Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Iguazu Falls and my Mom

My Mom was in town for two weeks, lots of fun! I've been a bit busy what with work and visiting and now prepping for a trip tomorrow, so I haven't been updating my blog.

Above is Nora Rodriguez with me at the "Garganta del Diablo", probably the most impressive fall at Iguazu. It's been a life-long dream of Nora's to see the falls, and here she is! She came with me not just for the sightseeing, but also to help me with two trainings that we had scheduled. One was reduced to a meeting and the other canceled entirely due to torrential rains that prevented travel to the rural villages even by tractor!

I have another chance, though: The Christian Hospitality Network has given me a gift of four days at a hotel on the Brazilian side of the border, Foz do Iguaçu, starting next Monday. So I'm heading up early (tomorrow night, an overnight bus trip) and stopping in Wanda. We'll have another meeting in Wanda Friday night and hopefully a vision seminar in the small village on Saturday with participants from the surrounding area. The rains stopped yesterday and the forecast is for sun, so they are starting to invite people (in an area without cell phone signals and few landlines, not so easy).
Here I am our second day at the falls after it rained all night, changing the scenery remarkably. This fall was now touchable. And yes, the poncho was necessary -- I got pretty wet even so. Do you like the shape the backpack gives? :-)

Actually, the torrential rains up there are starting to lead to flooding down here. I read in the newspaper today that they are having to move nearly one million head of cattle due to flooding of the pasture lands.

Above you see Mom and Nora waiting at the Puerto Esperanza bus station to go back to Puerto Iguazu for our flight back the next morning. Oh, and our trip back was on Mother's Day! It's celebrated in October in Argentina, and it was nice to actually be with my Mom on the day!

Mom and me at the airport just before she left. Sigh.