiapu damm. This edifice, 8 kilometers long and almost 100 meters high is like a Soviet wet dream, nature being forced to submit to mans supremacy, improving the lives of millions. Another view is its an environmental abomination, submerging miles of jungle, displacing long standing communities and destroying a waterfall bigger than Iguazu. Now its not like me to give the eco warriors position a hearing but if you listen to the message your given at the damm's visitor centre you would be forgiven for thinking you had entered a Greenpeace seminar. The list of things they were doing for the environment was endless and the hypocrisy was rank: eight kilometers of concrete, while impressive, is just that, no matter how you pretty up its surroundings. Why dont they just say on balance we placed greater value on connecting millions of poor people to the power system through this dam than we did on maintaining the local environment as it was? Why bend the knee to the green orthodoxy? They're never going to get the environmentalists to accept the damm. Is helping millions of poor people not a pretty powerful justification for the changes to the local environment?
The Fact is what you think of the dam is influenced by your politics: on the whole the middle classes are upset at the loss of some natural wonders, while the local poor are grateful they now have electricity. One thing' for sure its not a zero sum game.
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