Hello again!
This post will be about my trip to Iguazu this weekend. For everything that we did in the second half of our three week stint here in Buenos Aires, including a day trip out to Tigre, you will have to (1) check out Aparna’s blog, (2) comb through the copious amount of photos that will be posted to our Facebook accounts and/or (3) set aside an hour or two and ask me about it.
So, our last day of class was Friday. We caught the beginning of the Farewell Dinner (ate an empanada, got dinner to go) and hopped in cabs to the bus terminal, where we had a bit of a mad dash to the area our bus was supposed to leave from, only to figure out that it was delayed and had not yet even arrived. After around 20 minutes it pulled in, and the five of us began the coolest bus trip of our lives. We had opted for the “cama” (bed) bus, as opposed to the “semi-cama” (half-bed), so the seats were wide and plus, and reclined far back enough to form a very comfortable sleeping spot. We were provided with fleece blankets and were served an airplane-like dinner, drinks (including a choice of champagne or whiskey after dinner) and breakfast in the morning. We arrived in Puerto Iguazu Saturday afternoon, and spent the late afternoon and early evening lounging in and around the hostel’s giant pool. We had a fancy dinner and caipirinhas in an Italian restaurant, followed by ice cream at the place next door, even though we were full, because we know we’re going to miss Argentinian ice cream as soon as we get on the place home.
On Sunday morning, we got up early for our excursion to the falls. Most of the falls (80%) are part of an Argentinian national park, and there are various walkways, trails and “balconies” set up throughout the park to best observe the falls. The other 20% are on the Brazilian side of the border, and apparently from the Brazilian side you have the best panorama. I find that hard to believe though, because it’s hard to top what we saw.
Here are some snapshots, none of which do any justice to what any of it actually looked like:
"La Garganta del Diablo" ("The Devil's Throat")--the largest waterfall in the park.
Partial panorama of some of the falls
As we walked, we saw lots of monkeys–there are 700 species of butterflies in the park!–birds, a turtle, fish, spiders, grasshoppers, monkeys, and dozens of coaties.
These turtles have 25cm necks!
Yesterday, Monday, we returned to the park (it’s half price the second day, and we were free til 5pm) for a short hike along the Macuco trail, which ends at the base of one of the smaller falls. The pool is shallow and swimmable, and we brought food for a picnic lunch, so I happily spent hours alternating between chilling, swimming, sitting under the waterfall, and snacking on various forms of carbs spread with queso blanco and dulce de leche.
We took the 6pm bus back to Buenos Aires, but there was a massive storm that began a few minutes before boarding, stayed behind as we drove off, and came back with a vengeance a bit after midnight. Many parts of the route back to Buenos Aires were on unpaved or semipaved roads, which were destroyed by the torrential rain, so the 17 hour trip ended up taking just over 20 hours.
