Las Cataratas: Igauzu falls!

Puerto Iguazu.

I’ve wanted to go to Iguazu falls for what seems like forever! We had been talking about coming for a while and finally on Monday ten of us went and bought tickets for a Wednesday evening bus to go to Iguazu! We took Rio Uruguay omnibus and it was a great 16-18 hour drive. The ride was semi cama with meals included. Amazing! Puerto de Iguazu is a super cute city, its so different from Buenos Aires! Its pretty small and calm, tranquil. Driving here it was completely obvious we were near the rainforest with the smaller buildings, lots of vegetation, and best of all brown and red dirt! I love it! And its hot, and humid! We got dropped off right by our hostel pretty much so we just had to walk over a little bit to get to “hostel sweet hostel” it’s a cute place. Most of its ourside except for the bedrooms. Our room is just five bunk beds and a bathroom. Ten of us in a room is pretty awesome! Theres a pool with a hammock, an outdoor kitchen and dining area outside under a thatched roof. Pretty awesome. We decided to do an adventure excursion in the afternoon that picked us of from the hostel and we got dropped off right at the place. We had an awesome guide that took us into the woods and showed us the vegetation and some pretty cool traps that the Guarini tribe used to use. The tribe has been here over 700 years and lived off the land, hunting and gathering. The traps were pretty interesting and he showed us all kinds of neat plants that are really useful. One plant we were able to eat a little bit of but if it touches your skin it starts a rash. Interesting, other plants are used to heal colds and pain. Then began the rainforest adventura. First, we climbed up a rock face with ropes. It was pretty easy and the supporters were almost pulling us up because they kept the slack so tight. Then we took a zip line that you sit over the canopy. That may have been my favorite part, it’s a great feeling flying through the rainforest. Our next adventure was climbing up a rope latter into a tree and taking another zip line back to the rock climbing wall. Mind you we were wearing helmets and were supported by ropes the entire time. The last thing was repelling down the rock wall that we had climbed up. It was all really fun and even better that it was taking place in the rainforest. From where we were we could see across the panama river and see brazil. My heart was aching because I wanted to go so bad! Earlier in the day we were planning on going to brazil to see that side of the cataratas but we found out we needed a visa in order to cross over for even one day. We had thought before that if you only went one day it was okay to go without a visa so it was kind of disappointing. Anyways I was happy to see the brazilian side of the river..looks just like the argentine side imagine that. we took a little boat up the river and got tauntingly close to the brazilian side at times I was about to jump out and go for a swim! We rode up the the tres fronteras area which is where we cross the borders of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. Even though I know that borders are truly just an arbitrary line, there is still something kind of exciting about crossing them . so it was neat to see all the borders at once and to truly be in international waters. After the boat ride we headed back to Hostel Sweet Hostel and relaxed for a little before we set off to find a supermercado and prepare dinner. Friday me and Nicole got up early and headed to the Cataratas! We only had to walk a couple blocks to the bus station and then get a bus to the park and thankfully we were able to get out pretty early so we had the whole day to explore the park. And it was not enough by any means!
we went on to the one of the biggest thrills of the park: Garganta del Diablo: devils throat. We got dropped off after a little train ride to a platform that led us all the way to the falls. It was a metal platform that wound from island to island and took us right over the parana river. I was kind of surprised by the amusent park feel of the park so far. I should have expected it since there are so many people who come but I think the fact that we took a train to get around and had to wait in line for pictures added to this perception. However it didn’t take away from the beauty of the place. Its amazing how something so awesome as Iguazu falls can bring people together from all over the world, speaking all different languages to enjoy this natural wonder.

