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Published: December 26th 2009
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The bus has deluxe seats, wide and comfy with an amazing range of recline. Defiinitely worth the extra fare. What you can't pay extra for are considerate passengers. The couple in front of us felt the need to fully recline for every single minute of the 14 hour journey less perhaps 10 minutes. Even during the stops when they were not in their seats. Their position wedged Keith and I into our seats which meant a creative McGyver like escape when we wanted to get off the bus or use the toilet. Discussion with the couple was futile due to their self imposed entitlement with the purchase of their ticket. We still managed to get some sleep and be relatively alert leaving the bus and the bus station. Envisioning a simple bridge and walk across the border, we are shocked to find such a metropolis that is Foz de Iguazu. We grabbed a taxi to what we thought was the Argentinian border. Instead the taxi stopped at two booths, showed our passports and took us all the way to Puerto Iguazu, Argentina.
The Argentinian side is closer to what we expected. A nice little touristy town with many hostels, restaurants, travel
agents and stray dogs. Before arriving at our timeshare apartment at the Pirayu, we stopped at the Super Mercado to pick up some food. Although similar to the offerings in Brazil, the food and drink was considerably less expensive. I was surprised to find 1 liter gin and 750 ml vodka for less than $5 each. Even more surprising was the brand. My Okanagan friends may remember a distillery in Winfield by the name of Hiram Walker, which is what was on the label complete with the same logo. Small world. The wine selection is extensive but to start we choose a couple of litres of Paraguayan wine. One a table red and one a table white. The price...less than $2. The quality and variety of meats is remarkable especially given the low price. There is an aisle of Yerba Mate and the prerequisite msg laden American brank packaged foods found in the third world. Our accommodation is a quaint cottage on the hillside overlooking the Iguazu river. The other guests appear to be Argentinian on vacation with their families. The staff is warm and friendly and we are close to town where we walk for dinner. Keith has a
house specialty of crocodile and I'm content with a unique vegetarian lasagna and a tasty nicoise salad. The musician is young and entertains us with a Spanish rendition of Route 66 and his broken English version of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.
The pool is our relaxation spot for the next day helping to relieve the incredible humidity. The weather has been stormy with thunder and lightening and lots of brown outs. But we have our incredibly priced liquor, good books, playing cards, great cheeses and each other. We'll manage just fine. If the power is on, we've also discovered a great English language channel called Travel and Living presented by the Discovery channel. It has a Canadian show produced by Terry David Mulligan called Hollywood and Vines which combines famous actors with winery visits. We learned about the wine being hawked by Gretzky, Dan Akroyd and golfer Mike Wier.
With our first promising ray of mo0rning sunlight we head out to the famous falls of Iguazu. At the gates, it is very apparent this will be a place full of turistas. Given all the hype, it's not surprising that so many people want to experience this wonder
of nature. We've chosen to join a group with a guidee for our first day. After a walk through the jungle we approach our first metal catwalk to Garganta El Diablo, the throat of the devil, which is the widest of the series of falls that make up this attraction. The Iguazu river flows voraciously beneath our feet as both us and the burnished brown water make our way to a common destination. With every catwalk we can hear the distant roar and view the clouds of mist until finally we reach the point of crescendo where the water meets the edge of the rock and plummets several hundred feet with a deafening sound. Black starlings slice through the mist in circles and dives while trails of copper shoot through endless hills of green forest.
Returning to our point of origin we take the trail to the upper circuit where we experience a spectacular view of at least a dozen waterfalls each spectacular in their own right. The overlooks allow views within just inches of the top of the cascade to panoramic scenes of water and jungle mingling to create something worth every bit of the hype. After lunch we
climb into a large land rover which heads into the forest and impending rain. Not five minutes into the trip, the sky opens up and brings down torrents of rain which have us drenched in minutes without the shelter of a canopy. Walking down a treacherous rock trail, we find the torrents as strong as ever as we climb into our boat to head into the falls. The ride up the river pelts us with drops of heavy rain making it difficult to see the enormous falls before us. Before we know it, we are into the mist and just meters from tremendous crash as water hits water. Looking up to the edge gives you a sense of how insignificant you are. The boat driver swings around for a second pass. The culmination of moisture makes breathing a challenge, and the orange life jackets around our necks give little comfort for the conditions.
The boat heads up to another set of falls with the same heart pounding experience as the first. Then we head back to shore with the rain continuing to pound us as we make our way up the never ending stairs, rocks, hills and catwalks to the
top of the trail. My urban muscles feeling every step. We manage to change into the less damp clothing we brought in the backpack. Unfortunately the rain has been so intense, nothing is dry and the electricity is out throughout the park, so the washrooms are dark and challenging. A warm coffee and a bus ride back to our accommodation is a welcome respite. With warmed up leftovers, aches and pains and some wine, we head to bed early.
This morning we attempt to catch up on some Facebook uploads and communicating with our next Couchsurfing host but alas, it is shortlived as the internet goes down once again. It has been a challenge to be online here in Iguazu, including using the ATM. We do acquire out tickets however for our trip to Curitiba on Friday.
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