Big Water - the Iguazu Falls

In the 1986 movie classic The Mission, the story of the redemption of Captain Rodrigo Mendoza (played by Robert de Nero) was set to take place above an incredible waterfall.  An early scene of the movie shown on the movie poster at the right depicts the episode when Guarani people tied a priest to a cross and threw him over the falls to his death.   The fall is the mighty Iguazu Falls as the native Guarani people called it – the Big (-guazu) Water (I-).

Picture in your head that you traverse north and northwest along Rio de Plata (the Silver River) from Buenos Aires, you will reach one of its two primary sources - Paraná River which, at ~3,000 miles long, is one of the longest rivers in the world.  A few miles before you reach Itaipu Dam of Brazil and Paraguay, the largest hydroelectric power station in the world for now (China’s Three Gorges Dam will exceed it when the planned turbines are all completed), you can bank east at where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet and get onto Iguazu River, an 800+ miles long east-west tributary.  It will not take long before you see the mist and then hear the roaring of Iguazu Falls where Iguazu River drops suddenly from a plateau of 360 ft high.

Iguazu Falls is actually consisted of a bundle of 275 falls of various sizes and heights along a 1.7 miles wide irregular cross-section of the Iguazu River between Brazil (at north) and Argentina.  It is no doubtedly one of the most scenic waterfalls in the world and is also one of the 28 finalists in the ongoing competition for the titles of the New 7 Wonders of Nature of the World.  While there are many famous waterfalls with their own attractions, it is useful to highlight some of the obvious attributes, short of visiting them all in person.   Iguazu Falls is not the highest waterfall of the world.  For that, you need to travel to Venezuela to see the Angle Fall at a height of 3,200+ ft.  Iguazu Falls does not have the highest average flow rate either, the popular Niagra Falls at the U.S. and Canada border tops it with 85,000/292,000 (vs. 61,000/452,000) cubic feet per second in average and max recorded, respectively according to the World Waterfalls Database .  However, with its 1.7 miles of width and 275 falls, it is most scenic and offers so much nuances that one can easily spend two full days to enjoy the walks and distinct views of it.  Better yet, you can also get soaked in it, literally.

With two thirds of falls on the Argentina territory, there are several walkways on Argentina side that bring you different vintage points close to the falls.  The largest falls of all, Devil’s Throat (Garganta del Diablo) never disappoints.   With the mist from the volumes of water falling at high rate, one can

Devil's Throat

easily mistaken being transported into landscape paintings of traditional Chinese painters.  The next largest, San Martin Falls and Bosetti Falls are as popular that can be reached through the upper circuit.  By the way, San Martin is José de San Martín, a name and statue that you would find in many places of southern South America including Peru, Chile and Argentina for his contributions and military leadership in the independence of these countries from Spain.  

Bosetti Falls

San Martin Falls

If you are venturous, don’t miss the speed boat ride to the falls reacheable via the lower circuit walkway.  In addition to some quick turns and the sceneries of the falls from the river, the boat takes you into the edge of the San Martin Falls and let you enjoy being showered by a powerful waterfall for some brief moment (sorry, can’t do it with boat ride from Brazil side since this falls is only accessible from Argentina).  On the way back to the Sheraton Hotel in the park (expensive but worth every cent of it) from the dock by a 4x4 truck through the rain forest, we saw a pair of wild toucans in their hallmark of colorful big bills on a tree top at a distance.  What a beauty!

A pair of wild toucans

Devil's Falls at Sunrise from Sheraton Hotel

Crossing the border by car to Brazil, one can take additional and different views of Iguazu Falls. The one kilometer long walkways along the Iguazu river in the National Park offers views of the falls on Argentina side.  The walkway ends with acclamation below Devil’s Throat.   You then realize how much water there really is since the view from Argentina side was from the top.  One angle of

the falls we did not explore was from the air; there are helicopter tours offered at the Brazil side.  The real regret is that we did not have a chance to taste the golden Dorado from the river.  A favorite of fly fishing sportsmen, Dorado is so flavorful that I still remember it from my first visit of Iguazu 16 years ago! 

