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Published: February 13th 2009
So this is it....probably the last major excursion of our trip, and possibly one of the most anticipated - We both had a pìcture of this magnificent natural wonder as our screensavers at work, and sat dreaming of when we´d finally be miles away around the world!
We began the day early so as to avoid the crowds and in the final seconds before leaving the hostel I eventually managed to convince Dan that we might need our waterproofs - the sky looked a little overcast and it was rainy season at the end of the day....so we managed to squeeze them into a small space in the rucksack....
.....Phew, what a good job we did - Not only did it rain (I´ll get to that bit in a minute!) but the spray from the almighty falls was enough to soak you through from here until next week! We excitedly walked along the network of catwalks that traversed the very top of "Garganta del Diablo" - "Devil´s Throat" (The main and most powerful section of the falls) and I began to feel nervous as the roar of the falls grew louder and deafeningly loader - my nervousness wasn´t helped
by the remains of a catwalk that had been semi-destroyed and washed away by the sheer power of a flood a few years back!
Dan - The falls themselves cover a large area with tonnes of falls everywhere, it took us all day to see all the cascades. When the heavens finally opened up all the falls got faster and the roar louder, we even had to leave the ´Isla Grande San Martin´ (a small island at the base of the falls, right inside the horseshoe of the falls) early as the river level had risen significantly and it was no longer safe.
Within ther park there are these little funny looking creatures (see pic) one of which was eyeing up our lunch. As we began to shoo it away (Dan, as ever, is very protective of his food!) an American guy came over and began to pet it, looking at us as if we were being the cruelest people on the planet - "He only wants a bit of fuss, don´t ya fella..."......When all of a sudden the "cute little thing" jumped up, scratched the guy with it humongous claws, grabbed his (Stupidly expensive) ice-cream and ran
off with it in it´s mouth!!!! - Ha ha! for some reason the guy didn´t stick around for long after the ambush!!
So the falls lived up to expectations and more, but it was good to get back to the hostel and 'Put kettle on' and dry off.
Nic - Ha ha, my fingers and toes had gone wrinkly from being wet all day - sometimes the spray from the falls could be almost choking as it was so heavy - which unfortunately limited our photo taking, some of them just ended up being a complete mass of white, not much to look at! - although it didn´t stop us from standing at the top of the falls to watch thousands of birds swirling around in the spray.....I cant understand how thery didn´t drown or get washed down to the abiss, they were flying in formation in and out of the falls and then swirling up into the sky and back around again - it really was amazing to watch!
And as expected the heavens did open, it was really quite funny seeing crowds of people sloping around soaked through to the very core - and yet
it didn´t seem to dampen anyones enthusiasm, this place is just awe inspiring! I smugly donned my waterproof, expecting a little shelter from the water but had forgotten that every time I wear it, it seems to become of less and less use and I may as well have been wearing a wet tea-towel...and so as usual began to freeze - in a tropical rainforest, yes, I know it´s weird!
So, with all the major things crossed of our list, we´re left with 2 weeks...eeeekk!! Rio carnival awaits us - but we´ve had a major fiasco with our accomodation and so are now bed-less, so we need to come up with a ´plan B´ fast!
More soon!
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Anna
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This is stunning place, you've deffinately convinced me to go and see it