Iguazu Falls

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Been a While

I have been remarkably slack with keeping my blog up to date, with my last entry being us entering Argentina. I shall try to do a run down of the cities we went to because I can´t leave Salta, Cordoba and Buenos Aires unspoken for. But that´s for another time. To keep you keen, it saw such exciting events as:

*Finding a St Joseph´s College (my old school) Rugby ball in a sports store window in Salta.
*Being mistaken for a local by a local and asked for directions (trust me, that never happened in Bolivia!)
*Finding out that the prices in Argentina meant we would be leaving far quicker than we anticipated.
*Getting mugged (Mum, don´t worry, I was very brave and did exactly what you would want from me - I ran. The Boss wasn´t as quick and got her bag nicked. She called me a pussy for not defending her. I called her slow for not keeping up.)
*Having a spectacular evening on the roof of Eddy, Jess and Alex´s apartment building with amazing views of Buenos Aires.
*Staying at the Milhouse hostel, finding out I was too old to enjoy party hostels and being told on a number of occassions by the Boss that I´m going grey.

Anyway, these will have to wait for another time. We hit Iguazu Falls yesterday and that´s what I can remember right now...

Back on the Buses

We left Buenos Aires on January 5th on a 6:50PM bus. This time the Boss and I had some travel companions in Greta McCarty and Petra Koenig, a couple of my sister´s friends who had arrived in BA on the 2nd of January. The bus was a 17 hour trip, so there´s not a great deal to detail there except that they had a couple of the films they showed in English, which was a rare high point. "The Ghostwriter" is pretty good except for the fact that he finds out who the bad guy really is by googling him and *spoiler alert* there just happens to be a car waiting out the front at the very end, ready to run people down in case they ruin the book launch.
We got in to Puerto Iguazu at 1PM the next day and headed out to our hostel, the hostel inn. Run by Hostelling International, it was everything we had come to expect from HI - good accommodation, good services but high prices and terrible service. Greta and Petra dropped their bags off and jumped straight in to a cab to head to the Brazillian side of the Iguazu Falls, which was about 45 minutes away by cab. I didn´t have a Brazillian visa and I think the Boss was just tired, so we stayed at the hostel where she got lobster-fied by the pool and I had a snooze. Nothing like sleeping on a bus to totally wear you out.
Greta and Petra were back in the evening and raved about the Falls. Dinner at the hostel was an all-you-cnm-eat buffet with some of the best beef we´ve had in South America. We were joined at dinner by a Norwegian named KJ (he reckoned his name was too hard for English speakers to pronounce and, based on the few attempts I made at it when he told me it, he was right) and an Aussie named Ricardo. We all had a few drinks by the pool but ultimately had an earlyish night. The room the Boss, Petra, Greta and I were staying in was an absolute sweat box - I got up and opened the door to the dorm at about 4AM which helped cool it down a little but I still woke up with my sheets soaked in sweat.
The following morning was a bit of a fiasco, trying to sort out bus tickets for the girls to Mendoza and the Boss and I to Salta but we eventually got it together and were on a public bus out to the Falls by midday.

Don´t Go Chasing Waterfalls

We arrived at the falls a little after 1PM. It was ARG$100 to enter and a sign on the ticket office warned that complaints would not be heard after you had paid your fee, so you had to get stuck in to them about whatever pissed you off about the Falls before you´d seen them.
Entering the Falls felt a lot like entering a theme park. Honestly, the whole time we were there I got a bit of a theme park vibe. Not in a bad way, like it was heaps commercial and I felt that the natural beauty of the place had been violated, more that there was a sense of anticipation and excitement in the air. It´s just that instead of going on rides, you got to see these massive waterfalls (there was a ride, but we´ll get to that).
To get to the Falls there was a train, which was more a series of benches on wheels being drawn along at 7 km/h by a sturdy little engine. It took us to a station about 5 minutes away, where we all had to get off and wait for another train to take us to the top station. There was a small cafe next to the train station and out of the brush next to it came a Coati. Coati look kind of like raccoons (they´d make a sweet Davy Crockett hat) but with long, ant-eaterish snouts. Clearly the Coatis at Iguazu have no fear of humans, as it walked straight up to the tables where people were eating and started forraging underneath for scraps. Soon baby Coatis followed the adult and the cafe was crawling with them. One got really bold and climbed up on to a woman´s table while she was still eating! They were mighty cute but at the end of the day, a Coati is just a big, South American rat. We didn´t pat them.
After the waiting at the station and trains themselves, it was after 2PM by the time we got off at the top station to go to the first of the Falls.

