Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: South America 2009
The Mission, should you choose to accept it
Having taken breakfast in the main hotel restaurant, we decided to split the day's sight-seeing into two parts. The morning objective was to walk the so-called Lower Circuit trail, which would bring us close to the set of falls nearest to the hotel. It would be similar to the previous day, but we would get to see the falls from a lower perspective. We set out at our leisure and were pleased to find that conditions were fairly temperate; the heat hadn't yet had a chance to build up.
I
was staggered when Bruce told me that large parts of the movie
The Mission were shot here, particularly on San Martin Island.
To be honest, I felt a little stupid. For one thing, the film has
been a firm favourite of mine ever since its release in 1986. I have
it on DVD and have watched it many times. For another, I knew that
the main theme involved a three-way jurisdictional dispute between
the Jesuit Missions and the Spanish and Portuguese colonial powers.
Finally, I knew that a very large waterfall featured heavily. Yet
here I was at the site of one of world's greatest falls, on the
border between Argentina and Brazil, and didn't realise that (a)
this was the area in question, and (b) much of the filming actually
took place right here! I wished that the truth had dawned on me
sooner, as it would have given another dimension to my anticipation of
the trip. But not to worry, at least I now knew!
The trail was mostly nice and quiet, but every now
and then a large tour group came through, usually in a hurry. It was
interesting to spot a few monkeys mischievously scampering around
high in the trees, and reassuring that they kept their distance.
Bruce was surprised at the total lack of lizards, which had been
much in evidence on his previous visit. I am not a major fan of
things reptilian and cannot say I was disappointed.
Some spectacular views of the falls were available, including some
where a change in the direction of the breeze could result in an
unexpected spray shower. The views of San Martin confirmed our
decision not to include it in our programme, as the ascent of the
sheer cliff looked very physically demanding. Having completed the
first part of the day's objectives, we returned to the hotel in the
late morning for a short rest.
After
a bit of midday relaxation and cooling down, we made our way to the
middle station of the little National Park railway, from where we
rode the Green Train towards the main Devil's Throat falls on the
Argentina - Brazil border. Some extracts from the excellent Ennio
Morricone soundtrack to the movie were played over the train's PA
system. We had a simple lunch at a little shop-cum-cafe at the end
of the line, before setting out on the trail. When we did start
walking, I was absolutely amazed by the number of brightly coloured
butterflies, which were not in the least afraid of settling on the
hands, arms and heads of tourists - a rather odd experience! We
continued along the catwalk over some deceptively calm-looking
backwaters, although the growing thunderous sound and rising spray
clouds indicated imminent change.
When we eventually reached the end of the trail, perched precariously above the precipice, the sight was genuinely amazing. As I watched the mass of water enter into free-fall, I had the feeling in my stomach that I was doing likewise! Not surprisingly, I took lots and lots of photos, as indeed did everyone else there.
Eventually, we retraced our steps to the little train station, where we were immediately able to board the next train back to the middle station. A short walk brought us to another shop / cafe for an ice-cream break before returning to the Sheraton. After a short rest, we ordered a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from Room Service, a very civilised way to watch the sun go down on the falls. Then it was time to freshen up and go down to the main restaurant for dinner. It was a nice meal, but once again we had to contend with oversize US-style portions. After dinner, I took the opportunity to check up on my e-mails for the first time in the trip, using one of the computers provided in the hotel lobby.