To get there, we took an omnibus, which was an 18 hour trip. On a bus. By far the longest bus ride I've ever been on, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be! We had cama seats, which recline basically into beds, which were comfortable. We enjoyed the trip with some free bus whiskey, bus wine, and bus food, and a fine selection of movies that they played: American Reunion and Pain & Gain. Definitely an interesting trip!
Once we got there, we went to our hostel, which was awesome. It was a very laid back, and we met some really cool people there. We made friends with a couple from New Zealand, a man from Argentina, and a man from Vienna who decided to quit his job and travel the world. How cool is that? We spent the day exploring the town of Puerto Iguazú, which is very small. We decided to cook our own dinner in the hostel, and had a delicious dinner of spaghetti, veggies, wine, and watermelon. It was a fantastic night of relaxing and hanging out with friends!
Saturday we went to the actual waterfalls. There are no words that I can use to describe them that will do them justice. They're even bigger than Niagara Falls, to give you some sense of their size. The first one we saw was the "Garganta del Diablo", or the Devil's Throat. It was a bunch of waterfalls in sort of a horsehoe shape, and it really does look like it could be the devil's throat. You can't even see where they end! It is so impressive. To get to it, you walk on a metal bridge that goes through some trees and over the river, offering tons of amazing views. I was so blown away by the sheer size of the waterfall.
We continued on to the other falls in the park, and they were just as impressive. I never stopped being in awe of them - it's crazy to think that nature made something so powerful and so huge. Unfortunately, it was pretty rainy in the morning, but the falls were still beautiful. Luckily, it cleared up for the best part of the trip - the boat ride. We got to take a boat ride that took us INTO one of the waterfalls. Not just close to it, but in it. Needless to say, we got drenched! It was so awesome though! We really got to see the falls from every angle! After we got off the boat, the sun was really shining, and there were rainbows everywhere. It was so beautiful, and I never wanted to leave.
They are these animals in the park where the falls are called coatis, and they have absolutely zero fear of humans. They look kinda like raccoons, and they can be aggressive. They love stealing food from humans. We decided we would bring a plastic bag full of snacks for the day, and my friend was carrying that bag when all of a sudden one of the coatis jumped up and grabbed it! He ripped it, spilling everything, and ran off with our bananas. Later that day, another coati tried to attempt the same thing, but failed. We had no idea we would have to fend off animal attacks when we decided to make this trip!
After that fantastic afternoon, we returned to the hostel and decided to make dinner again. This time, we made some delicious stir-fry (well, I didn't cook it cause I don't really know how to cook, but I helped with the dishes!). After dinner, the friend from Vienna that I mentioned earlier came over and introduced himself, and we talked for a long time. We were learning things about his culture, and he learned things about ours. Two of my friends that went are also linguistic majors, so we spent a good amount of time asking him about the structure of German and how it's different from English. Sounds dorky, but it was fascinating!
Sunday we had to leave in the afternoon, but we decided to take advantage of the afternoon and ended up going to the border of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. It was so cool - we were in Argentina, and you look on one side of the river and you see Brazil, and you look on the other side and see Paraguay. It was a great ending to a great trip.
It was so nice to get away from the city for the weekend. I love Buenos Aires, but I needed some time away from all the craziness. In Iguazú, the air was so fresh and we could actually see stars! And it was quiet - there wasn't the constant sound of honking buses and cars! It was so relaxing. One friend described it perfectly and said that it "cleansed our souls" haha. I had so much fun hanging out with all my friends, laughing, seeing waterfalls, eating a ton of galletitas, surviving animal attacks and just relaxing. Now it's time to get back to "real life" - or as real life as study abroad in Argentina can be!
Here's a few of the nearly 200 pictures I took of Iguazú!
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| La Garganta del Diablo |
One of the paths going through the park
Waterfalls!
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| We were practically on top of the waterfall! |
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| A view of one of the paths you could walk on. |
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| Obligatory selfie on the boat with some fashionable life jackets. |
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| These were the falls we took the boat into! |
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| Arcoiris! (Rainbow) |
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| So amazing. |