Heres a clip about the falls: These remarkable falls on the border of Argentina and Brasil approximately 550 km / 340 miles inland from the Atlantic ocean and named after the river they dominate. The name varies according to the various local languages though the same suffix or ending azú, assú or açu is used. It is derived from Tupi Guarani the original language family of the area and means 'big'. The falls comprise roughly 300 falls. Below the falls the river races through a narrow gorge before entering the River Parana the major tributary of the River Plate. The falls were were discovered early in 1542 by a Spanish commander Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and were declared a World Heritage Site in 1984 and 1986 The falls lie within the bo
A LAND OF MIGHTY RIVERS
Roads and airports connect the towns with many places in South America
The river Parana running north to south is one of the world's greatest rivers. It rises in Brasil and with a major tributary the Paranaiba has a length of about 3998 kms / 2484 miles. The Parana carries a a huge volume of water and is crossed by a bridge between two cities in the top left. Ciudad del Este in Paraguay and Foz de Iguaçú in Brasil, literally meaning ' mouth of the Iguaçú '.
The massive Itaipú dam straddles the Parana jbetween Paraguay and Brasil ust outside the top left hand corner of the map
The river entering from the east in the top right is the Iguazú or Iguaçú as it is known in Brasil. It rises close to the Brasilian city of Curitiba within approximately 50kms / 31 miles of the Atlantic ocean and has a total length of approximately 1198kms / 745 miles most of which is in Brasil. The falls are in the green shaded and forested area on the right where the river narrows. A bridge crosses the Iguazú at the Argentinian town of Puerto Iguazú close to the confluence.
Boundaries of two National Parks - one Argentinian and the other Brasilian.

So we walked toward Garganta del Diablo and started to see steam rising up and hearing the sound of the waterfall. It got louder and a little more intense as we walked up, all of a sudden there was a clearing in the trees and we saw it. It was a moment that I cant forget, its like all of a sudden they were there. it was breathtaking, and almost tear jerking. The platform walked right up to the edge of one of the falls and to the right and straight in front was the most impressive waterfall ever. Its power was incredible. It was just constant water, water water, coming down over the fall. It kicked out a ton of steam so that you couldn’t see the bottom either. The water was pretty white but in places it would go over parts of the rock that would make it look green. It was amazing that the water in the river didn’t seem to be flowing so fast and then all of a sudden it just dropped off to nowhere in this spot. Straight ahead we could see the Brazil side. There aren’t as many falls on that side but It was impressive to look at because the falls went over like a cliff where you could see the cliff side and lush green grasses growing out it was like a paradise there. we kept walking around the platform, taking pictures and maneuvering around people and I kept trying to forget there was anyone around me and just be mesmorized by the falls. It was absolutely incredible. Walking around the platform showed many more falls falling underneath us. It was just incredible, the sound, the steam, everything was absolutely captivating. We could see up the river which appears like it is in a canon almost and it separates the two borders along it. Above the falls is flat land, and below is like a canon, the difference in terrain was really neat.
We dragged ourselves away from this area and made our way to the lower circuit of falls. This area was on the other side of the park and we started walking through the woods where there were tons of this animal called koati which look almost like an armadillo, raccoon mix. They are really cute but I guess they can be kind of vicious but they sure did seem to like all the tourists and their trash!
