Iguazu Falls

Last weekend I went with the group to Iguaçu Falls. Well, some of the group. Actually, most of the group went on their own because it was a little cheaper. But pretty much the whole group was at the same hostel in Iguaçu. But the cool kids went with the group and that was fun.
We left Thursday evening from Buenos Aires. We rode in these big phat double decker buses with super plush seats that stretched out into beds. There were curtains but we left them open because the view was magnificent. Soon after we boarded they served us dinner - meat and potatoes, dumplings, carrot salad, rolls, coconut raisin cake, and complementary wine, beer, soda, and after dinner champagne.
Since it’s spring here, this was spring break. A guy from my group had brought along whiskey, rum, and a lot of fernet. Everyone is going crazy for fernet on this trip. It’s distilled from herbs and it smells like mouthwash. They drink it mixed with coke. Whatever it is it gets you drunk quick. I called it ferret after I drank a bunch, though, so everyone started calling it ferret.
So they played a couple kind of boring kind of scary movies, I remember one was “Awake”, about this guy whose awake during his open heart surgery and it turns out his girlfriend was trying to kill him the whole time. And this guy brought his ipod which had like 9,000 songs on it. And he had speakers to go with it. We were listening to that for a while but they made us turn it off because people were trying to sleep. Then we played cards for a long time and I won so I was out of the game. Then I took over another girls hand and I lost. We got bored with that and most people were getting tired so they went to sleep. Then the guy with an ipod let me listen to it with the headphones for hours which was so freakin’ sweet. I think I love his ipod, by the way. I went to sleep around 3am.
We all woke up at sunrise. The porter took our blankets and our pillows from us first thing. Which was kind of unsettling. We stopped for breakfast at a bus station - it was media lunas and café con leche and everyone in the group was complaining because they thought it wasn’t enough. Breakfasts are light in Argentina. They usually just have coffee. But it was a lot of media lunas and I like café con leche. Most of the kids bought supplementary sandwiches at the gift shop and then we left. Played the ipod loud the rest of the way there.
We arrived at the Hostel Inn in the afternoon around two. It’s called a hostel, but it looks like a resort. A big open building, with a swimming pool, two bars and a kitchen, pool tables, foosball and adjoining bungalows. It’s the nicest place in town. We were very pleasantly surprised. We had time to check into our rooms - we were in the bungalows, four to a room, two bungalows, shared bathrooms. Then we grabbed a bite and some cervezas and went for a quick swim before we left on our first excursion, Iguaçu extreme.
Iguaçu extreme was supposedly in the middle of the jungle - it was five minutes away from the hostel. Okay - but whatever. It was 120 pesos, about 40 dollars U.S. and we were going to go rappelling, zip lining, and on a boat tour. I was nervous, honestly I’m the kind of girl whose always been afraid of roller coasters. Anything extreme is not my cup of tea. But I didn’t want to miss out on this experience. And the whole group was going.
I was feeling jaded. The group was large and there was only one rock face and a limited amount of gear, so it was a long wait to climb up the mountain. I was one of the last to go up, probably because I went down to the river to stare at Brazil while we waited. I liked climbing up the mountain though, I felt like tomb raider - kind of. Then I had to go on the zip line. I was really, really scared because I had to make myself jump off of something so high. Stupid. But I’m the kind of person who thinks too much and has trouble jumping off high places. But with some encouragement I managed and I’m glad I did because it was really, really fun.
After all of that we got on the boat. It was getting dark, so we didn’t swim. But we did go down river and saw the point where Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil meet. It was beautiful, cruising down the Iguaçu River with the thick jungle on all sides.
That evening the girls and I went into town with some of the group to have dinner. I was looking forward to seeing a town in Argentina outside Buenos Aires. We took a shuttle that was provided. I couldn’t see much of the town because it was so dark. There were some street vendors by the restaurant and I bought a rose quartz necklace for 15 pesos and a little flute thingy with llamas carved on it for 6 pesos. Dinner was kind of a drag. The conversation never really went my way. Although I did have a delicious Heart of Palm pizza, which they call palmito here.
After dinner we took a cab back to the hotel in a hurry because we had to be back in time for the boat party. Everyone called it a “booze cruise”. Basically almost everyone at the hostel got on a bus. The bus took us to a big boat on the river. From 11pm to 4am the boat took us out to where the three countries meet and we all drank and danced and smoked and talked and had a good time. It was fun. Of course the music sucked - I wish I was the D.J. sometimes. I was getting tired by 2:30 am, but I danced to keep myself awake and it was all good.
I was wondering about whether or not I was going to be able to wake up for the 8am tour of Iguaçu Falls or not. But then I met these guys from Oregon and Michigan. They had gone to the falls that day and they could not stop talking about it. They had tons of pictures. They said it made their jaws drop. They said it changed their lives - and they meant it. So now I had to go.