Well, time to continue on to Rio de Janeiro of Brazil.   Talk to you soon!

Argentina – the largest Spanish Speaking Country on Earth

Struggling through flight cancelation, reroute, and delays resulting from the notorious X’mas blizzard of 2010, we finally reached the sunny Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina 56 hours behind schedule.  The only event of the original itinerary we managed to salvage was an evening Tango show and dinner at the Tango Porteño, right next to the 67 meter high Obelisk, (a mini Washington Monument might be the best way to picture it) the most obvious landmark of the city. 

If you have never seen Tango performance before, here is the unforgettable tango scene of the 1992 movie Scent of a Women in which Al Pacino gave his Oscar winning performance of a blind, depressed, and difficult man who carried out his wishes in last few days of his life before his planned suicide.   Of course, the tango you see on this video is a Ballroom style tango which is just one of many styles of tango and is quite different from Argentina Tango.  One would have to do a lot more research to understand the intricacy of different styles of tango. 

If you are more into music than dance, you may want to try the Libertango, performed by Cellist Yo Yo Ma et.al including the essential tango music instrument Bandoneon.  Libertango was composed by Astor Piazzola, the famed Argentine composer who brought Tango music to the international stage.   It is also the opening music of Yo Yo Ma’s best seller music CD Soul of the Tango. 

Situated at the southeast part of South America, Argentina is the 8^th largest country of the world with 40 million people over a little over one million square miles of land.  Its history, following the familiar pattern of the Americas, was demarcated with the Spanish Colonization that began at the discovery of the area by the Spanish navigator Juan Díaz de Solís in 1516.  The name Argentina came from the Latin word Argentum that means silver.  Río de la Plata, the widest river in the world (140 miles wide at its mouth where Buenos Aires is located) literally means Silver River, so named because of the rumor and belief in early days that there were rich silver mountains upstream that turned out not to be true.  

Today, Argentina is a predominantly white nation with over 86% of its population self-identify as European descendants, followed by 8% of mestizo (mixed of European and Native Americans).  There was one time a third of its population was Afro-Argentines during colonial time but now disappearing with a widely varying estimates and confusing theories about a upward close to 5% of population with Afro ancestry.   Less controversial statistics are available for Amerindians: about 1% of the population is Amerindians and 3% if you include anyone with significant Amerindian ancestry.   As one can guess, Argentina had its share of notoriety of genocides in its history.  The Conquest of the Desert of the 1870s killed about 1.3 million of aboriginal people in Patagonia.   Indigenous population now stands at approximately 600,000 (or about 1.5% of the total population).

Patagonia is the geographical region of the southern part of today’s Chile and Argentina between Pacific and Atlantic oceans, totaled to a little over one million square kilometers.   The name came from Spanish word patagón where pata- means big leg or foot, a reference to the mythical local people Magellan and his crew saw and met in the region in 1520 on its first around the world voyage.  Some depictions put those giants at such a height that sailing Spaniards and Portugese could only reach their waists.   In reality, the Tehuelche people of Patagonia averaged about 6 ft, a bit taller than Spaniards and Portugese but hardly qualified as giants.  For more on the myth, one can refer to e.g., Austin Whittall's blog in 2009.

Patagonia does have however what believes to be one of the largest (longest and heaviest) dinosaurs on earth, the Argentinosaurus, whose story and discovery was told vividly in the movie Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia which has been shown in many Natural History museums.   While one can only found fossils and models of the remains of giant dinosaurs at a few places, one can see and touch parts of Patagonian Ice Sheet of the current ice age since few million years ago.  Over the Andes mountains, this largest ice cap outside of Antarctica and Greenland feeds 47 large glaciers out of which 13 flowing east towards to the Atlantic ocean.   The most popular destination of all is the 1700+ square mile Parque Nacional Los Glaciares of Argentina that was created in 1937 and declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Sites in 1981. 

