Iguazu Falls

Trip Start Jul 16, 2008

Trip End Ongoing

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Where I stayed

Hostel Sweet Puerto Iguazu

(Puerto Iguazu hotels)

Flag of Argentina Puerto Iguazu, Litoral, Argentina
Thursday, December 18, 2008

I'm just finishing up my last big trip in Argentina. I took another overnight bus from Cordoba to Puerto Iguazu to see the water falls! I don't know if the long bus rides have just really started to get to me or what but this last one seemed awful!! The food was slightly entertaining, however. For dinner I had ham served 5 different ways-a ham and cheese sandwich on a small roll; a triple decker ham and cheese sandwich on really flat, crustless bread (very common here); a cube of ham, a cube of cheese, and an olive on a toothpick; a little sandwich with sweet bread and ham; and what looked like a sweet jelly roll but turned out to be more of the same sweet bread, rolled around ham! Good thing I don't keep kosher or I really would have gone hungry!!

The town of Iguazu is not very exciting. And when I arrived in the middle of the day it was pretty empty. I guess pretty much everyone is at the waterfalls or doing some adventure activities during the day so there is not much going on. And so there is a huge siesta. Most of the shops were closed when I arrived. Which was fine by me because it gave me an excuse to take a much needed nap after my sleepless night on the bus! Luckily the room I was in was air conditioned because it Iguazu is VERY hot, around 40 degrees Celsius!

I went to the falls pretty early yesterday, as I had heard you can spend several hours there. It was truly amazing. I don't really know how to describe how beautiful it was. And it is set up very nicely, with lots of pathways and trails that lead to spectacular view points of the falls. And when you are not looking at the falls, the pathways go through the rainforest. It was very peaceful in the rainforest and there were times when there weren't other people around and I could just sit stand still and listen to all the jungle sounds. Some of the views are from the top while others are lower down so you can see the falls from several angles. There were lots of tourists there but it wasn't too awfully crowded. You can really spend hours, just admiring the falls from different views. There is a boat you can take to an island where you can walk a bit on the trails and then see the falls from much lower down. I went there with a few girls I had met earlier in the morning and we walked a bit and then had a picnic lunch on some rocks.

There are a few boat rides that you can go on and pay extra for. I had heard that one of these was a must, as it takes you pretty much under the falls. So, after visiting the island, I headed there. It was pretty scary. We got up close to two of the falls. It was a strange feeling being so close to something that powerful and beautiful. You can hardly hear anything but the water crashing down. And it is LOUD! And you can't see too much when you are that close to it, (especially since I took off my glasses everytime we went under as I didn't think I would enjoy the rest of my day viewing the falls if my glasses got torn away from me on the boat!) but it is just white water all around. After the boat ride I was COMPLETELY soaked. Because it was so hot I didn't mind being wet but after a while I did change into my dry clothes (they give you a waterproof bag on the boat so that you will have dry things to change into!) The sun was so strong that my wet clothes dried very quickly in the sun while I took a little break to have a cold drink.

The last stop of the day was to La Garganta del Diablo, the Devil's Throat. To get there you take a little train and then walk along these walkways that are over the water. On the way I passed a little crocodile, hanging out in the water! This viewpoint was out of this world. You are standing on walkways pretty much right above of this huge waterfall. There was a beautiful rainbow (I had been waiting for one all day!). The falls were crashing down, with this loud thundering sound. It's really amazing how powerful nature can be.

I leave today to go back to Buenos Aires. One bus company was having a special on their Cama rides so it was cheaper than other companies' semi cama. Unfortunately the bus isn't till 7:30 this evening which means another day in Puerto Iguazu with not too much to do. There is a pool at my hostel which I hung out at for a bit and now I'm just waiting for the bus.

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