April 5 "Best Day of My Life"

At 7am this morning I awoke to what I thought was someone using my shower. It was kind of alarming and I didn't know what to do. I soon realized it was raining outside...HARD! Oh yea, this is a rainforest! The view out my balcony was beautiful and the rain brought some much appreciated cooler temperatures outside. After a quick breakfast I met up with everyone in the lobby and we boarded the bus for the falls.

Our tour guide, David, was a super nice, knowledgeable guy, but his accent was EXACTLY like Borat's. I just kept wanting to say "High Five," but I resisted. After a quick history/biology lesson about the flora/fauna of the region and how the falls formed, we boarded the bus to the entrance. The first view we got was from several miles out, but was still spectacular! As we started our decent into the jungle, at various points, the trees would spread and you'd get the most beautiful views of the falls and the surrounding jungle. The farther we walked, the more beautiful it got. Words really can't describe the beauty and awesomeness of what we were witnessing. God's power and might can truly be felt in this place. The water roars, the ground rumbles, and the falls are so powerful they create their own wind. For someone like me, who had, unfortunately, forgotten how awesome God is, the falls are a GREAT wakeup call!

I shot so much footage of the falls, and I'm excited we get to go back tomorrow and shoot more! See my video at the end of this blog for just a fraction of the footage!

When we got done at the falls, we headed to eat some lunch on a deck that overlooked the falls, but on the way there, I saw a group of Coatimundi's foraging for food! These cute little mammals are cousins of the raccoon and are very cute. I was able to get some "Discovery Channel" style shots of them digging grubs out of a rotten log and munching away.

After lunch came the most amazing part of the trip. Those of us who were brave enough took a half-mile hike through the jungle to a boat dock and boarded power boats bound for the falls. The purpose of this journey was to actually ride UNDER the falls in the boats. The driver repeatedly pushed us under the falls and it was an incredible experience to feel the power of the falls firsthand. Much more mighty than you would imagine.

After the falls we headed to a nearby bird park/aviary to see some tropical birds and animals. That was a fun experience! Apparently birds don't like seeing their reflection in the camera lens because 2 different birds (a toucan and a macaw) attacked the camera! It wasn't a big park, but it was a nice walk through the jungle again with a large collection of very beautiful birds.

After the bird park we headed home to clean up and eat dinner. As we stepped off the bus a watch dealer was waiting in the hotel parking lot so I bought a Rolex for $12 American! Hahaha! After dinner we had a devotional and time of communion in the hotel dining room next to the public dining room. We sang,prayed and discussed a scripture passage for the better part of an hour and a half and it was a great time. God is definitely in this place!

After the devo, Scott and I interviewed students for the better part of 2 hours. Around midnight I finally rolled into my room and here I've sat for the past 3 hours charging batteries, cataloging footage, cleaning equipment, editing video and getting stuff ready for tomorrow. It's now 3am and I'm headed to bed. Check out the video below to see the amazing footage I was able to capture at the falls! Also, DEFINITELY check out Ronnie's Blog for some AMAZING photography from today. And for the record, that's my finger that the butterfly is on.

Tomorrow we're headed to Argentina to see their side of the falls!

Until tomorrow!