It was supposed to be just a simple trip

by Julia Campos (Brazil)

I didn't expect to find Brazil

It was supposed to be just a simple trip to get my son to travel by plane! The location was a very family type place: Foz do Iguaçú. A very well known city by brazilian and A LOT of foreigners. But we certainly didn't expect to discover such beauty and well thought place to be. First thing we were supposed to be amazed by the Iguacú Falls. Yes they are awesome and the park is very well planned - accessibility including -, but that is. The Catamarã rides under small falls are the peak. It's fun! We liked, my boy... not so much. A lot of walking and he didn't appreciated the boat ride - got scared about something we thought would be wildly cool. We cheered him up with a kid's canteen. The next day we were surprised by The Bird Park (Parque das Aves). People think is a zoo, but it's not! It's a place for preservation of Atlantic Forest birds. Not only they rescue the birds, but also, once they are treated, they return them to the forest. We were rapt! My son couldn't believe when we enter the bird nurseries. The macaws and parrots made us a surprise: a flock right above our heads! They warned us by their singing, but we just didn't listen. Every single person working there knew the history of the place, the projects they were involved, the details about the bird... I was so overwhelmed! How this isn't largely announced through Brazil, I just don't know. Our visitation endure about 4-5 hours. It's huge and we didn't want to miss any detail of it. Of course gift shop was a thing for us... The third day, we actually didn't know what to do. So I just googled "what to visit in Foz do Iguaçú?". We found out there was a Buddhist temple and a mosque. We weren't able to visit the mosque, because of the dress code, but it was beautiful from the outside. However we got to go to the Buddhist temple. A very large place also with a lot of status. Each and every one of them had a meaning and represented a figure. And also, so peaceful. I identify as atheist, but I just can't deny that I felt very well in that place. There is a HUGE meditating Buddha and a garden perfect for us to just stop, breathe and not think. My very energetic son lasted a lot more than I thought. He was amazed about the colorful statues and how many there were of them. There was a row of bronze Buddhas from different places from Brazil and people - we guessed it was some kind of promise or something. The down fall is that is no guide or anything like that, just a few people working at the gift shop (very simple actually) and a security guard in one of the rooms of the house that is in the middle of the garden. By our last day there, we couldn't miss the Itaipu Dam (Itaipu Binacional). It's a dam managed by Brazilian and Paraguayan governments - simply saying. It's a place for us to remember of what technology and well spent public budget are capable of. They have the environmental awareness to compensate the damage a dam can be by making sure there are preservation sites and lakes bordering the whole place. They even managed to breed in captivity two Jaguar cubs in the Biological Refuge Bela Vista (Refúgio Biológico Bela Vista) that os maintained by them. Yes, a lot of t-shirts were bought there too. The other tourist places were ok. A place to spend the time with the family. Fun and all. But the Parque das Aves and the Buddhist Temple has been in my mind for a while now. My son just keeps asking for us to get back there and bring his cousin with us. By car...