Iguazu

We first glimpsed the falls from the opposite side of the airplane as the pilot pulled some old Argentinian air force tilt maneuver to give both aisles a decent view. Even from the sky, the falls looked impressive, like some giant stuck a thumb deep into a thick river and pressed, hard.

From the ground, it's even more spectacular. We toured the Argentinian Iguazu National Park today (Brazil shares a side of the falls, but being Yanks, we would need a costly visa to visit). As with many natural wonders, words and photos fail to capture the essence of Iguazu's, well, majesty. Even in the dry season, the falls extended sweeping distances.

The most spectacular waterfall, called the Devil's Throat, pictured above and below, was so much waterfall madness that staring at it wasn't sufficient. I had to look away at times because it was so mesmerizing, and the viewing platform was so close (and misty) that you couldn't quite capture it in your gaze all at once. Perhaps if you were a horse, or a hammerhead shark, or just had widely spaced eyes- But anyway. It was great. That's all I can say.

Flying in we also saw that surrounding the tiny tourist hub of Puerto Iguazu, there's nothing but all that rainforest that we're all determined to save. Because of all the wild space, there were plenty of birds and a myriad of butterflies in evidence. Young even had a butterfly perfectly matched to his sneaker.

We're headed back tomorrow because the park itself is just that massive. Perhaps we shall see a tapir...