WOW.
On Sunday morning, we went to the Brazil side of the Falls. We arrived shortly after 9 and the park was full of hundreds of tourists. The lines were long and I had a feeling we would be standing for a very long time. Emma was already in the backpack carrier and I thought she'd get restless. Then a woman grabbed my arm and told us that since we have a child, we can bypass everyone and step to the front of the line! Are you serious?? This isn't the first time this has happened, but we're still shocked by the respect the Brasilians show toward children, pregnant women, and the elderly. In less than five minutes, we had our tickets, our map of the park, and we were sitting on the bus that would take us to the Falls! We were thrilled! After a 5-10 minute ride, we left the bus and began our hike, which was almost entirely on a concrete sidewalk, with a few areas of metal walkways. I have to give them credit; the access to view the Falls was very well thought out and everything was built so well. The sky was overcast, so we didn't see any rainbows, but the views were breathtaking. We spent about three hours at the park and then ate lunch at the end, near the mouth of Devil's Throat. During lunch, a woman decided to feed bread and French fries to the hideous Quati, or Quatis. Pretty soon, the little animals were everywhere and suddenly one jumped up on a table and grabbed a sandwich from the plate of an unsuspecting man. The lady next to him yelled, "Shoo, Get away! Get down! GO!!" in perfect English. Is it sad that I was so excited about the scene because I got to hear someone speaking English?? I wanted to go sit next to her and have a lengthy conversation about anything. Some days I miss the ease of life in America and just long to understand everything a person says, without having to think very hard about the words they just said.
There were times I felt like I was in LOST. I know we weren't on an island, but it sure felt like it at times. The waterfalls were everywhere!
I love our family. I love this butterfly on Kevin's shorts too!
Just amazing.
We love the signs here. We understood the point of the sign, but "overtake" the banisters seemed liked an odd choice of words. There's our little girl, not so little anymore.
Have I mentioned that Emma adores her daddy??
Would it be a complete vacation without a trip to the nurse's station?? I was even holding her hand when she fell!! Five minutes after we finished our lunch, Emma scraped her knee deeply and blood was running down her leg. Funny thing, though, she didn't cry at all. Kevin was recording something and I grabbed him and said, "We need to go." I wasn't sure where I was headed, but I figured at the least I'd need a bathroom. Just before I reached the bathrooms, I looked up to see a white cross on a red flag. Sweet! Not that I mind cleaning up blood (or drawing it from people. . . oh the memories), but it sure was nice to have someone with hydrogen peroxide and bandaids do it for me! Emma just sat and watched the lady clean her leg and then, after the nurse placed the bandaid on her knee and said she was "pronto" (ready), little tears formed in Emma's eyes and she said, "Mommy, it hurts!" The nurse felt so bad for her that she blew up a latex glove and drew a smiley face on it. Emma loved her new balloon and suddenly, everything was all better. It was a great experience for me because I was able to learn some new words in Portuguese. Emma was calm and quiet, so the nurse and I talked during the short procedure.
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