Water, water everywhere, we are at the famous waterfalls in Iguassu, Brazil.  Guy and I were having a conversation about water on the train from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo in Peru last week.   I was finding difficulty defining water and its relationship to the planet, when he came up with exactly what I was looking for, it is of course like the blood inside our bodies, it just flows, is full of all the natural ingredients we need to stay alive and without it we could not survive.

We arrived in Iguassu from Lima, both of us had a bout of sickness which chose to arrive on our flight, so hoping to avoid the immigration queues at the airport (for fear of puking down the back of some poor unsuspecting person)  we decided to ask our flight attendant to arrange for “assistance” through the airport.  To our immense surprise we were greeted with wheelchairs, first one for Guy (who was feeling and suffering a great deal more than me) and then another for me.  I suppose I had in my mind one of those motorized vehicles that go sailing past you in big airports, that you look longingly at when you are carrying too much,  your feet hurting and wondering how much further you have  to cover to either embark or disembark on a plane, alas not at this airport.   We were whisked through customs, our bags  collected and yes I can still see the surprised look on the face of our “guide” who came to collect us from the airport, he must have thought, oh no two old fossils, what have I let myself in for!   We did however reassure him that we would be fine the next day but that we wanted a day to recover and could we reschedule our  trip to the “Falls” to the following day.

And so we had a day by the pool at the Hotel das Cataratas.   We arrived at the pool at lunchtime (with no intention other than to rest under the sun umbrella) but first we thought we might try a little lunch.   A delicious smoked salmon bagel arrived which we cut in half (neither of us were feeling very hungry).   Just as I was enjoying my second mouthful I saw scuttling past my feet at the rate of knots a furry creature, no sooner had I opened my mouth to tell Guy what I had seen when suddenly there it was on the table snatching the salmon and causing chaos to the condiments on the table which then smashed on the floor, this was our  introduction to the “coatis”.  Hell bent on getting as much food and as quickly as possible these creatures, not unlike raccoons, sit and wait until innocent people like us are about to savour the delights of a simple smoked salmon bagel!   A few minutes later it  also landed in the middle of the table of the English couple sitting next to us stealing a bowl full of nuts.  I cant remember ever having seen a woman move from her chair so quickly and hide behind her (rather large) husband for protection.

One could write a novel about the people we observed around that pool.   First there was the couple from India (via England) who clearly live in the USA judging by the accents of their three children, two boys and a girl aged approximately 14, 12 and nine. Their mother sat without moving once, reading her book without looking up while her three children and husband played in the pool, how nice for her!   The only thing that I found disturbing was when the youngest son (in a very loud voice) boasted that he was only nine and had already been to six continents and that he had just met a boy of eleven who had only been to four….

Then there was the single English lady, aged in her early sixties who sat next to me,  a very sad face, obviously traveling alone, feeling somewhat insecure but delighted with the attention the pool boy was giving her while assisting her with her towels and sun bed…who knows what lay behind the sadness that she was unable to hide.

On the other side of the pool I was unable to block out the sound of an American male, deep southern voice and talking non stop.   Sitting next to him patiently hanging on his every word,  I suspect was his “lady friend ” not his wife,  a woman that he had probably tempted into coming to Brazil with him only for her to discover that he didn’t hear a word she was saying.   When we returned later after a break from the scene, he was still talking but by this time she was well “into her cups” and looked oblivious to everything going on around her

Funny how the bossy people can also stand out around a pool!   Not long after their arrival (I suspect this was the case as a tour bus had arrived earlier dispatching a lot of rather tired looking people) another English couple came to the pool, lily white, again probably in their seventies.   He desperately wanted a swim and some time to unwind…but no, his wife was determined that she was going to get some photos of him in the pool to show the family and friends when they returned home.   No sooner had he done his first length of the pool when this piercing voice started shouting at him, “ wave at the camera,  put your hands up” not once but five times she shouted this at him, problem was that every time she took the photo (with the flash on in the middle of the day, outside!) his hands were already back  in the water, “oh for goodness sake” she shouted again (I felt so sorry for the people who were trying to enjoy their afternoon siesta) I keep missing you, “do it again, wave, wave”.  Obviously the family had given her the camera as a present for the trip and she had no idea what she was doing, after about five minutes of this he had had enough, got out of the pool went to the sunbed, lay down and promptly went to sleep, she in the meantime collected her stuff and headed for her room, hope they have a great time!!!

The other assortment of people included three gay couples, and numerous (what Guy would call) May to December couples, ie the older guy with the younger girl.   Many different languages were in the air and of those Eastern European were in abundance.

Guy has a lot of statistics about the “Falls” things that I call “boy’s stuff”.   An outstandingly beautiful area.  It would have been better to have visited on a weekday as there were so many people there which took away some of the beauty for me,  but still I would not have missed the experience….