By jtmanley
Unfortunately, I did not heed TLC's advice. I spent last weekend in the Argentine province of Misiones to enjoy Iguazú Falls. One of the New Seven Wonders of Nature, Iguazú Falls forms a natural boundary between Brazil and Argentina, and it is a hotspot for a wide range of flora and fauna. During my short time there, I was able to explore Iguazú National Park in its entirety via foot, boat, raft, and train! Going to Iguazú let me get away from the hustle and bustle of city life (which makes that of Washington, D.C. look like child's play at times).
This trip, like the one to El Calafate in February, was part of the GW Argentina program. What I like most about these trips- and there are good benefits if you go on one- is the inclusion of a meaningful social/cultural component. If I had just seen the many waterfalls to take in their majestic beauty, I don't believe I would have gained as much. On my last day, I learned about the historically tense relationship between the development of the tourist industry surrounding Iguazú Falls and the indigenous Guaraní people who see the commercialization of their ancestral land as a threat to their way of life. Although this topic was one of the more serious ones I dealt with that weekend, it gave me a perspective to understand how something we may benefit from (e.g., tourism) impacts others in ways often unseen.
When I landed in Buenos Aires on Sunday night, I was happy that I spent a weekend taking in a gift from nature and learning about a specific community's relationship with it. The intense heat of Misiones was a nice switch from the wind and rain in Buenos Aires. And getting away from the computer for a while let me not think about those dreaded midterms coming up (yes, our midterms are in May)!
