As we saw oh this light I swear you'll,
Emerge blinking into to tell me it's alright
As we soar walls, every siren is a symphony
And every tear's a waterfall
Is a waterfall
Ah
Is a waterfall
Ah ah ah
Is a is a waterfall
Every tear
Is a waterfall
Ah ah ah
So you can hurt, hurt me bad
But still I'll raise the flag
It was a wa wa wa wa wa-terfall
A wa wa wa wa wa-terfall
Coldplay
18NOV13
In the morning, Aodhan took all the sheets off the bed to wrap around himself. He is laying on a bare mattress with a sheet wrapped around his neck like a scarf. I am sitting here, afraid to go down and get coffee of I may come back and he will have all the sheets and blankets in the room around him.
He did get up, he did try to wrap all the sheets around him, but he relented and he did get dressed. We had breakfast, and he eventually agreed to go to the waterfall today in a t-shirt, because I said he would never get his sweater back if he stayed home.
We went to Iguazu. It was beautiful. The park is really nicely laid out. They gave me free entrance to the park because Aodhan was Autistic. They had it very prominently on their sign, that any disability gets free entrance. But, then, they wouldn’t let us go on the boat ride. No one who has any disability, even something like asthma or is missing a finger, can go on the ride. Nice. The free entrance is their way of getting people to declare their disability, so they can exclude them from the boat ride:) Nice. They ask you if you have any concerns like a sore leg or if you get motion sick too. Guess what, a yes to any of this will exclude you. Remember to be very healthy if you want to go on that boat ride.
We had a great day in the park anyway. It is beautiful. Instead of being surrounded by an ugly little theme park like surrounding like Niagara, it is a nature reserve filled with butterflies and exotic birds, giant lizards and coaties, which look like red racoons with long narrow snouts. The (small) city is about 20 minutes away. The gates of the nature reserve are even about a ten minute ride from the gates to the entrance to the waterfall park.
I was not as impressed with Iguazu as I thought I would be. It is big, it is impressive, It is beautiful. Perhaps it’s just mu patriotic Canadian side. Everyone says the garganta del diablo or throat of the devil, is beyond belief because you are so close to the rushing water, but I have stood beside Niagara and it is just as spectacular, and has more water rushing over it. So am I glad I came here. Yes. Would I come back? Yes. Would I recommend you come? Yes, absolutely.
He was happier today in a t-shirt than I have seen him in a very long time. It was probably more than 35 degrees out yesterday. He came home and swam in the pool with no problem, ate, and then, without being asked, swam again. He changed into his dry clothes, and did keep his bathing suit, extra boxers, and extra t-shirt on. But, he has not peed himself. All day, or this evening.
He stayed outside, laying in the grass drawing and looking at the sky. Then he came in, and tried to bully his way into the room and be aggressive about changing. But in the end, with nothing other than him trying some shoving and pushing, he did change into his pajamas and just one pair of boxers. He is still wearing the two t-shirts. This is of course his baby step back towards having clothing layers, but it is all I can accomplish tonight.
Yesterday and tonight I have increased his medication to 1.5 pills. I don’t know if this is what is working, and I know I don’t have enough to do the rest of my trip at this level. But, for a few days, we will see how it goes. I can go to the farmacia and see if I can get more, but it is a relatively new form and I am not sure if they will have it. There are tighter prescription laws in Argentina, but I may be able to get it in Peru, but they may be less likely to have the pills too...
Aodhan on the park train in the morning.
Lots of little rivers through the trees - all heading eventually to the falls
Views from the top of the falls area
Aodhan at the falls. Ok, he says, this is a big waterfall.
This is the part Niagara really doesn't have. There are the American falls, but here the falls just keep going down the river and the gorge is deeper and surrounded by Nature reserve instead of city.
This is the main falls
Lots of rainbows - even double rainbows like this one.
Hard to get good photos when your camera gets misted as soon as you take the lens cover off. But here I am in front of the falls.
Aodhan and I on the ecological river tour.
Aodhan will not laugh on the train back through the park.
Aodhan is NOT laughing. He is not.
Aodhan gives up and laughs and laughs:)
Pretty birds - there are Toucans too, but they only come out in the evening, and Aodhan was getting pretty anxious by about 5pm. Sunset is not until about 8pm, so we heard them and saw one fly quickly overhead between two trees, but we could not get a good view of one.
Monkeys in the trees.
Lizards. They are about two feet long.
Someone told me this animal is called a "tateto", but I looked it up, and they have little snouts like pigs. I think this little guy is a guinea pig. He was about the size of a small house cat.
This is a coati. He is a relative of the racoon.
There are so many of them in the park
Especially around anywhere that serves food. Just like racoons!
So many butterflies everywhere in the park.
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