Into the Falls

---

We hop on the bus for a 3 hour ride to the Angkor Wat of Argentina. San Ignacio Mini is a sleepy kind of place…appropriate for the ruins of this Jesuit mission built around 1700. They arrived in the region in the late 1500’s establishing reducciones which reduced the Guarani Indians to living near the mission and working the surrounding farmlands. Bad guys from Brazil pushed this mission south to the current location. Hence the word “mini.” I guess what is left of the one up north in Paraguay is called San Ignacio Maxi. So in exchange for their spiritual attention, the Jebbies teach the Guaranis how to read and write in Spanish, Latin and Guarani. They also taught them crafts because they knew K would be coming by in 2008 looking to spend some pesos. Eventually the co-op ran into some capitalistic folk down in BA who put the screws to the whole operation. Then the Spanish king got involved and since the Jebbies had a bad name already with the crown, he booted them back to Rome. You can see where the Guarani lived, where the priests lived, where everybody prayed and the wine cellar. Well at least these guys had their priorities straight. The main show though the façade of the church. Nice design work. The green grass contrasts the red sandstone of what is left of the elegant structure.
Now we get to the highlight of the trip. No it isn’t the nice fish dinner we had last night although eating is high on our priority list. We are up early to see the Falls. Well maybe “see” is a little mundane for what happens a mere 30 minutes from our hotel. Experience is a better word. The infrastructure has been set up to give you a variety of reactions. From the bland “Holy shit” to the “O my God, I’m gonna die!” You know me…I took K on the peak end of scale. Our camera cannot capture the total sensory exposure. The noise, the spray, the visual enormity. We have been to Niagara and that is bush league. In the afternoon we headed to the boat for our death wish. You knew things were gonna get wet when the driver cinched up his rain suit and put on his goggles. He then headed the boat right into the falls. That is the last I can cognitively remember as I was concentrating on breathing between my screams. I was thinking the controversial water torture techniques were overrated as our driver comes out of the falls and then sharply turns for a 2nd go.
I won’t ruin the ending by letting you know if I lived or died…

---