Days 106-107, Iguazu Falls

The following takes place on Sunday, March 13 and Monday, March 14, 2011

After another overnight bus trip(that included a french movie with spanish subtitles that seemed to be about a pterodactyl which escapes from the Paris museum, is psychically linked to some weird old man, they die, and then mummies come to life in the museum to help this one womans comatose sister. After that, the woman gets on a ship that turn out to be the Titanic. The End. Confused? So was I) I arrived in Puerto Iguazu in Northern Argentina.

It didn’t take long for me to grab a taxi and get taken out of town to where my hostel was. This was no hostel though. This was like a resort! Huge lobby with a bar, games room, sitting area, and restaurant. Outdoor pool(and a huge one at that), poolside bar with drink specials all the time, and bungalows for rooms.

The atmosphere of the place was so chill and laid back. It made it hard to get motivated to do stuff. But I still managed to get online and fill out my Brazil visa application and get it printed. That’s one job done!

The other really cool thing about this hostel is the suppers they supply for a small fee. One night it’ll be a full out buffet with chicken and beef and salad bar, etc. The next night will be an all you can eat BBQ. It’s certainly not helping me get back in the habit of cooking my own meals. I haven’t actually done that since Chile. I’ve become lazy and my wallet shows it.

The next morning around 10 I walked to the road and got the local bus to the national park where Iguazu Falls were located. Iguazu Falls – one of the biggest waterfalls in the world. It is said that when Eleanor Rossevelt came to South America and visited the waterfalls, the first words out of her mouth were “Oh, Poor Niagra.” The waterfalls are also currently a finalist in the New 7 Wonders of the World contest that’s going on.

The falls straddle the Argentinian and Brazilian border so both sides have parks for tourists to visit to see the falls. The majority of the falls lay on the Argentina side which explains the common phrase “Argentina has the Falls, Brazil has the view.”

Getting into the park, one has the choice of either taking the train to the start of the trail to the falls or to take a trail through the jungle to get to the other trail. Now, I love hiking, and looking at the map at the five different trails that one can take, I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to do them all. The trails are incrediably easy to navigate and the park proudly boasts that over 90% of the national park is wheelchair accessible.

As I walked along the trail, the sound of the water became louder and louder. It was already obvious that these were some mighty big falls. When they did finally come into view, words can’t describe the awe I felt. And this is apparantly the low season for the water. October there’s at least twice as much water flowing over the falls as at this time of year. Intense.

There are two main trails that one can take at the waterfalls, the Lower and the Upper Circuits. The Lower circuit takes you down and into the falls at times while the Upper takes you on top. I did both numerous times that day.

I also took advantage of the boat rides into the falls as I had purchased a package back in Buenos Aires that included this. Oh man, was that fun! You go right into some of the falls and the water is coming down so fast and so cold that it’s nearly impossible to keep your eyes open. It’s an extremely short ride(12 minutes total) but totally worth it.

To get to the tallest portion of the entire falls, the Garganta del Diablo, there are two options. One can take the train up to the start of the catwalk or one can walk along the train tracks to the same area. Considering the train ride there itself is a good 15-20 minutes, I opted to take the train so as to save time.

The catwalk to the Devil’s Throat is completely over water for 1.1km. Getting to the end was insane as you’re literally standing on top of this massive, roaring body of water. You feel so tiny and so insignificant here.

I could’ve easily spent another 5 or 6 hours in the park, but sadly I couldn’t as the park closes down at 6pm. I never even made it to the fifth, and longest, trail(7km roundtrip).

I ended the night at the hostel enjoying the BBQ and watching a live performance of some Argentine Tango. And I finally got to go up and show my stuff with one of the performers. Yeah, I’m all kinds of awesome.