Las Cataratas de Iguazu

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Dear loyal friends, family, and followers,
Had a pretty mellow week here in Buenos Aires. Spent a lot of time hanging around the apartment doing a bunch of reading. Started on a solid work out plan this week, 6 days straight of running and working out in the park. Feeling really good about it too! Going to keep going as long as I can to use my father's words "Keep the streak alive," although I am not sure I am going to be able to make it to 100 plus days. My new roommate moved in on Wednesday and he seems like a pretty agreeable guy, his name is Henry and he is from Texas and goes to school at Pepperdine. Haven't really seen that much of him and it may remain that way, he is doing an internship down here and taking one class. Other than that the family is doing well and it has been nice to spend some time with them this week.
Last weekend I went to possibly one of the most beautiful places in the natural world, Iguazu Falls. It is in the north of the country and falls on the boarder of Brazil and Argentina. It was quite the trek to get there almost 18 hours on a bus. After a strange night of sleep, one where I woke up every hour feeling like I had just fallen asleep a minute ago, the delirious mental dialogue of "was that a dream or real life?" Strange feelings. The lights on the bus popped on like flash bulbs at a sporting event. The horizon, viewed through the fogged bus window, was painting a blood orange red. "What's the meaning of all this?" I thought. 6:30, too early for me. But breakfast was on the way 2 medialunas(pastries) and a cup of instant coffee, yum. I was regrettably pulled away from my cama(bus seat) and we transfered on to a much smaller and uncomfortable bus. On to the Jesuit ruins, oh Regis would be so proud of me. The ruins were beautiful the indicative red stones taken from the ground created a grand edifice for the church. The Jesuits came and provided education, churches, and housing for the Guarani people. Interesting stuff there.
After a brief tour of the mission we were off to our next stop. An ranch that was very close to being paradise. It has a pool, tennis court, patio with a grill, and hammocks. I played a couple of matches of tennis, displaying my prowess for racket sports(if you recall I did win the racket sports player of the year award in high school). After an impressive performance on the tennis court, if I do say so my self, I retreated to the shade of the patio. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the mass of American travelers I sought refuge in some conversation with the people that owned the ranch. They were very kind people, offering mate, sausages(of the blood variety), and my new love in life Caipirinha(a tasty Brazilian drink, made with liquor distilled from sugar cane and limes). It was great talking to these people they made me feel so welcomed. We then split up and sat down for an asado. I ate and ate and ate until my stomach was bulging, utilizing my gaucho fork and knife that my mom and dad bought me for the first time. Quite handy. After the lunch we went on a tour of a mate factory. It was nice to see where the drink that I enjoy so much comes from. While we were walking to the mate factory I met a nice Argentine girl who I would very much enjoy to marry😊 She was stunning and quite the athlete, having just returned from winning a triathlon in New Orleans and qualifying for the World Championships in November. I met her Dad and got his email, so we'll see if I can work some Irish Charm and get her email! We then had to say goodbye and loaded back on to the bus again. But all this was merely an appetizer for what was to come at Iguazu falls.
I have made the executive decision to just transcribe my journal from that day. Seems to capture my ethereal feelings better.
"The day was spent at Iguazu falls which is easily one of the most impressive places I have ever witnessed. The water was flowing harder than it had in 5 years because of the almost two weeks straight of rain that pelted the area. Millions of gallons of water flowing off the rock ledge every second. This place is complex and hard to describe but hopefully with a combination of visual art and my writing will provide a decent description. The Iguazu river seems to split into various smaller rivers, flowing through the sub tropical selva(jungle). Thick vines hang down from trees like lengths of climbing rope, asking to be scaled, providing support for the cappuccino monkeys that live there. Looking into the green forrest confuses the human eye, appearing like an abstract work of art, pale green tapering into deeper greens that casually absorb more light before casting it back towards your retina. But there seems to be an apparent higher order in this chaos. As we walk along the path, enveloped in the vast greenery, the signs of life are clearly visible and audible; rustling in the bushes of some undisclosed creature. Artisan spiders spin their webs in organic geometric patterns, each with a different look given by its owner. We press on and I break away from the chaotic roar of the group of travelers(too many people to travel with in my opinion) I can hear the steady roar of water falling and crashing on the jagged rocks below. The cry of water was silenced in 2006 when the rain stopped pouring and consequently the water stopped flowing. Seeing pictures was shocking, the brown-red cliffs look naked with out their skirt of water smoothly flowing of their hips. Beautiful life giving falls transformed into hard edged cliffs. I can taste the iron oxide from the sedimentary river as the mist slowly rises through the air. Rainbows are casted all around, following you as you walk, as if you could simply pick them up and stow them in your pocket. I come up on the panoramic landscape of the falls my breath is stolen from me and my eyes open a little wider attempting to perceive a little more of this natural splendor. Hordes of tourists from all over the over the world serve an important purpose. To remind me of how lucky I am to be here, viewing the magical beauty. Jungle green pours off the cliffs, mimicking the water, taken by gravity down ward in order to dip their earthen straws in the water. Moving onward on the metal bridges to another fall where I spend a moment staring at the water falling. The eye picks a point and follows it off the edge and then resets, after doing this for about a minute, I get the feeling that the water is pulsating as my eyes jump back in forth. As I stare into the sedimentary water the roller coaster drop in my stomach occurs, similar to vertigo, like I am about to go falling off the edge my self. I am completely entranced in this place, the only thoughts in my head are about the falls. As the day begins to wrap it is revealed to us that we will be able to go on the much discussed boat ride into the falls. This was something else, I sat on the right hand side of the boat, able to dangle my arm off the side and touch the water. The driver would charge into the maelstrom of crashing water, pushing the two Evinrude engines to maximum capacity. This provided an entirely new perspective, staring upward, providing a true human scale to the falls. How small I felt. The roar of the engines was silenced by sound of the water crashing all around us. Pushing further into the falls until we reached as far as we could go. The accelerator was cut and we would be taken away in the strong current. Completely drenched, we walked up and out of the park, "That was the best shower I have ever taken."
Well I hope you enjoyed it. I hope the pictures will be a good supplement to this blog. More blogs in the pipeline now. As always I wish everyone the best, missing you all! Hope that this finds you well. The pictures on this blog kinda lost their brilliance and some of their color check them out on facebook if you have the chance.
Love and regards,
Patrick

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