Got up at 7:30 am the next morning to go to Iguaçu Falls. We took a shuttle there. Was not feeling too hot at first. But I opted to pay a little extra for the boat tour, which involved a ride on a big military looking truck through the jungle, and then a really big speed boat ride up the river and out and about the falls.
When we got to the dock, there was a guy videotaping us. They gave us these green water proof bags and told us to put all their stuff in the bags because we were about to get soaking wet. So everyone stripped down to there swim suits and put on life jackets.
Going up river, the boat jumped every time we hit a current and it was a lot of fun. I wished that part had lasted longer. But then I got my first glimpse of the falls. We were surrounded by jungly cliffs with water tumbling down on all sides. There were rainbows and about a million little butterflies and birds fluttering carelessly about. It was one of the most gorgeous things I could ever care to describe. Then they started wheeling us about the falls and all I could think about was how cold I was.
After the boat ride, we disembarked and dried off in the sun while our companero purchased the DVD they had made of us on the boat ride. So that explained the guy with the video camera.
We started walking up the cliff path, had to stop about 10,000 times because everyone was taking so many pictures - and I forgot my camera! But they’re going to email me the pictures, so I’ll post them later!
We walked up to the top where the restaurants were to have lunch. Everyone was hungry from being in the sun and the water all day. Outside the restaurant there was three men playing the harp and a swarms of yellow butterflies flying in circles around them. I guess yellow butterflies like the harp.
After lunch we had to wait awhile to get on a train to go see the biggest of the big waterfalls, La Garganta del Diablo (the Devil’s Throat). We walked down a long catwalk over the river and then we arrived.
Yes, my jaw dropped. It was spectacular. By far my favorite part of the whole day. There is just something about seeing that much water never ending, flowing over the side that takes ones breath away. I don’t even know how to explain it. Isn’t it good feng shui to have flowing water? Well what about this much? The power of the place was indescribable. And when you look over the side, you can’t see the bottom because of all of the mists rising up. There’s a gigantic rainbow and tiny black birds diving in and out of it. They must do that all day. It must be their favorite thing to do in the world.
We went back to the hostel. Had a swim. Drank some beers. That day there were stray dogs running around the pool. There were four dirty little boys with big sad mouths wandering around the chairs for a little while before the staff made them leave. There was a guy dressed like an Indian selling jewelry.
I decided to go to town with some friends because I needed to go to the bank. We all needed to go to the bank. And everybody gave us money to buy more fernet.
Took a cab to town. My friends were kind of on edge and nervous about going there. Like it was a really shady, dangerous place to be. Which was kind of offsetting because I hadn’t been thinking about it like that. We went to the bank, we went to the store for the drinks. There were vendors flagging us down because we were obviously tourists. I still had on my swim clothes. There were packs of dogs in the street. We crossed the street to escape one particularly insistent merchant and when we did, one of the dogs we had just petted got ran over, twice. No one cared but us. We just started walking away. I remember learning about how poverty in Latin America is centered mainly in the rural areas. I guess we were in a place where the life of one dog isn’t that important. Dogs must get run over all the time.
The ride home was quiet. I hoped that seeing a dog get run over wasn’t a bad sign.
We got back and went our separate ways quickly. There was a barbeque that night, by the pool. I had time to shower and get dressed.
Dinner was bomb. Steak, chicken, and chorizo (sausage), potatoes, rice, lentils, pinto beans, salad, salsa and a big bowl of a drink whose name I can’t remember that consisted of a lot of rum, a lot of sugar, and a lot of limes.
After dinner there was a show, with a guy and two scantily clad girls. They encouraged audience participation. Then everybody stayed up late drinking and talking. We decided to go to a club in town. There was lasers and Brazilian girls dancing on tables, but I was tired and went home soon after I arrived.
Had to get up early the next morning to check out. I missed breakfast by ten minutes. So we layed by the pool and read and just generally hung out until lunchtime. The shuttle to the bus station didn’t leave until 2pm, so we had time. For lunch I had a hamburger with a fried egg on top - which I intend to make at home all the time, now.
The bus ride home was during the day, which gave me a better opportunity to scope out the town. I saw naked children walking along the side of the road with their parents. I saw a mule pulling a cart. I saw a little girl dancing in the back of a pick up truck.
We stopped in a lot of little towns on the way back. There were people standing around at these groups of tables, outside, drinking cokes. And at the mercados, little boys playing video games at the locotorios slash video rental places. Girls walking home from school with their friends. Women carrying their babies in colorful blankets. Soldiers at check points - no guns though.
Most looked comfortable. Some looked dirt poor. But I was wondering how we must look to them as we passed by in these huge shiny buses, sipping champagne. Laying by the pool sipping beers and then showing up to town to use the ATM.
The porter came by with free cookies. Then as soon as he was gone, the two guys I was sitting next to threw theirs away. Said they hadn’t even wanted them. It rained the whole ride back.
When we got back to Buenos Aires it was raining. The air was damp and smoggy. There was garbage everywhere.