The Jungle, Part 2

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I am listening to Bersuit Vergarabat as I write this. They are an Argentine band that I am going to see tomorrow at Quilmes Rock, the biggest Argentine rock festival. Back to the jungle…

Today was great - I got separated a bit from my mom and Sharon, but we each had our own adventures, so it worked out great! We started out together on the Macuco Trail; a less-traveled section of Iguazu National Park that winds through 3 kilometers of jungle, then descends the last few hundred meters to the bottom of what is usually a very impressive waterfall. Unbeknownst to us, it had been almost two months since any substantial rain in Misiones Province which has left all of the less arterial waterfalls very dry. This one was reduced to a trickle. The pool below lacked enough flow to continue the creek to the next waterfall and was fostering an enormous amount of hornets and other flying things. I was surprised at how much they annoyed me, while Sharon and Amina calmly batted away 5 or 6 at a time…

After a quick lunch break at the bottom of the waterfall, we decided to check the time. It was 3:10. Realizing that the last train to La Garganta del Diablo (the close-up view from the top of the most powerful waterfalls) left at 4. It had taken us about an hour and half to get to the waterfall. After we decided to do our best to get back in time, my mom decided to recount our recent experiences to some fellow hikers. After several minutes, I had to interject and remind her that we were on a very tight schedule. Amina and Sharon decided it was really not going to be possible for them to make it and that I should run ahead; so I left most of my water with them and took off. I was walking fast and taking jogging stints every so often. When I stopped jogging, I would think I heard movement in the jungle to the sides of the trail but then realize that it was just my heart pounding. As I passed kilometer marker 2, I stopped to check the time. It was 3:30. With two kilometers left, I knew it was doable, but I would need to jog more. It may have been the change in light, but on the way back I noticed many more of the jungle-sized spiders looming overhead, centered in their giant webs. They build their webs stretching all the way across the path and then wait patiently in the middle (at least 1.5 inch body length).

The Macuco Trail crosses the train tracks and then a short while later comes to the central train station, my destination. I passed the train tracks unsure of whether or not the train had left already and about halfway to the station heard what I assumed must be the train. I tried jumping up to get a glimpse over the tall grasses to see if it was, in fact, the train. I managed to get a good view and saw it chugging around the bend, so I booked it back to where the trail first crosses the tracks. It was just coming into view as I got to the tracks, and as it approached me I tried to ask the conductor if it was headed to La Garganta. He responded my shaking his finger angrily and saying no (he already knew my motives). I jogged alongside the train (it moved pretty slowly) and asked another tourist the same question, he said yes. As another employee in the back of the train shook his finger and head at me, I grabbed a part of the train and hoisted myself up into a seat (to the obvious surprise of the other tourists on the train). I was feeling very cool at this point, having caught a moving train and disobeyed the park employees. It was just something I HAD TO DO.

When we stopped at the next station, I was approached by the employees who had told me not to jump on the train and they told me that I shouldn’t have compromised their jobs, blah blah blah…but they still let me stay on the train which is all that mattered to me. I got to La Garganta and walked out along the walkway to the waterfall. The walkway is built above the very broad river that is the top of Iguazu falls. On the way out I saw one crocodile, some birds, butterflies and plecostomus. On the way back I saw more crocodiles, more plecostomus, a turtle and a ton of fish.

La Garganta is incredible. There is a vertical rainbow coming out of the falls and you can see from there that the Brazilian side is not nearly as cool as the Argentine side (although they say its’ worth doing both). I stayed out at the falls as long as I could, feeling the mist, and wishing I could get down to the water and fill up my water bottle (I obviously hadn’t had time to buy water or fill it up anywhere all day). As they made their sweep to move everyone back to the train, I was at the back of the group, walking slowly and taking in everything I could. The evening is a much better time for animals, etc as they are all out looking for food.

On the train back, I met an Argentine family who were seated near me. They live in the capital, the daughter goes to an English Immersion school and the mother works for a chemical company that makes Royal Canin dog food, among other things. They gave me some of their water, and when we got to the front of the park, we cheek-kissed and said ciao.

The bus back was packed and I had to scream out ¡pará! to the bus driver as he barreled past my hotel. It felt great to be back and I found Sharon and Amina by the pool with another one of those fruity, tropically, alcoholly drinks (good thing they had a little extra for me…). As it turned out, they had not been too far behind me on the Macuco trail, but I couldn’t have been even a minute later in order to catch the train. I mostly just felt horrible that they hadn’t gotten to see such a cool part of the park!

Juan Jose was waiting to take care of the paperwork for our car rental and our chevy p.o.s. was waiting outside. It had air conditioning, which was all we really cared about, and I couldn’t wait to begin the next part of our adventure!

Dinner tonight was at El Gallo Negro, a very cool-looking parilla. The 9 peso service fee/person included a great salad bar with grilled vegetables and tons of other salad stuff. We ordered a Patagonia beer, Surubí (the local, 70-kilo river fish), Patagonian lamb, and surubí-filled raviolis. It was really good. No ice cream tonight, but it was fun getting used to the car and the whole idea of driving again was making me very happy.

When we got back to the hotel, I tried to read a bit for my class on graphic design, but I ended up just looking at the stars. Day 3…

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Comments

[Andy B! Sucka!]

bad ass!
props on hoppin' on the moving train. sounds like something i might do. i miss you so bad dude. i wish i could be there. i gotta tell you though im glad and it makes me really proud that you are making the most of your stay. truly.

[The Ziggz]

Dear Andy:
Thanks for being my biggest fan.