Day 8: Iguazu Falls

In the morning, we got up at 430 again to begin the long, circuitous route to the falls we had been just 20 minutes away from. We drove down to Encarnation, where we crossed over into Argentina only to retrace the same mileage east of the border. More than once I have felt humiliated by the shear inhospitality of the additional security to enter the US portion of international airports, but it was hard not to feel a little bitter about the political points scored from our questionably effective protectionism as we made our almost comical[1] trek.



The most obvious difference between Paraguay and Argentina was the rainforest. Southeastern Paraguay is the soy belt, and is an agricultural monoculture. But we had not been in Argentina for many kilometers before these fields gave way to bonafied rain forests (which seemed particularly appropriate as it was actively raining[2]). Oscar said that thirty years ago Paraguay looked like that, but soy was just too profitable (mostly to non-Paraguayans) and all of the countries forests had been exchanged for farms.

But if the Brazilian government was justifiably disinclined to be helpful with our quest, the weather was. Almost as soon as we passed into Argentina, it began to rain…hard. But the rain stopped almost just as we arrived at the falls, only to resume precisely four hours, minutes after we left. Several times on this quest, I wondered if it was worth it. We would spend a total of 12 hours in that van, driving too fast in the rain, and the cost was non-trivial. There is a moment, about three hours into the drive to Yosemite, when several of the first time visitors who I have brought there have wondered if the winding roads and early rise time were worth it…doubts that have uniformly been put to rest as Half Dome and El Cap make their dramatic, sudden and improbable appearance on the skyline. My experience at Iguazu falls was similar.

I will not be able to describe or depict Iguazu falls. Most of the images would not fit into a single picture. There was one moment that my eyes were literally overwhelmed as they tried to process the data, not totally able to resolve the contours and movements that were in front of me. But here it goes. There are two basic parts of Iguazu falls. The eastern falls is a series of dozens of cataracts (most of which were similarly or more substantial than the one we had seen the previous day). They spread out into the distance as though someone was staging an elaborate illusion with nested reflections.

Then, we got on a little train and a long boardwalk to the western falls.

If the first vista was like an orchestra, the collaborative work of an ensemble of contributing falls, the upper falls was a rock band, bowling you over by the force and mastery of those three ubiquitous chords. Even with the spectacular hydraulic virtuosity we had seen just one day earlier, and my many trips with visitors from our home in Buffalo to Niagara, I had never seen water behave like this. We were too close to begin to capture the scope with a camera and the mist shrouded the bottom from sight adding a air of mystery to the grandeur.



The 8 hours back to Ausuncion were lighter, buoyed by the understanding that the trip had been worth it. Guillermo, Aleix and I discussed the various potential development projects we are involved in and ways we might collaborate to make them happen.

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The final two days in the country transitioned from a class to a workshop. I gave the students sample projects to work on if they didn’t bring their own and ‘set up shop’ at the overhead projector where I entertained questions and helped set up or trouble shoot models. This was really fun, because I love learning about new systems. Most were just starting the modeling process, but there was one young man who had constructed a difficult, clever and high quality model.[3]

Each evening brought us to a new restaurant with most of the class for an extended dinner. This class distinguished itself by its motivation and skill, but the thing that was most unique was that I spent more time with them outside of class than a dozen other classes behind.

The last night they shared some of their favorite Stanglish.[4] Apparently, I often shook my head in dismay as I saw some creative new way to misuse the software and would say, slowly and emphatically “No Bueno.” This became a running joke unbeknownst to me, but I found it highly entertaining and began to use the phrase with intentional abandon. But there were enough running jokes to go around. They had opinions about Guillermo’s occasional unsolicited smirking, Aleix’s frequent use of the word “claro” as he looked pensively into the distance, and our general belief that Chan spent unaccounted for years in the special forces. It was a lot of fun.

I have a lot more Paraguay facts and a few more experience, but I think I will wrap it up here. Professionally and personally, Paraguay was one of the best work trips I have been on. The Itipu folks have the motivation, interest, and resources to pursue further work. So there may be another South America blog in the future. If so, I will definitely brush up on my Spanish. But until then, thanks for joining me. Until then, here are a few final pictures.

A few pictures of the team.



A couple downtown pictures



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[1] More than one student laughed or simply returned a look of shock as we explained how we managed to see the falls.
[2] As it rained, the rivers began to swell and run orange with the red earth.
[3] Which, thankfully, I could answer.
[4] I coined this term because it would actually be an affront to call it Spanish.