chest. It was both sensual and
acrobatic, with great choreography
and perfect timing.
The next day we set out for
Colonia in Uruguay. Though it is a
different country, it took us just 50-
minute on a ferry from Buenos Aires.
Colonia de Sacramento, is a really
pretty little place with tree-lined
cobbled streets and colonial
buildings. It was the oldest town in
Uruguay, founded by the Portuguese
in 1680 but lost to the Spanish a
century later. We visited the
lighthouse (El Faro), two museums
Museo Portugues and Museo		 The Bible. Strolling through the park
and you can admire the various
highlights, in Jesus’ life: from his
birth to resurrection. Every half hour
you can witness the resurrection of an
18 meter Christ accompanied by
recorded Latin choir singing
‘Hallelujah’.
Enough life-size statues of Jesus,
Joseph, Mary, peasants, soldiers, and
saviors are in the park to give
Madame Tussaud a run for her
money. There are also statues and
exhibits for some of Christianity’s
more modern popular figures, such as
Mother Theresa and Pope John Paul
II. In the multicultural corner, statues
of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin
Luther join a church, synagogue,
mosque and a temple in an effort to
portray religious convergence.
The park also has a variety of
shows, live performances, restaurants,
shopping etc.
The most incredible and
memorable part of our journey was
our visit to LAS CATARATAS DE
IGUAZU! They call it the "8th"
wonder of the world. It is basically a
bunch of beautiful outrageously large
waterfalls bordering Brazil and
Argentina.
We arrived in the evening and
found out that every month the
Iguazu National Park offers the
opportunity of enjoying a nocturnal
trip to the falls on three days, a day
before full moon, on full moon night,
and a day after. Lady luck was on our
side, as that night happened to be the
full moon! The trip started after
dinner. We assembled at a small
station in the jungle called ‘the
Central station’. Suddenly a train
appeared out of nowhere, silent and
without lights. The ecological train,
which runs on natural gas, is an open
vehicle. In the still of the night where
the only light shone from the full
moon, the train seemed surreal. We
were asked to be silent during the
journey so as not to disturb the
animals. It was the most amazing ride
  Municipal on Plaza Mayor. Both had
items of funiture, clothing, musical
instruments, maps etc. We wandered
into a ceramic shop and bought
beautiful potteries.
I really don’t know how best to
describe ‘Parque Tierra Santa’s, I
mean where else in the world can you
see a resurrection every hour? It is an
amusement park built in 2000, with
an amazingly unique but well-known
theme, ‘the life and times of Jesus’. It
is probably the world’s first religiously
themed amusement park. The park’s
attractions are divided into thirtyseven
of the main events as told in
 
 
which allowed us to have direct
contact with the environment, to live
the experience of a ride in the middle
of the jungle, sensing the aromas,
weather variations and the sounds of
the forest.
After about half an hour we heard
a continuous loud thunderous noise
and saw white smoke rising from
behind the trees. We got off at the
‘Garganta del Diablo’ (Devil’s Throat)
station. From there it was a long walk
by the footbridges to the balcony of
the awe-inspiring, irreproducible
Garganta del Diablo (the devil’s
throat), the most impressive falls of
the park.
It is impossible to describe the
view that awaited us. Suddenly the
“horseshoe-shaped” falls, with a
circumference of 150 m and a height
of 80 m, appeared before us filling
the air with thick smoke like vapour
which drenched us. An immense
amount of silvery white water, shining
brightly in the light of the full moon,
surged over the rocks, as if rushing
towards us in a display of raw power.
It was truly a most unique experience.
The next day we hopped on the
"green train" again to see the falls by

daylight. On our way, we were constantly distracted by beautiful butterflies of different colours, shapes and sizes. I wanted to take pictures of all of them. The view was very photo-worthy due to all the rainbows that were formed in the water vapour. Finally we got to the Devil's Throat and were again drenched by all the spray that it threw up, we tried unsuccessfully to see the bottom of this immense pit of water. A photographer took a Polaroid picture of all of us and sold it to us. We climbed down the slippery steps for a boat ride which would take us under the falls. It was great. Each of us was given a bright orange life jacket. We got totally drenched and could hardly see when we got close to the falls, but we loved it. The motorboat went pretty close to Salto Dos Mosqueteros first and then went around to the bigger one, San Martin. It was an exhilarating ride but not scary, we did have the obligatory few screaming girls though!

The next morning we walked to the market, where Paraguay, Brasil, and Argentina meet. The view was breathtaking. Imagine standing right
 

at the confluence of the three countries at once. We lay down on the grass and looked at the sky at peace with ourselves.
The trip to Argentina was full of surprises. My co passenger on our flight back asked me if I was from the land of ‘Tagore.’
‘How did you hear about Tagore?’ I asked.
‘You know in 1924, Rabindranath Tagore came to Buenos Aires, where he met Victoria Ocampo. She was one of the most remarkable women of the twentieth century, a writer, an editor, a publisher, a cultural entrepreneur, and a feminist. She became a distant muse to the great poet in the last seventeen years of his life. She was the woman to whom he gave the name Vijaya and to whom he dedicated his book of poems, Purabi, in 1925.

On my last day in Buenos Aires, I went to visit her villa. Since it is a UNESCO heritage site, we could not get in because we did not have special permission. I paid homage to the great lady from outside and clicked a few photographs for posterity.  Years ago our beloved poet found a muse in the other end of the world proving once again that love knows no boundaries.