Advertisement
Published: April 15th 2012
Edit Blog Post
Introducing Matt to his first 18 hour bus drive wasn’t something we were looking forward to. We had done a few of these ourselves in the past few months and were therefore almost immune to them, but how would Matt react? Answer…. Like he had been doing them for years. This was a huge bonus as we had several more of these to come over the coming fortnight, and if we was to see everything we wanted to see, these bus journeys were essential and were going to be frequent.
On arrival to the small town of Puerto Iguazu we managed to find ourselves a nice little hostel close to the centre of town with a pool and with a room that hosted 5 people. The 5 bed room was a requirement as although at the time there was only the three of us, Troy (whom we had met in Bolivia) as well as his friend Kylie were scheduled to meet us that night from BA in order to join us on our Iguazu adventure. Puerto Iguazu not being a huge place meant we could walk around most of the town within about half an hour and so after familiarising
ourselves with our new surroundings, we grabbed some food and chilled for the afternoon. Come 9pm, we were starting to get a little hungry and as Troy and Kylie had yet to join us, we decided to go grab something to eat. Just as we left the hostel up pulls a bus though, and guess who is inside….. So, after the initial introductions we all headed out to an Asado restaurant, and promptly stuffed ourselves with meat and alcohol whilst occasionally chatting between mouthfuls. After the meal, we decided to chill around our pool, as the evening air was still warm, with a couple of frosty ones all getting to know one another better.
So, the next morning all fully acquainted with each other, the 5 of us headed to the entrance of the famous Iguazu falls on the Argentinian side of the border. After a tacky train ride within the park and a kilometre and a half’s walk or so, we were finally at ‘The Devils Throat’. This part of the falls is probably the most breath-taking due to its vast size and sheer volume of water and is really quite something to see first-hand. The sheer force
of the water falling over the edge, and the mist that the water creates is so incredible that you can see hardly any of the other falls within the park. The area here is of course packed with tourists and did get a little busy, however this was to be expected at a sight such as this, so we all just took a deep breath and got in amongst the circus!
After this, I was sceptical as to what the rest of the day would bring. Having seen the devils throat, you feel like you have seen all there is to see here, and that it’s probably not worth hanging about as there’s no way anything could possibly top that. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think for me anything did quite match up to it after that, however I was pleasantly surprised when walking on both the ‘superior’ and ‘in superior’ trails of the park, to see dozens more amazing waterfalls spanning for what seemed like miles. It was only then after seeing these trails we all comprehended how big these falls were, and how amazing it was to see them. Whilst walking round here, we also saw
a fair amount of wildlife including a bunch of coatimundi. These were funny little creatures walking around trying to forage for food in both the forest and from tourist’s plates! One family who decided to feed them after strict instructions not to, ended up seeing some of the ‘red mist’ that Troy is known for, when he rightly had a pop at them in basic Spanish for their irresponsibility by saying
‘No. Muy Mal. Muy muy, mal’ which basically translated means
‘No. this is naughty, very naughty’ in a school teacher style telling off!!
After walking around a little more, we decided it was time to cash in the ticket we had bought for the boat ride that goes right up close and personal to a couple of the falls, and just in the nick of time too. We were the last boat out on the water for the day and was closer than we realised to losing out on our trip. After getting our lifejackets on and stepping onto the boat, we realised there were only a few seats left, and so made our way to the back of the boat. Donna, noticing that there was a small
puddle of water on her seat asked if I wouldn’t mind swapping, as she didn’t really want a wet bum. Being the gentleman I am, I switched seats, and allowed Donna to take the seat at the edge of the boat. After a few minutes gunning around on the river and coming ‘closeish’ to a few of the waterfalls, we were all a little disappointed as we thought we was going to get wet on this trip and cursed the money we had paid for such a let-down. But then we noticed some action up front with the boat staff….. They were putting on rainmacs and covering their cameras with waterproof shielding whilst instructing us to put our cameras away. Maybe we would get a little wet after all? It was then it happened…. We were belting straight for one of the most powerful, largest waterfalls in the park with no signs of stopping, with us all shrieking in anticipation. Just before we hit the fall though, the boat stopped and turned to the side letting in a ton of water, soaking us from head to toe. This is what we paid for! After this, we went to another of
the falls, and sure enough we endured another soaking from the unbelievably forceful falls, this time letting in waves at the side of the boat as well….Donna’s side! Once the trip was over, there wasn’t a dry person on the boat, and the floor was sopping wet. We all had smiles in our faces, and also had a little chuckle about Donna’s comment regarding not sitting in the wet patch previously, especially as Donna seemed to get the worst of the soaking next to the edge of the boat!
After the boat, the park was all but being closed down, and so we made our way slowly back to the bus, and eventually Puerto Iguazu and our hostel. That evening, we cooled off in the hostels pool at sunset, whist having a few cervezas, and a chat about the day’s events, deciding where to eat tonight. All the while Matt was starting to get an idea of what we had been up to over the last 6 months or so, and was little by little starting to see all the benefits of travelling, and none of the drawbacks!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.058s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0284s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Wendy Jupp
non-member comment
A little wet!!!
This all looks amazing was nice to read the blog and see the amazing pictures again, after seeing matt's when he first got home. Love and hugs Mum XXXX