Descriptions of Water

If you´ve read any of my other posts, you may have realized by now that describing things isn´t my strong suit. I like to think I push for plot over scenery and my readers (all four of you) appreciate it and in fact have come to expect if of me. So I won´t try anything fancy here.
The Devil´s Throat was a big fucking waterfall. Huge.
To get to it from the train station was a ten or so minute stroll along a series of catwalks above water flowing down stream towards the other falls. Arriving at the Devil´s Throat, you could see a sudden drop off and a large platform where people paid guys on step ladders to get photos of them next to the Throat. The Throat is so named because rather than a single curtain of water, it comes down on three sides, giving it the look of a sink-hole. Actually arriving was like walking in to a rain storm, suddenly the wind would change and all the spray from the bottom of the fall would blow over you, which was actually welcome considering it was around 35º.
We hung around for about 5 minutes, getting photos and just marvelling at the sight of all that water. Then we turned around and headed back to the train station to head down to see some of the other falls.
At the train station (the one where we changed trains to begin with) there were two circuits - upper and lower. Upper was the smaller of the two, so we decided to do that one first.
The upper circuit was a series of catwalks on top of some of the smaller Falls (smaller compared to the Devil´s Throat - still friggin massive!) This time the spray wasn´t as intense but it was easier to get good photos and instead of being on congested point, the Falls were very spread out, giving you more space.
From there we headed down to the lower circuit. This walk was a little longer and took in some falls that weren´t a part of the upper walk. But basically, it was seeing the upper falls from below. Not belittling it, because it was still spectacular, it´s just that I´ve already made my stance on descriptions clear.

Under the Falls

Our final stop on the lower circuit was the speed boats. We had bought our tickets for these in advance and I´d been a little hesitant paying ARG$110 for a 15 minute boat ride. We were given waterproof bags to put all our valuables in, a life vest and then shepherded on to a speed boat that could seat probably around 30 or so people.
First we were taken to the falls closest to the Devil´s Throat, where we got up pretty close to the falls and took on a bit of the spray.
Then we were taken to the falls on the other side of a small island (which were about the same size) where this time the driver didn´t hold back. He drove the boat right up to the falls and had the water smashing down on to the boat and absolutely drenching us. Pulling away, the boat took a huge dip as a wave from all the water pulled us down, absolutely drenching everyone on board.
To give you an idea of just how much water we´re talking about, according to the signs at the park the Falls have a flow of 1750 cubic metres per second. That´s the second highest (to Niagra) average flow rate of any fall in the world. And they drove a speed boat under them!
We went back to the other side and this time we went under those falls too. But rather than getting up nice and close, the driver actually bumped the font of the boat against the rock surface behind the falls. It was insane!
The weirdest part for me was that when you had so much water pouring down on you, you couldn´t catch your breath. You didn´t exactly hyperventilate but you had to really concentrate to regulate your breathing. I finally understood why waterboarding is such an effective torture (I had to pay to find it out - David Hicks not only found out free, he got a book deal.)
We had one last go at the other fall before coming back to the dock. We were all absolutely soaking - couldn´t have been more wet if we´d jumped in the water.
By the time we arrived back to the train station, the final train had left (it was before 6PM but what are you gunna do?) We walked it back and I honestly think we were quicker than the train. Buses back to the hostel were every ten minutes, so we were sorted no time flat and I dozed most of the way there.
After arriving back at the hostel, Greta and Petra pretty much grabbed their bags and made their way to the bus station for their 32 hour, semi-cama (cattle class) bus to Mendoza. The Boss and I still had 36 hours to kill before our bus and so spent the next day by the hostel pool, enjoying a beer and KJ´s friendly banter and occassionally eratic behaviour.
There´s also a story of international love (lust?) in the midst of this 36 hours which bares telling but it´s been almost three weeks since I posted, so I might just get this up first.

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