las cataratas de iguazú

We just returned from Iguazú Falls!

Spectacular. Breathtaking. Incredibly beautiful.

This trip to the tip-top northeastern part of Argentina was the perfect one to take on our long weekend, because you need just 2 or 3 days to see everything but it takes a day to get there and a day to get back.

The bus ride from Córdoba to Puerto Iguazú was about 20 hours...but OH so comfy. They ain't lyin' when they say traveling by bus in Argentina is the way to go. The seats recline back almost all the way, you get a nice pillow and a blanket, they show movie after movie and serve you decent meals and even a glass of champagne before falling asleep! There are about a bazillion bus companies, and we (thankfully) chose one of the bests.

So that was great. We (Abby, Valerie, Veronica and myself) arrived to our comfy little bed-and-breakfast/hostel in Puerto Iguazú on Thursday afternoon. Puerto Iguazú is a small town that thrives on the constant flood of tourists that pour in day after day. This weekend was especially packed; I read in the local paper that they were expecting 40,000 tourists and for 96 percent of the rooms in the town to be booked. We poked around the town a bit and wound up at the shores of the river where you could see the Brazil and Paraguay! How neat! We realized we totally could have made a trip to Paraguay with just our passport at 10 pesos (rather than getting another Visa) but we didn't really have the time.

Veronica and Valerie, Argentina on the left, Paraguay straight ahead and Brazil on the right

That night we made our first trip to the national park to see the waterfalls. Five days out of the month, when the moon is full or nearly full, the park offers moonlight tours of the falls. We jumped at the chance since it was the night before the full moon and the sky was as clear as it could be. It was the most breathtaking thing I've ever seen!! I wish I could have taken decent pictures...but you'll just have to take my word for it. We walked for what seemed like forever in the dark guided only by the moon's light on a bridge over the Rio Iguazú, and little by little heard the roar of the falls....then all of a sudden, there we were, there they were. The viewpoint we were standing at is called La Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Mouth). It's the most instense view of the falls, and at night, it was so amazing, almost spiritual.

After catching our breath and going back to bed, we woke up on Friday and spent the whole day in the park. We took another tour, this time through the jungle on a truck, then down the river and UNDER the waterfalls! It was so so so much fun.

Me and Abby

We spent the rest of the day poking around the park to see all the different falls and views, and went back to La Garganta del Diablo to see the same view in the day. Here it is. Amazing huh?

Saturday we spend a couple of hours doing another adventure excursion. We got picked up and driven through the jungle on this weird truck-thingy. We drove really deep in the jungle, and also through the outskirts and past little villages that were really impoverished. It was neat to see a different part of Argentina.

On this excursion we got to walk a bit through the jungle, go wet rapelling down a waterfall and zipline above the trees!! It was awesome. It could have been a little more intense, but for what it was, it was rad.

Abby rapelling down the waterfall

So that's that. Other than eating some good meals and seeing weird entertainment at a bad Mexican restaurant, that was our trip! It was a really great experience all in all and makes me hungry to see more of this giant country.