2 countries, 250 waterfalls, 1 amazing experience

So for me to take a bus 20 hours to stay somewhere for only 2 days just to get on another 23 hour bus, that place had better be well worth it. There's probably about 2 places I would spend that long traveling to do this for. Machu Picchu is one, since that's the place that changed my life. Iguazu is obviously the other.

Iguazu is located at the very northeast part of Argentina, bordering Brazil and Paraguay. Iguazu national park, where the falls are located, span both countries. The Argentinean side has a network of catwalks that take you over the falls so you get more of a birds eye view. Brazils side let's you go way up close. Both sides are amazing, and luckily my visa is good for 3 more years so I did get to see them both!

The Argentinean side day I showed up at my hostel sick, exhausted and dirty. I showered, downed 3 cups of bad coffee, and popped the rest of my meds and took off. The park is really spread out and there are lots of activities you can do inside. I opted for the upper and lower view of the falls, a walk around an island in the middle, a boat ride into the falls, train ride to the Garganta del Diablo (devils throat), and 6km walk on a nature trail that had no nature whatsoever.  The boat ride was the coolest but scariest part, only because I heard a boat capsized 2 months ago from the pressure of the water and everyone died. So the whole time I was thinking, "this is amazing. Please let me live to tell about it!". You get completely soaked, which is ok because iguazu is the one place I've been thats actually hot all the time. Needless to say my boat did not capsize, and I made it back to land in time to run through all the activities. This was one day that I was actually really glad I didn´t have anyone with me, because I was running around like a crazy person so that I didn´t miss anything.  The nature trail I mentioned called Macuco was the only part of my day that sucked - they close the trail at 3pm so I had to rush to make it there, and when I walked through it (in my flip flops, which I thought I was being smart wearing since I was doing the boat ride til I realized I was now on a hike and that was the opposite of smart) I saw absolutely nothing. Not even the little anteater racoon creature or butterflies that I saw at the falls. 

For day 2, the Brazilian side, the lovely people of Iguazu are nice enough to let me pay another 100 pesos to cross over through their country.  These 2 people on my bus actually didn´t have visas and weren´t allowed to cross the border because they didn´t have the right visas. I was so glad I did my Rio trip because I wouldn´t have paid $130 just to cross this once, and the Brazilian embassy actually makes you do it from the US and not here so I would have been screwed anyway.

The people in this hostel were all in a group and not very friendly, so I intended to have another day at the falls myself.  Except when I got to the bus stop I ran into my friend Tom that I met on the volcano in Pucon, so not only was I not alone but I had someone I already knew and had hung out with 2 full days in Pucon! This is actually the 2nd person that I met on the volcano that I´ve run into since.  We got to the Brazilian side which reminded me more like Disney World with their monorails everywhere. The Argentinean side was walkable once you got to the park, but the Brazilian side you had to take a bus to the front, then another bus to get to the falls, to the safari, to all the things there. So we took the bus down and I saw the difference in the sides, and it´s basically from Brazil they set up their platforms to let you get up close and personal with the falls.  There were rainbows everywhere again and it was just as beautiful as it was the day before. 

This time I was kind of rushing because there was a 2:50 bus and then a 5:00 bus, and there is a point downtown in Iguazu that you can see Brazil and Paraguay from Argentina and I wanted to get there before the sunset and I couldn´t find it.  So I skipped the safari walk, but I did manage to squeeze in this bird park that I thought would be lame because I usually hate birds, but was actually really cool because it was all in a giant garden and you felt like you were walking through the jungle as you got to each exhibit.  You even got to go in to these caged areas and get up close to the parrots and toucans! Really cool.

I made it back to town, changed into sneakes (I learned my lesson) and ventured off to the 3 country point. I met a really nice couple from Bristol, UK and ended up trekking there with them, and discovered that when I order vodka sodas here, just like at Japeanese places in the US I am given a full glass of vodka and a can of diet coke. Which actually makes 2 drinks, so for about $7 I am set for the night!  I treated myself to real dinner since I knew I was getting on a 23 hour bus in the morning, and discovered my 2 new friends will be in both Bolivia and Peru the same time as me! 

Last stop in Argentina, Salta. Then it´s off to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile and onward to Bolivia!