We walked to the entrance of a trail that started to go down through the forest area, this felt way more like being in the jungle. The trail was made of rocks and it went along the rock face and the vegetation was just awesome. The trees are so cool cause its like they make walls with their vines and branches, the canopy is really neat. We took the trail along and passed over one waterfall that gave a really good view of how it went down below us into the river. We kept walking and all of a sudden there was a clearing with one of the most amazing views ive ever seen. This time I really did think I could cry. We could see on the left down the river to Garganta del Diablo. And on the right were so many falls that I never knew existed. In front of us was an amazing jungle island that we would visit later but to the right..wow. fall after fall after fall lined several hundred meters dropping off into the river below. The falls were interspersed with rock face and beautiful lush green plants growing out of the side of the rocks it was absolutely straight out of a tropical movie or something. We stood and savored it for a little and kept going, because it kept getting better! the view during the trail just kept being amazing , I was surrounded by waterfalls and clifs and green plants, it couldn’t get better! we were able to walk right up to where the falls come down so that the water is almost spraying us we were so close. I just kept finding things to fascinate me because everywhere we looked it was just beautiful. There was a constant rainbow over the waterfall and when the sun hit it just right it would get extremely vibrant. Every look out point we would stand and savor for a view minutes, never really wanting to leave. We kept walking down though because or ultimate goal was to get to Isla San Martin. (everything in argentina is called san martin!). we kept walking down the rock face and ended at the bottom of this canyon part along the river. We took a little boat across the river to Isla San Martin. Once again, the view was amazing. The island was like a tropical treasure island, very green and it gave a view of the falls from the bottom which was beautiful. We were able to go out into the water and swim for awhile I couldn’t get over it , we were in the river at the bottom of these amazing falls and I was just in awe. There were all kinds of awesome colored rocks in the water too so I have new ones to add to my collection! The view from the water was like straight out of a movie, it was so beautiful it was hard to believe it was real. We swam around for awhile until everyone else came and we had a picnic lunch on the beach. Then we walked up to the top of the island and walked around the rim where we had another view of the falls. Once again I saw falls I hadn’t seen before! We could get close again and this time we were up almost at the top so the perspective was different again. There was a lookout on top called ventana (window) which was pretty secluded and through a whole in the rocks we could see Garganta del Diablo, and there were huge birds flying around at the time too.
We had to get the last boat off the island around 4 so we headed down and back over to the main side. We took our time walking back up and looking at the falls and then headed over to a new part of the trail that took us along the top of the falls. I had so much energy by this time just from looking around at all this that I was pretty much skipping through life. We got to walk along a long ways to see several different falls and the beautiful rainbows that formed around them. it was amazing! We headed out when they kicked us out cause the park was closing and headed back to the hostel.

The next day me and Nicole got up early and headed to Paraguay. We didn’t know what to expect or what we would do just that we wanted to see another country. And im so glad we did! We got a three peso bus from the bus station to ciudad del este in Paraguay. The bus drove through Brazil so that was neat to see the Brazil side and then we crossed over the river into Paraguay. The city was filled with people going from here to there , shopping etc. we got dropped off on the main street without going through any sort of customs or anything I guess it’s a pretty open border. Walking into Paraguay was like a different world it seemed. The colors of everything were bright, and the streets were crowded. We decided to talk in Spanish all day and it was a great idea. We walked around looking at all the things being sold on the streets for a little while and then decided that we should see what there is to do around. So we went to the entrance of the city where there was policia de tourista what we aksed about what to do. He gave us a map that had some sights near by and we were off. He was really nice and helpful and also told us where to go to change money. We headed over to an exchange house where we found that one dollar is equal to 5 mil guarinis. Everything there is payed in huge amounts for example 20 guarini for a meal or something, is like 4 bucks. So we changed money and then went off to buy some of the luscious fruit that was being sold on moving carts around the streets. Everything was so cheap! Then we kept seeing stands of tons of fresh herbs with people crushing them in dishes and I was pretty sure it was herbs for terere which my professor had told us about as being a mate that is drank cold in areas like this since its so hot here. So I wanted to get some and I asked the guy in front of me what the best combo was since there were so many to chose from and he picked some out for me that I got for one mil, which is like 