The Follow-up (Part 4)
Trip Start
Feb 10, 2006
1
18
32
Trip End
May 31, 2006
Puerto Iguazu, Misiones,
Argentina
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
As we got in the car and made our way through the town towards the park, I noticed how quiet it was. This was a Monday so not only did we have the town to ourselves but I assumed also the park. Even though it was the low season for Puerto Iguazu, the weekend had been very busy with people and movement all around. Now it just seemed like a quiet sleepy town in northern Argentina.
When we got to the park, we realized our first assumptions had been correct: we had the park to ourselves
01 Sendero Macuco
. We paid our entrance fee and started walking around inside the park trying to figure out what to do. We mainly wanted to see if there were any hikes left to do besides the first two we had already been on the first day. After a strawberry popsicle to cool us off we asked one of the few park guides we saw walking around. He told us about a hike called the Sendero Macuco (Macuco Trail) which was recommended only for fit, trained people. Our eyes instantly widened since this was exactly what we were looking for: a hike that would leave us without breath, deep into the jungle. The guide gave us a map, pointed the way, and off we were.When we got to the beginning of the trail there was a big wooden welcoming sign that had the trail map carved into it. Apparently the hike was 3 km long (making that a total of 6 km both ways). The map was color coded into sections: the green part of the trail was Easy, the yellow part was Moderate and red parts which were shorter were Difficult. The end of the trail apparently led to a waterfall, according to the picture. Seemed nice to hike all that way and find yourself with a water cascade in the middle of the jungle. It was definite something that would keep you going. In any case, it didn't look too hard. We took a few "before" pictures to compare to the "after" pictures we would take in the same spot once we had finished the trail
02 Walking into the Jungle
.We couldn't get over how amazing the trail was. We were literally in the jungle. There was no steel platforms and no stone lanes, just a narrow sinuous dirt path. The only thing that made me a bit jumpy were the potential animals or bugs we might run into. Not because I get grossed out, but because these were jungle bugs and animals that one from the city is not accustomed to deal with. I saw a lot of bugs and flies I didn't even recognize. The mosquitoes were basically flying cows....even though we had covered ourselves in OFF, I was still able to feel the sharp pins of mosquitoes biting at my legs and arms. At one point I looked at Ed's back and he was covered in mosquitoes. If you're a mosquito-hating person like me, then you'd appreciate why I started to not like the hike so much. This was beside the fact that my legs were all itchy with grape-size pink mosquito bites.
Aside from the bugs and mosquitoes, we did see hundreds of butterflies as I had hoped. These butterflies weren't as friendly as the ones on the main circuits but I guess it was only because this hike was less frequented by tourists. Ed also noticed when there was one of those huge lizards hiding about....mainly because of the stench. We would quietly listen for movement and finally spot it when it moved a leg or something
03 Jungle Watch
. These aren't very fast animals so they didn't scurry along like the smaller lizards.At various points when we stopped for a drink of water, and when the sound of our footsteps wasn't the only thing our ears captured, we could feel and hear the jungle breathing on us. The leaves, the bugs, the animals, the quiet wind. Everything had its beautiful smell and sound to it.
It was incredibly hot that day, hotter than any day so far in our trip, and let me tell you that even though most of the trail was shaded from the sun by the trees, we could still feel the damp thick air pulling us down. Despite this, the longest and easiest part of the trail went by really quickly and suddenly we came to the second stage. We realized this not only by the appearance of rocks and hills to climb, but also by the far away sound of water.
We started to climb rocks upwards and downwards, following an invisible trail which if it hadnīt been marked by arrows, we would have gotten lost. I could understand why this was marked red in the map for "Difficult". We found ourselves out of breath more than once climbing those damn rocks. Sometimes we had to grab a hold of roots or entire plants to help us either climb up or get down from a stone
04 Ed of the Jungle
. But either way, we could feel the waterfall closer as the noise was getting louder.We noticed we were there when we started feeling the ground a bit more mushy, and there was mud and droplets of water in some plants. We could hear the water rumbling loud and clear, and we could certainly feel some of the watery spray, but where the hell was the waterfall?
Finally, as if answering our cursing, we squeezed in between two enormous boulders and there it was...the Holy Grail of all waterfalls. In that opening in the jungle there was a pool of water where a radiant cascade was falling into. The shady effect of the trees was gone so you could now see the glistening of lost water droplets in the air. It was just mesmerizing, and I have to admit I had never been up close to a waterfall before, which was something I'd been wanting to do for a while. I'm always so drawn to water for some reason. Be it lakes, beaches, rivers, streams, brooks, creeks....any watercourse in nature always catches my undivided attention.
Ed went in the pool for a swim as I enviously watched from afar. The water was too cold for me so as much as I tried I couldn't submerge myself further than my calves
05 Trying to climb a boulder
. There was a little kid who stood right below the cascade of freezing water as he waved to his parents who were standing with the other boring people (me) on the rocks watching the fun people bathing. Kids have no sensitivity to cold for some reason, so that didn't count. After a while Ed came back, rested on a rock while he dried himself off and we started our hike back. The walk back was harder for sure. We were more tired and our feet were in total agony. Fortunately, despite the fatigue, we walked back fairly quickly and the hike back was finished in no time. We left the jungle covered in dirt from head to toe, mosquito and other bug's bites all over, hungry, thirsty and exhausted. Somehow we made it to the car.
While we were driving back, Ed had the great idea to cross the Brazilian border by foot to where the huge Duty Free Mall was. Since I am a lost case of a shoppaholic, my feet ache or my muddy clothes did not stop me from telling him to stop being ridiculous and head straight to the hotel. I don't remember much but the next thing I knew we were standing in the cash register of the Brazilian Duty Free Mall with bags and bags of candies, boxes of chocolates (Kit Kats for example which you can't get in Buenos Aires), and a raspberry flavored Absolut vodka
06 The Holy Grail
. Thankfully I had come to my senses in the perfume section which I walked away from when I saw my favorite perfume. That's what I call will-power.We finally made it to the hotel and got ready for our last night in Puerto Igauzu. We still had one more day before we had to return to BA but we wanted to spend it somewhere else since we felt we had squeezed the juice from Puerto Iguazu.
Overall, it had been an amazing three days. I had been pleasantly surprised when I first saw the park. We had been able to witness nature's magnificence in all it's might. We had hiked enough to stare jungle animals in the face. We had taken an adrenalinic boat ride through the waterfalls. We had taken a jeep through the jungle. We had dealt with annoying tourists and tour guides. We had been bitten by all sorts of bugs. We had exercised more than in the past few months. We had experience amazing weather for that time of year. We met some interesting people. No wonder this place was a world marvel.
We really couldn't complain. Nevertheless, the next day we were to check out of the hotel, jump in the car and see where else the road would take us.
