Days 20-21: Iguassu Falls, Brazil

On Wednesday, we left Paraty and began an all day journey to Iguassu Falls, one of the biggest waterfalls in the world. First, we took a five-hour van ride to the Rio de Janeiro airport. From there, it was a two-hour plane ride to Foz do Iguaçu. The car trip went by pretty quickly, and the plane ride, in comparison, seemed like a breeze (especially considering the normal annoyances of air travel--determining what to pack and waiting on long security lines--were eliminated).

Dan and I had adjacent seats aboard the plane, and on his left side sat an elderly Japanese woman. About two-thirds of the way into the flight, the Japanese woman turned to us, said something we couldn't make out, and then presented us with a paper crane. It was incredibly sweet of her and we both gestured our appreciation. At that point, she took out a small package of thin square papers and motioned for each of us to take one. We obliged, and she proceeded to give us a step-by-step lesson in the art of origami. 

Aside, from crafting fortune tellers, I had never taken up origami-making as a child. So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered the intricacies of bringing a crane to life. The bird was complete in no fewer than 50 steps, all of which the woman had memorized, and then worked to translate through hand gestures and the occasional broken English. We excitedly crafted our creatures, and then moved onto an easier box-making lesson. We thanked her in Japanese (Dan had recalled the word from a Styx song), and soon exited the plane with the tokens of our labor in-hand.

It was already late when we arrived at our hotel, so we had only a little time to wash up and then all met in the lobby to depart for dinner. We were set to go to yet another all-you-can-eat meat restaurant. Considering how little I had eaten during our day of travel, I should have been excited about this meal, but my stomach had been bothering me since that morning and had not yet let up. I ate what I could over dinner, and watched a contented Dan as he eagerly worked to "fill [himself] up to a level of discomfort."

For the next 16 hours, I fell victim to what I will simply describe as an ailment that sometimes afflicts travelers in less-developed regions. I was up through most of the night and felt as though my insides had been put in a blender. The only relief came during my occasional bouts of sleep, but even those did not last long. When morning finally arrived, I told Dan I would not be making it to Iguassu Falls. We had pre-paid for our seats on a boat ride through the falls, and Dan asked me a few times about reconsidering, but I only wanted to be left alone to wallow in my pain. Was I upset about missing  one of my most anticipated experiences of my entire journey? At that moment, not at all. All I could think about was laying in bed. Dan went out to get me some water and rice, and I also took some medicine a travel doctor had given us before we left. I stomached what I could and then slept until mid-afternoon.

When I awoke, I experienced that amazing sense of relief that comes from knowing you made it out of a dark storm intact. Still, I stayed in the hotel room for most of the day, only leaving to treat myself to a manicure and pedicure across the street. Dan got back in the early evening and seemed to have enjoyed his day at the falls (though he didn't tell me much, probably to spare my feelings). He went to the Argentinian side, which apparently offers the best view of the waterfall. He also took a nice wet boat ride near the base of the falls. Tomorrow we will go to the Brazilian side, so at least I won't completely miss out. And hopefully this illness is behind me...