Flying southwest from Buenos Aires, one reaches El Calafate in about three hours, a booming tourist town.  People flocking to this town with at least one activity in common – visit of Perito Moreno Glacier.  At a mere 200 meter above sea level and 1 hour ride 30 miles west of El Calafate where it ends its eastward march at the Lake Argentina, Moreno Glacier is one of the most easily accessible and visited glaciers.     On top of it, it offers once in a while a spectacular scene of rupture when a whole section of the glacier front collapses in front of naked eyes.  Here is a Youtube video of the last rupture in 2008.

As one of few growing glaciers in Patagonia, the 3 miles wide Perito Moreno Glacier advances as fast as 1.5 meter per day towards Lago Argentino (Lake Argentina), the second largest lake of South America.   When the glacier meets the land (where the park viewing platforms are), it becomes a ~200 meters high natural dam that dissects the L-shape Lake Argentina in two and as a result, the water level the pressure of the southern part of the lake continues to rise, sometimes reaching as high as 30 meters.  Every few years, unannounced, with the increasing pressure, the “dam” broke with the rupture of the glacier wall, a unique incredible scene in nature.   Here is a panoramic  frontal view of the Moreno Glacier taken from the viewing platform a few hundred yards away.  Walkways and viewing platforms have been built along the lake front.   One can take time strolling down the walkway enjoying the views at various angles of the bluish ice formations.   Even better, one can quietly listen to the roar and occasionally see the crumbling of pieces of the glacier.  In addition to some longer cruises of the lake seeing other glaciers and icebergs, one can also take a short one hour cruise to the south wall of the glacier to get a close-up view of the 40 meter (100+ ft) high wall of the glacier from the lake (see photos below). 

Flying back to Buenos Aires, we enjoyed a stroll leisurely at the La Recoleta Cemetery, one of the top tourist spots of the city, where many rich and famous Argentines rest in peace.   Most people come here to visit or pay tribute to the late Eva Perón (full name: María Eva Duarte de Perón) in her (Duarte) family tomb.  Before late 70’s, Eva Peron may not be a well-known public figure outside Argentina.  Andrew Lloyd Webber (for music) and Tim Rice (for lyrics) changed it with their powerful musical Evita.  More than three decades later, its best-known song Don't Cry for Me Argentina is still widely circulated and referred to globally.  Here is a Youtube video of it, performed by Elaine Paige on Webber’s 50^th birthday celebration in 1998.  Of course, Elaine Paige was the one who delivered perfectly the combative and passionate Evita in the 1978 premiere of the show in Westend of London.  If you have not heard of the song before, I promise you will love it.

There seems no doubt that Eva Peron was an ultimate populist political figure with her humble upbringing and ambitions yearning for attention, love and glory.  She was a huge factor in the success of her husband Juan Peron’s political career and the formation of Peronism and feminist movement that drew strong support from labor, workers and women.  At the end, her ambition was stopped short by the male-dominated society and military power, and finally terminated at age 33 by cancer.   However despite her short life, she still occupies an important spiritual and mythical role deeply imbedded in many Argentines’. 

Six months earlier in 1951 before Eva Peron’s death, 23 years old upper middle class Argentine Ernesto 'Che' Guevara took a year off from his medical study at the University of Buenos Aires to embark with his friend Alberto Granado on a 5,000 miles journey across South America.  The experience was documented in his famous The Motorcycle Diaries  which was made into a movie as well.  Che later joined Fidel Castro for the Cuban revolution in 1956 and was captured and executed in Bolivia when he waged armed revolution there in 1967.  No, Che was not buried at the La Recoleta Cemetery.  His remains were eventually recovered in mid 1990s in Bolivia and laid to rest in 1997 in Cuba.   For more about Che, see my blog 269 minutes with Che. 

