Canyon Adventure - part 2

March 19  Thursday - continued

We got back to the car  and left for the Rio Tigre Preto Falls about 215PM just a 3 km back.  This is a different trail than we took last time.  It goes more thru the mato [woods, jungle, etc] and less along the river—Rio Tigre Preto [Black Tiger River].

We got to the top of the falls, walked across the rocks in the river—the river has a bit more water that last time and the path across the rocks was not so early to find this time.  Sister Copa hesitated, a couple of times, but finally made it across. 

Looking over falls from the streambed above

Again, the view is great, you can’t even see the bottom of the falls, even when you hike around the side.  The elevation at the top of the falls is about 1000 meters [3281 ft] and the bottom of the falls is about 800 meters [2625 ft] or a fall of about 650 feet.  The much of the water flows down between cracks in the rocks just before the edge of the cliff.  It is beautiful.

After a very steep climb, we walked along the canyon edge to get a view of the falls from above. 



We walked across the river
along the edge of the falls

 We didn’t go on to the Rock with the Secret [Pedra do Segredo], but came back to the car where Ann was waiting for us.  At least this time the  foxes were not surrounding the car protecting her. 

We left for the trip home about 340PM.  Thankfully the road graded had left the road in a little better condition what it was earlier, so the trip was better but still a pretty rough road. 

We got to the asphalt at the bridge about 410PM; Cambará do Sul, about 430PM; São Francisco de Paula, about 530PM; and at our apartment after 6PM.  We made good time coming home because we didn’t have to take photos of monkey bridges coming back into Cambará do Sul.  Monkey Bridges are high wire mesh walk ways made of wire mesh hung between trees on either side of the highway up about 30 or 40 feet so the monkey can easily cross the traffic without interference or death.  O yes we got good at recognizing the rumble bumps and the quebra molas [literally spring breakers]—the speed bumps along the “nature” highway, so you will slow down and enjoy the scenery, etc. 

Steep path to view from the top

We drove through São Francisco de Paula on our way home.  Pres. Copa had never been there before.  We drove by the church so he could see where we go twice a week. 

We got home and Ann and I left for the church for piano lessons and preparation for Integration night.  We showed the DVD the mission president, Layne Wright, had lent us to show.  He received it at the recent mission presidents seminar in São Paulo and let us borrow it last week.  It is called “Meet the Mormon”  [Encontre Os Mórmons] with audio in Portuguese!!  It is the movie the church produced for commercial theatres in Canada and the USA..  They showed it last week in Gramado. It was our first time to see it.  Since it is in Portuguese is it hard to catch all the content—they speak so fast!!

Our branch members enjoyed it and were very attentive for the whole 80 minutes.  I was particularly impressed at their reactions to a couple of comments in the movie.  When the Bishop in Atlanta mentioned that some were surprised that there existed black bishops in the LDS church—I understood the Brazilian chuckles to mean—what is so different about that?—They have experienced it since 1978; and most never knew it was any other way.

The other comment was by the missionary who said something about being accepted into the family even though he was mestizo or mixed race or darker color—this is something that I think Brazilian do not comprehend.  Racial bias is nonexistent, compared to the USA. I think they have a hard time imagining what it is all about; why someone would even comment about it, let alone be an issue of concern.

 

I had walked to the grocery store to pick up some fresh fruit to take to the missionary meeting in the morning.  I then crossed town to go to the church for the meeting.

Due to misunderstood communication, Merl expected me to return from the grocery store before going to the church.  When I didn't return in an acceptable amount of time, he went searching for me and didn't find me.  He went back to the apartment and left a note there in the event I would return, and he ran to the church in a panic. . . he found me peacefully watching the movie.  He was much relieved, and I felt terrible causing him such concern.  We walked home after the meeting grateful to be together.  It has been a very long day.