Cheeky monkeys and flying high

Early morning start with Eduardo driving us over the border to Iguazu Falls on the Argentinian side.  None of us slept well despite being exhausted from our overnight bus the previous day, so some of us are groggy and a little short-tempered.  One of our group is running late and people are annoyed, and despite my best intentions of keeping my mouth shut, I make a comment.  We ride in silence to the falls.

Melany buoys our spirits and we restart the morning with a more positive vibe with a walk amongst the trees along the edge of the falls.  It’s the start of the long weekend so it’s good we arrived early, as the park will soon be packed with locals taking advantage of the extra day off.  

The view of the falls from this perspective is even better than from the Brazilian side as you can see the extensive span of them.  They extend for what seems like miles.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  A hawk is perched on top of a tree near the mist with its wings spread to air them out.  A group of curious monkeys perch on the railings beside the path and on the tree branches above us.  As I’m shooting photos I feel something brush under my arm and realize a monkey has run along the railing right under my arm.  

Two Macaws with their bright orange beaks are high in the trees in a nest and give us a long look as we walk past.  Colourful butterflies flit past and alight on a tree with aromatic flowers.  A coati, which looks something like a raccoon, scurries up the trunk of a tree as we wander past.  A statue-like caiman is half in the water below the elevated footpath and his brown/green colour blends into the mud.

It’s lunch time and I want to rid myself of the few Argentinian pesos I have left as they aren’t worth exchanging.  Myself and Pritesh search for lunch items strategically in order to spend our last peso.  I end up with two dried out empanadas and limp French fries.  It’s not gourmet but it’ll fill the void.  

Pritesh is overdressed in the afternoon heat and I offer to put his jacket in my backpack.  As he hands me his jacket, I start to unbuckle my belt and undo the waistband of my shorts until I give my head a shake and start laughing.  I’m so tired that instead of taking my backpack off to put his jacket inside, I started to take my shorts off instead!  I’m officially losing it.  Pritesh says he’s never had that effect on a woman before so must be exuding some strong pheromones😀

Our group splits off to do separate activities.  Part of the group heads down to the river to view the falls close-up in a zodiac boat while Pritesh, myself and Melany walk along a lower rim trail.  We meet up with the other group after sharing a packet of biscuits bought with the remainder of our pesos and head back over the border to Brazil.

Pritesh, myself and Melany have chosen a helicopter ride over the falls as our optional activity.  Neither of them have ever been in one so are a bit nervous and excited.  A fourth person joins us and because I’m not thinking clearly, I hang back as we’re entering the aircraft thinking that they’ll load the rear seats first and then I can get the front seat.  Unfortunately, the passenger that joined us hops in the front and I miss my opportunity.   I’m annoyed with myself.  It’s a short trip but we get a bird’s eye view of the falls and more of an idea of just how large they are.  When the helicopter banks to the left it feels like the ground below is stationary and we’re like a top spinning around it.  I feel a bit queasy while Melany gives a small shriek and neither of us can look out the window until the helicopter levels off again.

I’m finding it difficult to get photos from the rear seat due to a smaller window and I realize I probably should’ve brought my smaller lens.  I can feel myself stressing out when I should just be enjoying the moment instead of being wrapped up in capturing photos.  Regardless, we all enjoy the flight and afterwards comment on how we were too worried about getting photos and video in such a short amount of time and should’ve just taken in the experience.  

We arrive back at the hotel to freshly laundered and ironed clothes.  Such a treat to have someone do your laundry!  My clothes no longer smell of fire pit smoke and horses.  Melany, Pritesh and I find a bbq restaurant for dinner based on the hotel clerk’s recommendation called, Churrasquito and meet in the lobby to walk down.  With the assistance of our Haitian waiter, Higginson, we choose two meat skewers each with comes with rice, sauces and fried taro chips.  I inhale my savoury dinner and get a second helping of a beef skewer.  Throughout dinner we chat about travel experiences, what our favourite moments of this trip have been, future travel plans, the different people you meet while traveling, how to better enjoy the moment and the whole gambit of topics.  

Tomorrow we fly to Rio and will be my last day with the group and then I’m on my own to explore for a week.  This time has flown past, as it always does when you’re sharing time in beautiful places with good company.