What both Eva Peron and Che Guevara experienced and saw were social economic, welfare, and equity problem of Argentine society. Despite the political instability and military dictatorship in the ensuing years, Argentina has been doing quite well economically with a large middle class compared to many other countries although one can see some villa miseria (the Argentine slumps) in parts of Buenos Aires.    Recent global financial crisis did hit Argentina hard and Inflation is threatening to be getting out of control.  I wish Argentine can overcome the difficulties and the shadow of its association with fascism, military dictatorship to advance the welfare of all their people.

Last note: Unless you are a vegetarian, don’t miss the Parrilla (Argentina Grill), see photo to the right.  Try the wonderful Argentina BBQ beef, chicken, pork or lamb.  You may prefer the American corn- fed beef for its tenderness, I found myself like a lot the better flavored, leaner, more textured grass-fed Argentine cattle from pastures.  I was told they are free of growth hormone and antibiotics as well.   Of course, Argentina pizza is wonderful too, with its strong heritage of Italian immigrants.  I found their pizza is a lot closer to Italy’s than the American version.  In any case, whenever in doubt, order a glass of Argentina Malbec that will make any food agreeable. 

Next stop: Iguazu Falls.  Talk to you soon!

Democratic Vs. Authoritarian Democracy

As 2010 winds down, Obama administration and the lame duck Gongress have been busy in wrestling through few critical legislation.  With the discontent of the voters demonstrated in Nov election that determined 30% of the (100 members) Senate, 100 % of the House of (435 voting) Representatives, and 25% of (52) State Governors starting next year, there have been much talks about compromise by the White House.   

The top issue on the heap was the new tax policy and rate at the beginning of Jan 1^st of 2011 as the two Bush era tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003 were set to expire at the end of this year.  By now we all have heard of the result – President Obama signed into law last Fri, Oct 17^th, the newly passed $858 billion doallars tax and economic package - the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010.

The name of the bill is a mouth full since it is a bundled package with political points (just like bundled deals in the consumer market) and is touted as a bipartisan bill.  It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what all these just mean that each major political force gets something it wants badly and finds acceptable to trade votes for what oppositions want.   Yes, the alternative is no one gets what he/she wants.  No, it doesn’t necessarily mean the compromise is good for the people and the country.  After all we are not talking about a win/win negotiated outcome in business whereby others are footing the bills.  You and I are paying for it and all we have done is to reallocate the resources and wealth among different groups of people with a prayer that the overall pie may become bigger (if the total wealth increases as a result).  

Only a short while earlier back in Nov, Alan K. Simpson and Erskine Bowles, co-chairs of the 18 members bi-partisan Presidential Commission on National Deficit Reduction, unveiled their 59-page proposal of how to reduce the deficit, entitled "The Moment of Truth."  The proposal involves among others, deep cuts in domestic and military spending, a gradual 15-cents-a-gallon increase in the federal gasoline tax, limiting or eliminating popular tax breaks in return for lower rates, and benefit cuts and an increased retirement age for Social Security.   If implemented, it is estimated to reduce the National debt by 4 trillion dollars by 2020 and would bring the country to a more sustainable financial position.  By the way, the U.S. Federal debt (i.e. treasury securities held by those outside the U.S. government) currently stands at approximately 9 trillion dollars and the gross debt including the intra-government obligations is about 13.5 trillion dollars, compared to the U.S. GDP of $14.4 trillion dollars for 2009.

The question is “Can you handle the truth?” (remember the courtroom scene in the popular 1992 movie A Few Good Men when the self righteous Marine Commander played by Jack Nicholson shouted at the young defense attorney played by Tom Cruise?).  The President Commission’s proposed solution (with the concurrence of 11 out of its 18 members) follows the intuitive and obvious with specifics – cut spending and raise taxes simultaneously.   However, last week’s tax and benefit bill above demonstrated once more it is far more likely and easier for a two party democratic government to do exactly the opposite – cut taxes and increase spending simultaneously.   When such a compromise happen often enough as it has been in this ideological war – Republican’s tax reduction and Democrat’s service/benefit increase, no wonder the national debt continues to climb with no relief in sight. 

