If you’ve ever seen the film “The Mission” then you can appreciate the beauty of the area around Puerto Iguazu. After all, it is about the Jesuit missions established to ‘save” the aboriginal peoples here. Ruins of these missions can be visited not far from here, although we«ve heard that some of the best are across the river in Paraguay. The native people here are known as Guaranis. Indeed ¬iguazu¬is a Guarani word meaning “big water.”It refers, of course, to the falls and it is one of the grossest understatements ever made.

The soil in this jungle is a very red clay and it has been used to make just about everything--pavement, buildings, benches, etc. It’s dust gives the whole town a terra-cotta hue that is actually quite nice in certain light. Somehow, this small town has managed to remain small despite the huge number of visitors to the mind-bending falls. It is forbidden to build buildings more than three stories. This and other laws have kept Puerto Iguazu manageable, peaceful and friendly. Although we weren’t able to visit the Brazilian side or the Paraguayan side, the cities just across these borders are a few hundred thousand and are not as safe, or so we’ve been told by the locals.

Due to the economic differences between these three countries, hordes of shoppers from Brazil descend into Paraguay and then haul their goods back across the river. According to Eddie Murphy (that’s what he said his name is anyway), who lives on the Brazilian side but works on the Argentine side in the national park, most of the Brazilians who come over to Argentina or Paraguay come to shop and have never seen the falls. It is unimaginable to us for they are surely one of the most spectacular sights on earth.

The fact that three countries are in close proximity means that the U.S. Dollar has become the common currency. Prices here in Puerto Iguazu are given in both Pesos and/or Dollars. This allows small commerce to flow across borders without constant money conversion and it isn’t just for the benefit of tourists (most of which seem to be Argentine). We noticed in Buenos Aires that many Argentines lined up at the money exchange to change Pesos into Dollars. We aren’t sure why, but our guess is that the unstable Peso has something to do with it. Argentina has been in a steady economic decline for the past fifteen years. Before that, the Peso was tied to the Dollar 1:1. When the government ended that valuation, things changed dramatically. WE met an Argentine (whose name escapes us) living in Los Angeles last night. He said that he notices the changes every times he returns home and Buenos Aires is perhaps the best example. He said that it used to be a well kept, clean city and the people were fabulously dressed and it had a different vibe to it. While we noticed the disrepair of the sidewalks, it didn’t seem to us to be so rundown at all. We’ve already written here that we thought the people were highly fashionable. Nonetheless, it is here in Puerto Iguazu that you can see a difference by the number of people doing really nothing because there isn’t the economy to support them all. This changes somewhat during the high tourist season, but it is clear there are a good number of young people in this town just eaking out a living. Sometimes you have to look beyond the green of the jungle, the spectacle of the falls and the rosy hue of the clay to see the real place and the real situation. Too many people may not appreciate that part of their visit.

See you in Salta.

The Boys