Big Water
Trip Start
Jun 10, 2008
1
12
13
Trip End
Ongoing
Loading Map
Puerto Iguazu,
Litoral,
Argentina
Monday, July 7, 2008
I ran into Nathan and Cati on the Subte to the bus stop at Retiro. We got there, found our bus, and got on it. The seats were AWESOME -- they reclined to an almost horizontal position and were really comfortable to sleep on (though nothing compares to a bed that isn't on a moving vehicle). The 15 hour bus ride was actually tolerable. I watched a movie, listened to some music, had some wine (! world class service!) and dinner, and slept. I woke up to the most beautiful sunrise I'd ever seen, over the Argentine pampas, or flatlands. After a while, the scenery changed and everything became much more forestlike (though not quite the selva, or jungle, I was expecting).
We got to Puerto Iguazu at around 11am. It was about 75 or 80 degrees out and so humid, definitely jungle weather. We took a Colectivo to our hostel, which was more like a little resort! It was really nicely decorated and had a lot of amenities that most don't have -- a pool, internet, etc. After an awkward check-in (turns out Nathan and Cati are not JUST friends after all--oops!), we dropped our stuff off and took the bus to Iguazu National Park, which is where the waterfalls are.
We took a long hike and got to walk over some of the falls. Every view we came to was more incredible than the last. Even the small waterfalls throughout the park (which on their own, would be absolutely wonderful) seemed dwarfed by the series of gigantic falls.. I thought that Niagora was the biggest waterfall ever, but these are multiple times bigger.
Going to the "Throat of the Devil" trail
Niagora is just a tiny chunk of what Iguazu is. The name, by the way, comes from two Guarani Indian words: Y (water) and Guazu (big). So it's Big Water! Very appropriate name...We then took the "Nautical Adventure," which was a boat ride to the falls. It was kind of a dumb idea in retrospect, since all that happened was we got taken really close to the falls and were DRENCHED in water. The view was only better for a half a second before we were being pounded with water and couldn't see anything. We didn't even go behind the falls, which is what I would have liked to do. I wish we hadn't done that, but it was fun, I suppose. Everyone came off of the boat soaking wet and then we had to do the long hike back to the bus and the bus ride to the hostel. It wasn't cold per se, but my clothes were heavy and after dark it did get cold.
We got back to the hostel, I took a hot shower, and we met up for dinner. The hostel's dinner was excellent! We had asado (barbecue) and it was so delicious. I kept eating and eating. And drinking. We drank caiparinhas, which are these Brazilian drinks made from liquor from sugarcane extract, lime and sugar. We laughed a lot, saw some other Roadies (one of whom was Caroline, who goes to Georgetown with me! We're all over Argentina this summer!), and had a good time.
We went to bed at around 11pm, Cati and Nathan in their double, me in my bunk bed shared with 4 other girls, because the next day would be busy as well... (Continued in the next post)
The first glance of the waterfalls was from above them. They looked like a huge hole in the ground, with an enormous amount of water gushing down. It was truly breathtaking. We walked around the park a bit, which had some amazing butterflies, flowers, and of course, lots of water. We saw the Brazilian side of the waterfall, which was close enough to swim to! I was almost in Brazil!
