Wow. This place is absolutely spectacular! We are in the heart of the rain forest and there are creepy crawly things popping out of the woodwork that we have never seen before. There is a warning sticker on the sliding glass door in between our hotel room and balcony to ensure that we keep it locked or our room will be invaded by monkeys. Aside from the fist sized bugs, lizards, and brightly coloured birds, we've spotted capybaras and been warned about not feeding the coatis (pictured below rooting for his dinner) because they can turn vicious.
I took this picture today while we were hiking to the various platforms that they have created for people to get close to the falls. There was only a narrow pathway beside these garbage cans for us to get through and while people were walking by, the creature was actually showing it's 2-inch fangs as some sort of defense. This did not bode well for Ryan. Ever since seeing that gigantic cicada on our first day here, his arms start flailing every time he sees a butterfly or a leaf drops from a tree.Today was a pretty amazing day. It probably even trumped the ice trekking experience. We took the 'Grand Tour' that worked out to be $30 per person and it was worth every cent. We got into these massive open air trucks:
and went through the rain forest as a tour guide pointed out various trees and went through some of the history of the park. Interesting for my inner nerd. The drive ended close to the bottom of the falls and we had to hike down to the boat that was waiting for us:
Once we were on the boat, we went over about 8 miles of river (some of them being rapids until we were right under the falls. Once we had our photo ops, we literally went under the falls. It was amazing. Here is a rare glimpse of Ryan without a slathering of his hair product:
It was an absolutely amazing day. The only thing that is hard to get used to is the temperature combined with the 75-100% humidity. It hasn't been since Taiwan that I've actually felt and seen sweat pouring off of my forehead just from walking down a path. Having said that, I'll take it over snow any day. Here are some other pictures from the day:
8 comments:
Yup, I went with Darrell and Jon and it was really nice, no Mimosas though.... too early they claimed, It was noon somewhere in the world! Marv and Dianne Westwood were sitting behind us - good thing he is on my committee, he now knows I am spending my christmas typing my fingers off! I like this segment of your trip too, I can feel the humidity and heat :) and love the lack of products "oh naturelle!"
OH MY GOD,how beautiful are those pictures. I was just so happy to see the sun today, but that does not compare to what you guys have. Oh, I am a wee bit jealous.
This has been so much fun travelling with you guys, thanks for that! XO
I want a capybara for my own. I want to put a little harness on it and walk it around my neighborhood. I want it to live in my house and go by the name Buck. I want it now.
Wow! Wow! Wow! Now that's my idea of a merry Christmas! Glad to see you both enjoying yourselves and braving the bugs. Hope you know the hard time I gave you a few posts back was full of love. You both deserve a fabulous holiday.
You boys appear to be having a grand time, and I'm stoked for you. The falls look amazing! I've been away from blogland lately, but I look forward to reading the entries I missed. Perhaps the DM and I will try a little travel blog in your honor when we go to Vegas this weekend.
Tracy: Clearly, you need our support at brunch. Too early for Mimosas... puh-lease. We'll all have to get together when we get home. Hope the thesis is going well.
Mums the Word: Enjoy the weather there. Seriously. There is a happy medium to be had and we're both on polar opposite sides. The weather here is like when we were in Paris together only more humid.
Melissavina: Put it on your wish list for next year. Won't it be fun crate training another pet? Walking another pet? Feeding another pet? I'm sure it would have made a great addition to Thanksgiving as well.
Emily: We knew it was with love... but it was a good reminder that people don't know us and we were probably sounding like pricks. You would love it here. One of the most amazing places I've ever been. Last night we were sitting on the balcony and there was a thunder storm happening in the distance. Lightning every 2 seconds... while this was happening, toucans were flying by. Totally surreal.
SleekPelt: Nice to see you back. No worries about being gone. Most people disappeared over the holidays. To be expected. Looking forward to posts about Vegas. Here's one for your Friday Music Post. I'm thinking it would be great if you reenacted it with your webcam and posted a video blog.
Other than the giant bugs, this looks amazing.
We'll call the lack of hair product "rugged".
Whiskeymarie: That's about as rugged as we get in this house.
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