25 cents for a ton of herbs! We kept walking around and ended up out of the main area near a park with a lake we were pretty happy with that and started looking at our map for places to go. We found a man by the street that we thought was a policia or a taxi driver and asked him what there was to do around. He seemed surprised that we asked, maybe because there was like tourists in the entire city. it was a completely different feel than anything we had been in yet and I loved it. he was really nice though and also told us that the time was two hours earlier so after all that it was still only 9:30 in the morning! He thought that a bus would be coming by that could take us within walking distance to salta de Monbay and we started to head towards it. apparently we were going the wrong way because another taxi stand man stopped us and started to talking to another man and they figured out where exactly it would be stopping at. so the started to tell us when all of a sudden the bus started to go by about a half block away. The men took off running and stopped the bus for us and told the driver where we wanted to go! It was awesome. I was so overwhelmed with thankfulness that we had met such helpful people! I also noticed while they were talking that I could hardly understand them..turns out they were probably speaking guarini which is also the national language along with Spanish! Que barbaro! We took the bus for awhile going towards the outskirts of the city and eventually crossing into another city called Presidente Franco. It was such a cute town. We got to a corner and the driver announced that it was our time to get out. We got out along with an older couple and started walking. We started talking to them and found out that they were on vacation right now and we talked about where we from, what were doing etc. we walked for several blocks and they directed us in the right direction to go to the falls. It was awesome. I was soo happy that we had met so many awesome people that day because without them we would have not been able to get around! It felt so good to be confident in our Spanish to get around a city and to meet the right people who put us in the right direction and just really made our day so much better, everyone was so kind and helpful! As we were walking and going through this town, along with ciudad del este, I was overcome with love for this place. It was so simple, so tranquillo, yet the buildings were all bright colors and very simple. Some were extremely small and “run down” but humble, and others were larger one story buildings that were like a house I could see in parts of san diego. Anyways the street was like made of bricks and the red dirt overcame everything. It was beautiful in a simple lovely way. The only thing that I could think it reminded me of was what ive seen in Tijuana or in baja California but it was much calmer in this little town. Ciudad del este was more like TJ with all the people and the large buildings. In Ciudad del este you can buy just about anything imaginable there are constant people selling all kinds of stuff in the street and then almost all the buildings we passed were hidden shopping malls and all kinds of stores it was interesting I guess a lot of people from brazil and argentina come and shop there since its so cheap.
Anyways, back to Presidente Franco, we kept walking down this road and there were houses along the side, it was sooo hot and the sus definitely beating down on us. Eventually on the left side was just grass lands and pasture with trees dotting it throughout the hills. It was like we were out in the campo almost, there were cows in the pastures as well. On the right was a few more houses and some houses with huge tracts of land. We started to see water on the side and women were in the streams washing cloths. Looking ahead I saw what looked like a row of shanty houses. That was a little harder to see. They were pretty much like lean-tos that Ive seen before in other places except that this wasn’t in a city it was more like on the very outskirsts of a town. As we walked we saw a clearing on the left side that all of a sudden showed a very large distant waterfall. I was shocked. We were walking through grass lands and hills and to all of a sudden see this waterfall in what appeared like someones back yard was incredible! We kept walking and eventually it was a little municipal park that we went into. There were some views of the falls and it was awesome! It was such a different feel from Iguazu. I mean it was only one waterfall compared to hundreds but still, this park was so natural, so private, so tranquil. It was like we found our own personal waterfall in the forest! It was pretty awesome so we ended up going on in the tiny park to a spot along the river above the water fall and laid out on the rocks for awhile. Probably the best nap ive ever had! The place was so peaceful and quiet. I loved it! we got to a point that we could sit almost where the water started to go down over the fall. It was so beautiful! All I could see around was nature. Behind was the river flowing towards us with trees on both side, and ahead was the canyon that the water went down into and above that was grass lands where I could see in the distance, cows grazing. We stayed at the park for several hours just relishing in the sound of the waterfall until we figured we should head back to get to the city in time to catch the last bus to argentina. We walked back to where we thought the bus would be and a man came up to us and offered direction to another bus so we took a bus back to the centro of the city where we had been earlier and