updates and more on the falls

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So, I am writing this roughly three weeks after I previously blogged, and roughly a month after we actually did the thing I´m blogging about. We are currently in Puerto Natales, Chile, about to start our 4 day trek into the Torres Del Paine National Park - home of the famous ¨W,¨which should be a trail full of Europeans (and of course, beautiful scenery).

But I left you off in Foz De Iguazu, Brazil, over 2000 miles away, where we ventured over to one of the largest dams in the world, the Itaipu Dam, and then to the Brazilian side of the famous falls, which enable you to have a broad overview of just how awesome the things are, and tempt you with expensive trips into the falls.

Largely due to the humidity combined with the scorching sun, we enjoyed respites in at least three of Foz´s tourist-friendly beer gardens with some ice-cold chopp. We enjoyed the Cristal at one of them, but found the Brahma at another to be lacking. But we liked the Brahma chopp at Bar Luiz in Rio. It´s odd how one brand of beer can have such differing quality, but I guess it is like the difference in quality of Guinness in Ireland and out.

After our full day doing the tourist circuit on the Brazilian side of the falls, we ventured into Argentina for the first time to see the falls from the other side, but we decided to wait until the next day to do so because we wanted to buy Christmas presents for each other. So we shopped Puerto Iguazu´s three or so streets of stores to find gifts we thought each other would like and would not take up too much room in our packs (we did).

Upon the discovery that we had a DVD player in the room which we were staying in Puerto Iguazu, we decided to spend all day on Christmas watching movies. So on Monday morning (Christmas Eve), we ventured to the only video rental store in town. After wasting a good hour selecting films, the clerk informed us that we would need to provide him with a deposit of 100 pesos (roughly U$S 30 American) per film, which either he told me at the onset and I did not understand, or he just waited to tell us until after we selected our films. As we did not trust this clerk with over U$S 100 and he would not provide us with a contract or anything that would confirm that he would give back the deposits after the return, we opted not to rent for him. Sarah left frustrated, and walked in the direction opposite of the bus station, where we were to catch a bus for the Cataratas (the falls). But I calmed her down and we left.

And we then realized that we could not see everything on the Argentine side of the falls in just one day and realized exactly where we would spend Christmas.

On our first day, we explored the lower areas of the falls and took a small boat to an island in the middle which provides a slightly different perspective than the rest of the lowlands.
While the Brazilian side provides you with the scope and size of the falls, you cannot truly experience the power of them unless you visit closer up from the Argentine side, especially when you walk on the catwalk from the end of the tram to the top of falls, which we did on day two. You feel the floor below you vibrate and all you can hear is the sound of the water crashing below. Others will give the falls better justice - I enjoy writing more about the smaller, more personal things, rather than the power of sites of natural beauty that many others have discussed before.

While we did not opt for a boat trip, others we have spoken to have mentioned that it is worth every penny to go under the falls in a boat.

On day two, We took a side hike to a more obscure waterfall that´s about a good hour off the beaten path, where I swam across a pond to cool down a bit (it was still quite hot and humid). Despite not having a towel with me, I dried off in about 2 minutes.

We finished our Christmas day (Day 2), with a buffet and a fine bottle of Luigi Bosca Malbec (the Malbec, while a bit sweet, is Argentina´s signature wine) at the Sheraton Hotel overlooking the falls. The previous night, Christmas Eve, we had begged the owner of the inn where we were staying to allow us to make pasta in the kitchen, due to the closure or exhorbitant buffet prices of the restaurants in the town of Puerto Iguazu.

We left Puerto Iguazu on December 26th for Posadas, where our adventures continue.

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