Iguazu Falls

So this weekend was our whirlwind trip to Iguazu Falls...we actually spent more time on the bus than in Igauzu, but it was definitely worth it. Thursday night we got on the bus at 9, not to get off again till 2 PM the next day. Overall, it was better than our first bus trip to Mendoza. We were on the upper level, right in front, so we had a ton of space and a huge windshield to look out of. The seats went back almost horizontal, and we got blankets and champagne. Still, 17 hours is 17 hours. Iguazu is way north in the subtropical province of Misiones, and it was cool driving into the city...very red clay, smaller towns, and tons of trees. We stayed at this hostel some people had recommended and got our own room with three beds and a private bathroom for only $15 per person. The hostel was almost like a resort, and we had their all you can eat buffet for $6 each, read by the pool, and hung out at the bar outside all night with 2 brothers from England and another 2 guys from New Zealand. And the bartender was Australian. Anyway, we had a lot of funny conversations about everything from accents to music to who has the better version of The Office. Everyone just had such a cool story of why and where they were traveling. It was really inspiring and it made me want to be one of those people who spend 5 months backpacking through Latin America showering once a week and staying in hostels. Kind of. It seemed that the majority of the people at the hostel were actually British, and apparently they are horrible dancers. Perhaps I should move to England...

Saturday morning we got up early and took the hostel transportation to the national park where Iguazu Falls is located, right on the border with Brazil (the river which forms the falls is actually the border, and we ended up being about 50 yd. away from Brazil, but unfortunately with the expensive and complicated visa process, didn't actually set foot in the country). We spent the whole day doing the various looping trails of boardwalk. They have an upper one that takes you up high right above where the falls all break, a lower one down near the bottom of each falls, and one on an island about a 2 min. boat ride from shore. Then you take this little touristy train thing out to "La Garganta del Diablo" (Devil's Throat), which is the biggest and most famous. In the morning there was a ton of mist, and by noon it was sunny and beautiful. We saw about 5 rainbows. I really can't describe how breathtaking all of the falls were. The noise and the panorama of cascading water is just breathtaking. They just go on and on for what seems like miles. Each little vista showed you a different view, and some of the smaller waterfalls were actually the most beautiful. There were also a variety of bizarre looking animals, from coatis (see pic of raccoon looking things) to huge lizards to butterflies to yellow-breasted, blue eyed birds. Not quite the Amazon, but the most jungle-y environment I've ever been in. It was pretty touristy and crowded, but we managed to separate ourselves from the crowds for a bit and relaxed in the sun lying in the sand on the island...until we got freaked out by the lizards appearing everywhere and literally jumping into the air to catch flies. At the end of the day we did this really short, touristy raft trip where they basically soak you by gunning the boat against the current and up under one of the smaller waterfalls. It was super fun and kind of scary because you couldn't really breathe with the wall of water in your face. I guess it was actually more like the mist/splash back part we were in, but even that is a crazy amount of water give the size of the falls. We had jeans on, and it was like we had jumped in a pool, but luckily we brought extra clothes to change into. When we got back to the hostel around 4:30 we had about 2 hours to find some food and shower in the community bathrooms. We got to see about the first 20 min. of the World Cup qualifier between Argentina and Colombia. The game was played at the River Plate stadium in BA, and just about everyone I know here was at the game. I was extremely sad to have missed an opportunity to see such a huge soccer game, but we planned this awhile ago, and I suppose it was worth it! We almost missed our bus home because of a mix up about the company, but luckily we got on. The ride home wasn't so fun...we made about a thousand weird stops in the middle of nowhere to pick up people, have smoking breaks, and let on scary looking military guys with guns to search for illegal immigrants or something. I had pretty bad nausea, they played the movie Doubt for the second time really load, and it was freezing. But, I slept pretty well and we only got in about an hour late, miraculously. This trip was super short, but so amazing. I guess in my rankings the glaciers still win, but this was pretty close. So so beautiful. The pictures don't really do it justice...hopefully the video shows the size a little better.

Now starts my last 3 weeks of classes--it's crazy. It seems like nothing, but in the last 2 I have 3 papers, 2 finals, and 2 presentations. So we'll see how it goes. Also, I bought a plane ticket to Chile for the week after classes. It'll be just my best friend Hanna and me, and we're going to do Santiago, some smaller cities on the coast, and a day of skiing in the Andes. So there's that to look forward to! And then home in a month and 4 days.