Who is to blame and what is the truth, you might ask.  Unfortunately we, the people, are the ones who brought all these to ourselves; in other words – human nature.  We want to have individual rights and freedom.  We want to be left along only until we need to be bailed out.  We want the right to vote and decide which politicians shall represent and fight for our personal interests and belief (among those who want to serve).  We want to elect politicians who are smart, knowledgeable, honest, moral, capable, effective, fair, and have good judgment but we often prefer those populists who pretend(?) to listen to and represent our collective ignorance and uneducated opinions.   We want to be richer and have a better material life.  We want to pay less or no taxes and at the same time more benefits and guaranteed minimum standard of living.  We want our companies make more revenues and profits but we don’t want them to outsource the work.  The list of contradictions goes on and on…

Of course much of these contradictions and tensions get exposed and confirmed publicly only when times are tough and competition for resources became intense, and when the change in the environment reached or went over some critical points.   The truth is governments all over the world, especially the more developed and dominant ones have always been deeply involved in the economic development and international trades.   The recent financial crisis and near-great-depression simply pushed the governments to the front stage in this International Ponzi scheme as globalization penetrates every corner of the earth.  It seems totally logical that the next phase in the process of globalization that cut deeply across nations’ boundaries is a government-driven model whether we like it or not.  

What is less obvious is the need of increasing involvement of government with people’s day-to-day economic activities is putting each nation’s political system to severe tests, especially with the western democratic systems.  Many notable Americans have made observations and talked about the frustration with the sluggish, if not stale mated, movements with economic policies which call for allocation of funds/resources with significant agreement of Senate, House of Representatives, and the President with more often than not different ideology.  One example came to mind is the Thomas Friedman’s 2008 comment “Be China for a Day” in the context of “green revolution”.  More than two years have passed.  We all know how little the policy and legislation have advanced.

Back in Aug, 2008, Robert Reich, a former Secretary of Labor and now a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, wrote in his blog: “The real competition lurking behind the upcoming Olympic games is between democratic capitalism and authoritarian capitalism.”   He went on to say “Democratic capitalism should win in the end because it responds far better to what people want -- not only as consumers but also as citizens.”    I think he is a bit idealistic and too optimistic.  To begin with, as I was just pointing out, what people want are often unrealistic and contradictory and as a result, end up trading long term wellbeing for short-term gains and instant gratifications. 

Authoritarian capitalism (of varying shade and grade) has in post World War II brought economic successes at quite a few developing countries including Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea with China being one of the new showcase.  In the scale of human social-economic history, the jury is still out.  But it seems clear that neither is going to be sustainable.  Given that their successes do occur at different times and places, it strongly suggests the winning and sustaining solution may lie with one that can transition smoothly between the two adapting to the global environment.  Perhaps what we can do is to delegate nation’s financial and economic matter to competent independent technocrats (not dissimilar to the Board of Federal Reserve) and leave Congress and President debate about the all important longer term big policy and social-political issues.  The side benefit is we will definitely have a much smaller government once you take a big chunk of money out of the equation.

With this as food for thought, I wish you Happy Holidays.  Talk to you next year!

A Taste of Photography Art

My 15 weeks of Digital Photography class is coming to an end tonight with the submission of a portfolio of what I thought was the best ten photos that I have taken this semester.  Here they are, ranging from still life, portrait, landscape, to documentary.   I am not including any text descriptions as I am hoping that I have succeeded to some degree in conveying something to you visually.   Enjoy!

I do plan to continue onto the next class starting next Jan although I am not exactly sure what it is about.  The professor mentioned that he might want us to create a photographic book, inspired by the books of Ralph Gibson.  That would be challenging and fun, I think.

Talk to you soon!