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So this is the first post about our 10 day argentina adventure. I went with 3 friends from CIEE: Rachel, Natalie and Christina. We stayed most of the time in Buenos Aires but we also spent a few days in Puerto Igauzu to see the amazing waterfalls there and that's what this post is about. We got to BA friday April 17 stayed one night in a hostel and left the next afternoon at a 5 pm for a 20 hour overnight bus ride to Igauzu.
The bus ride was actually an experience in itself. We got cama (bed) style chairs that were basically like lazy-boys, snacks, dinner, (really bad) wine with dinner, and liquor before bed. We also had a really depressed looking stewardess who placed 3 really depressing movies and who woke the whole bus up at 9 am the next morning with a very loud DVD of a good charlotte concert... which wasn't cool.
We got to our hostel in Puerto Iguazu, Ar at around 11 and then got on a bus to take us to the falls. We decided to save the Devil's Throat (the SUPER HUGE falls that are a little further in the
Spider webs over our heads
You can't see them but there were about 5 or 6 huge spiders in those webs. Probably about 3-4 inches long. park) for the second day and we spent the first day (that's Sunday April 19) exploring the smaller (still very large) falls and doing a boat excursion. The boat ride was fun. It took us about half way down the river and we actually got to go under a few waterfalls, one of which was a very intense experience. LOTS of water falling on top of us.
After the boat ride we just hiked around going to alot of the different look out points. This place was really amazing. Like a fairyland. There were rainbows in almost every waterfall and butterflies EVERYwhere. Not to mention its in the middle of a rainforest where, if you had the money to pay for a safari excursion you would have the chance to see some big cats, crocodiles, and some other large rainforest animals. We did get to see coaties (which at first we thought were cute and cool but then realized that they were basically raccoons who just sift through all the trashcans in the park and who attacked Natalie's purse), some huge spiders, a taratula, and a tucan!
We left the park around 5 pm, went back to our
adorable hostel, and then went out for dinner at a really cheap parilla (Argentinian word for "grill". You always know u can get a steak at a parilla) where i ate a steak sandwich and where our super nice waitress brought us out some free house speciality appetizers. Afterwards we went to this bar because our hostel had given us coupons for a free drink each there. I was pretty pumped cuz it was called "Jackie Brown Boogie Bar" but it didn't really live up to its name. The caparinhas were good though...
Then we have Monday April 20, one of the best days of my life. We got to the falls around 11, i think, and got on a train in the park that took us to La Garganta del Diablo (the Devil's Throat), the section of giant falls for which Iguazu is most well known.
Here's some info copy and pasted from wikipedia about Iguazu...
Their name comes from the Guarani or Tupi words "y" (water) and "ûasú" (big).
Iguazu Falls was short-listed as a candidate to be one of the New7Wonders of Nature by the New Seven Wonders of the World Foundation. As of
February 2009 it was ranking fifth in Group F, the category for lake, rivers, and waterfalls
The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along 2.7 kilometers (1.67 miles) of the Iguazu River. Some of the individual falls are up to 82 meters (269 ft) in height, though the majority are about 64 metres (210 ft). The Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo in Spanish or Garganta do Diabo in Portuguese), a U-shaped, 82-meter-high, 150-meter-wide and 700-meter-long (490 by 2300 feet) cataract, is the most impressive of all, and marks the border between Argentina and Brazil. Two thirds of the falls are within Argentine territory. About 900 meters of the 2.7-kilometer length does not have water flowing over it. The edge of the basalt cap recedes only 3 mm per year. The water of the lower Iguazu collects in a canyon that drains into the Paraná River at Argentina, shortly downstream from the Itaipu dam.
Anyways, the train drops us off and then we have to walk about 1km on this bridge over the river and through little islands-which was beautiful- cuz the Devil's Throat is 1km away from solid land. We saw some beautiful birds, a turtle, and, of course,
more butterflies.
When we finally got to the devil's throat we were BLOWN AWAY. I mean, I've put up pictures but they don't do justice to the shear size of these waterfalls. And the noise! The noise of tons and tons of water falling. It was amazing. We stayed at the look out for 3 hours, made ourselves a little picnic, and just checked out the different views. It was seriously breathtaking.
Alot of people we met who found out we were from the US asked us how Iguazu compared to Niagara. None of us have ever been to Niagara but i read that the Iguazu falls are notably bigger. Wikipedia says "Upon seeing Iguazu, the United States' First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed "Poor Niagara!"" Also, isn't it also rainy and windy and cold in Niagara? At Iguazu it was probably about 85 degress, sunny, with a constant mist. Did i mention rainbows and butterflies?
Well, after our lovely lovely day, we went back to the hostel, packed up, and got on the bus at 7 pm to go back to Buenos Aires...
which i will write about in the next entry.
Love!!
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