After Sao Paolo, we drove to Foz do Iguacu, making a quick overnight pitstop in Curitaba (I remember absolutely nothing about this pitstop, so I'm glazing over it). We have all this supped up camping gear, but have barely used it, so we decided to find a camping spot at Iguazu. We found 2, one which was really outrageously priced for camping, and the other a pit cheaper and Visa friendly, so it was a no brainer. This hostel was actually quite nice, with a large open restaurant, pool, foozeball and pool tables, a soccer field, and free BUFFET breakfast with basically just a massive amount of cakes!! There may have been a few fruit options hidden in there, but really who's gonna eat fruit when you have unlimited cake!!
The day was late by the time we arrived at the hostel/camp site, so we made our tent, ate some dinner and planned our next day to visit the falls. Unfortunately, the next day was a bit gloomy and cold, with the threat of the overnight's rain looming, so we decided to relax, and hope for a bit of sun, instead of racing out to see the falls on a crummy day. We spent about 3 hours at the breakfast buffet, even watching shows while filling up on cakes and coffee. Finally, a bit after 2 pm, the clouds parted just the slightest amount, and we dashed out to the car to head to the falls. Thankfully, it was a really close drive, so we made it to the falls...just as the sky covered up again. But no worries, it wasn't raining just a bit chilly, so we trooped on. The Brazilian side of Iguazu, allows you to ride a bus to several different "trek" locations to walk through the forest, most end at the river and you can take a boat up to the falls, but you have to pay extra. The walk we took, took us right along the bank of the river below the falls. Iguazu is a collection of 150 to 300 different waterfalls (the number depends on the water level) that run off from the Parana River. Legend has it, that a god named Boi wanted to marry the chief's beautiful daughter, but when she ran away in a canoe to meet her secret lover, the god dove into the river causing a huge flood and creating the waterfalls, for her to tumble over to her death. We were lucky enough to see the falls after it had rained the past several nights, so the falls were massive. From the Brazilian banks, you are really able to see the extent to which this network reaches. It is massive! Much larger than one would think. As you continue to walk, new falls continue to appear from around bends in the river, and when you can finally see the whole network, it is really awe inspiring. And the noise! As we walked down, we couldn't see any water, but you could hear the falls, as if you were about to walk right up to one, but the level of noise from the collective sound of all the falls is shocking even from a distance. The last part, is a cat walk leading us as close into La Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat), as possible. There is no way to insert yourself all the way into the Devil's Throat, but even as close as we were, the wind and water could blow a rickety person over, and the noise made you have to almost yell to hear one another. Thankfully, we had Jared's waterproof camera, because as much as I tried to cover my camera lens, not even attempting to completely cover it from water, the mist seemed to be coming from below, around, inside and outside. There was no way to keep my lense from getting covered with water. At the end of our walk, we were freezing, and hungry, so we hopped back onto the bus to the entrance, and the car, and drove back to the hostel for some heavenly hot showers and dinner!
The next morning, we packed up our camping gear and headed out to Argentina (after cake!), to see the Argentine side of the falls. First, we made a quick stop at Espaco das Americas, the point where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay all meet. I finally bought a Brazil soccer jersey, as I had been trying for ages, but like a prudent idiot, found the exact one in Rio, with #10 and Neymar on the back, but thought "of course, because it's in Rio, it's going to be more expensive than elsewhere, so I'll hold off buying", and then couldn't find that jersey again anywhere!! It's THE most popular Brazilian jersey right now, and NO ONE has it!?!? I feel like I might be ranting, point is, I got a jersey (more expensive than the one in Rio), not that exact jersey, but better than nothing. If I had traveled to Brazil the year before the World Cup, and not gotten a jersey, I feel like I'd look like a bit of a tard to other soccer affionados, come next year. Anyway, I might be ranting again. We headed to the border, which had a pretty slamming (and expensive) duty free shop, and crossed in. Quick side note, before leaving the US, a bit of internet research revealed that we could sell the car in Argentina, so this would be the last country we drove into. Shockingly, and upsettingly, when we questioned customs officials about importing and selling a car, they informed us that under no circumstances could we sell a US made and registered car in Argentina...uh oh. We proceeded into Argentina, a bit dazed, but set our minds to the tourist task at hand.
We headed straight to the falls, and bought a ticket. Apparently, we arrived a bit late (noon), and got the great help of a tour guide, who gave us our exact itinerary for the next 5 hours. We ran to a train station to ride up to La Garganta del Diablo, and start at the top, making our way down. The train dropped us at the top of the river Parana, where we took a series of metal grate cat walks across the river to the edge of the Falls. Holy Moly, this was much closer to the Devil's Throat than we had been yesterday, and even though we couldn't see the end of the falls due to the white wall of mist below, I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't survive the fall if I attempted it. There is a theory, that waterfalls generate negative ions that, once breathed in, produce seratonin production and uptake, causing an improvement in mood and decreased levels of stress. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but we were both pretty giddy at the site. I think Jared may have said this was his favorite spot.
After a massive amount of picture and video taking, we bee lined it back to the train area. I bought a ticket to go on a boat into the waterfalls, but Jared didn't want to join. We then headed down to the main trek area of the park. We took another series of catwalks along the opposite bank that we had been the day before through the waterfalls. The Argentine side seems a bit better developed, with signs and markers indicating the different type of flora and fauna along the cat walks. I took my boat ride, which did not last long, but allowed me to hop of a motor boat and get right under some of the falls. The waves came crashing over the side of the boat and everyone got completely drenched from the mist of the waterfalls. A pretty cool experience. I'm insanely lucky that my camera didn't break, because, apparently, I was supposed to be listening for the captain to tell us to put away our camera, which I did not, until we were well into the "getting drenched" portion of the ride, and I just tried to stuff the camera into my pocket. After the boat ride, we walked the other set of cat walks that take you along the upper portion of the falls, and you walk right to their edges and see everything below. As the day came to an end, and the sun was setting, we were exhausted. Instead of taking the train, we walked back down the trail, and fell into the car. We were both ravenous, as we hadn't eaten since breakfast in Brazil. We drove into the town on Puerto Iguazu, and before even finding a place to sleep, drove into the center of town to find a resaurant. After a lot of driving and price checking, we finally settled on a diner and ate a massive amount of food. By then, the sun had been down for about an hour or so, and we had to drive around a no name neighborhood, looking for a camping site we had researched online. Unfortunately, the map was incorrect, and there were no street names, so after alot of driving, and asking around, we decided to pull into an overpriced hostel...and sleep in the car in the parking lot. As my clothes were all wet from the boat ride, I had a hard time warming up, but whipping out all of my warming layers and sleeping bag kept me toasty the rest of the night.
I had read and heard a lot of different opinion of which side of the falls are better, the Argentine or Brazilian (the Paraguayan build a dam on their side years ago). I will say, the Argentine side allows from a much more in depth, in your face look at the falls. You get to walk right in front of some falls, feel the massive wind gusts, get soaked with the water, and practically touch the water, as you over the river right to the precipice of the falls and look down. However, though the Argentine side is awesome, like awesome awesome, you cannot truly get an idea of the size and extent of the falls. The Brazilian side allows you to take a step back and appreciate them for the massive, intertwining, complex that they are. It's like anything, you can't truly appreciate something's incredible magnitude, if you can't see it as a whole unit. So, in summation, I would say, the Argentine side, is definitely more fun and interactive, but all waterfalls are cool (at least I assume, I've never actually been to any other big waterfalls), you can't see why this is one of the Wonders of the World, if you don't see it from the Brazilian side.
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