decided it was time to try the awesome food there. we had seen so much good food walking around and wanted to try it. we went back to the policia tourista and our friend hernan was still working so we asked him what some traditional food was, he ended up walking us over to a building type structre that was called Comida Typica and inside were a bunch of tables with little tiendas selling food around the edges. It was very much like getting legit street food. A bunch of the places were closing though so we were kind of worried we wouldn’t get any but he talked to one lady and ended up ordering us tallarine de carne. It was amazing. It was two dollars for a huge plate of meat and pasta and mantioca. Mantioca is like yam and it was boiled and served like how I have had boiled yam before. It was awesome, I was so happy! He said that they use that like their bread there. Hernan sat and talked with us while we ate so we got to learn a little about Paraguay and the city it was really nice of him. The meat was almost like stew meat or a pot roast that was just right and tender. It was soo delicious! It was in like a light sauce with some herbs or something I have no idea what it exactly was but it was some of the best food I have had in soo long! It was served over the tallarine noodles which were like a yellow fideo noodle all most. All together it was fantastic! After eating we decided to go spend the rest of our guarinis on little things in the street such as awesome cheap fruit and veggies! Then we knew we should head back to the bus because all we really knew about it was that we thought it ended at 6 and came every 45 minutes or so but we were slightly nervous that with the time difference we could have already missed it. so we went to where we thought we could wait when all of a sudden Hernan comes up and tells us we are in the wrong place. Wow , I was so thankful for him! He walked us down the street to the right spot and the bus came a couple minutes later. We were so lucky! It had been an awesome day and I really hope to return to Paraguay some day. It was so different from Argentina, so so so different from Buenos Aires and I loved it. it was so much more simple and calm, and not touristy. It was a day that I will never forget and of course the wonderful people made it so much better!

We got up at what we thought was 7 the next morning to catch an early bus to Brazil. Turns out it was daylight savings and we got up an hour early but it was all good because we ended up needing that hour later in the day. We went to the bus station and got another 3 peso bus to Brazil.

we got off the bus at a stop in the city of Foz de Iguasu. I couldn’t believe I was walking around in Brazil I was o excited because I wanted to go there for so long! Our first issue was getting money and it was Sunday morning so it was pretty tranquil and calm in the town. We walked around and asked a couple people where there was an atm (in Spanish) and they responed in Portuguese but it was similar and we were able to figure out what they were saying which was awesome. After going to two atms that didn’t work with our cards we found the bank that worked and we got out our Brazilian Reales. Then we went back to the bus stop that would take us out to the Park. The bus took a while so we saw a lot of the town and country side. It was very rustic and calm from everything that we saw. I loved just looking out the window and seeing everything! We got dropped off at the park and headed in to see the falls. It’s a lot small park than the Argentine side which was good cause we didn’t have as much time. A bus took us to the top of a trail that heads down into the falls. We started walking along with hoards of other people down the narrow trail and we could see across the river the entire Argentine side which was pretty epic since there are sooo many falls on the Argentine side. It was a great view but I liked seeing the falls up close in Argentina because here they were farther away. Well we kept walking and seeing new views of the falls, of falls we didn’t know existed on the Argentine side! Amazing! There were a lot of people though so we didn’t stay in any one place for super long. We kept walking along the canyon side with falls under us and falls across from us. Amazing. We walked to the end where the view just kept getting better. the platform went out over the river area and up to the Brazil side of Garganta del Diablo. It was so powerful we were getting misted it was incredible. It got up so close to the falls! We could see the water go down below us and there were falls above us and in front and to the side. It was incredible! The power of Garganta del Diablo is just awesome. We saw the Argentine side and Brazil side where they come together at the bottom. Pictures nor words can do this justice! Then we went back on the walkway and headed to a lookout area that was above the falls giving another incredible view! I was shocked at how close we could get to them it was so neat! I will never forget my experiences at these falls and I definitely believe that this is one of the greatest things on earth! We knew that we would be pressed for time since we had to be back to the bus station in argentina by 5 to get our bus back to Buenos Aires and we had several bus transfers before that which we needed to take. So we headed back to the front of the park and got a bus to the city where we switched buses again and we got back to our hostel in time to take an extremely quick shower and get to the bus station on time! Wow, it had been a whirlwind of an amazing weekend and I had some amazing experiences that I will never forget!