Day 10 - Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls
Today I went to the Iguazu Falls. They were the most incrediable waterfalls I have ever seen in my life. Post cards and pictures do not do justice for the real thing.

Our day, mine, Alisa´s, and Karen´s, started off at a very slow pace. I had slept so much I missed breakfast. I was exhausted from my travels to Iguazu. Karen and Alisa had gone out to the bar last night and they got home around 7am. By the time we all showered and I checked out of the room and into my new room for the night it was about noon. (I had to get my own room, or a bunk, because Karen´s brother David´s girlfriend was going to stay in the room with them.)

We ended up hopping on the wrong bus at the end of the hostel driveway. On the bus we met Darren and Kate from London. Once we realized we were going to the central Portue Iguazu we all hopped off the bus and decided to take a cab to the falls. Here the Argentines don´t care how many people you stuff into a taxi. Darren sat in the front and Karen, Alisa, Kate, and I all crammed in the back. By the time we got to the entrance to the park my left leg and arm were asleep. I felt like a sarden. We all had to pay 40 pecos to get into the park. Karen is now a resident of Argentina and Great Britain so we had to wait a moment to get her entrance ticket. After we left the entrance we realized we were still short one ticket so we had the taxi driver pull a u-turn and we were back in line again. That was by far the longest taxi ride of my life. My limbs were very relieved when I exited the taxi.

Once we got in the park Karen, Alisa, and I went to one resturant for a quick lunch-breakfast meal. Darren and Kate went to another. You can tell Karen, Alisa, and I weren´t totally with it. After eating lunch we attempted to begin our trip to the falls. We somehow had just been walking and not paying any attention to where we were going and ended up back at the entrance. We couldn´t figure out how to get to the path to the falls. We definately felt retairded. In our defense though Karen and Alisa had been out until 7am and I was munching on a delicous ice cream cone, definately distracted. (Argentina has the best ice cream in the entire world. I ended up having ice cream three times today. I don´t know how Argentine´s stay so skinny.)

Once we got back on track we took the train to the top of the largest waterfall, well not to the waterfall, but to the walkway. You walk on this 1,100 meter walkway through the rainforest and over a few rivers to the over look. It is absolutely stunning. I can´t even describe it. I will get my pcitures developed when I return to the US. (I had a waterproof disposible camera for this part of my trip. Thanks Mom.)

The raft

On our way back to the train this guy recruited us (including Kate and Darren, because we were back with them at this point) to take a raft down part of the river then they would drop us off at the next part of the trail to the other waterfalls. We caved, and I am glad we did. We sat in this raft and floated down the river. Karen acted as our translator. The first thing we saw was an alligator like creature. I cannot remember the name of the species. It was about 4 feet long. It stood on the shore of one of the islands just staring at us. It was awesome. Further on down the river we saw monkeys. They were so cool. They were jumping from one tree top to the other over the river right above us. If one would have missed he would have landed in our raft. It was well worth my 30 pecos (10 US dollars).

Also while we were on the raft we saw all kinds of plants. The bambo plants get so huge. They are awesome. There were these plants with white flowers too. They were all over the place. Apparently, those plants can be very dangerous. If you ingest it the chemical from the plant can knock you out for a couple of hours or a couple of days. I guess they are very common in Brazil.

After our boat landed they took us in flat bed trucks to the trail. I had another ice cream cone at the little cafe at the beginning of the trail and everyone else had tea. While we were sitting there we were talking about Alaska. This girl at another table pipped in and asked if I was Jenny. It ends up her name is Jessica. She is from New York. She had ran into Courtney when she was in Buenos Aires and Courtney told her I was going to be Iguazu. Small world.

At this point I was getting ready to be on my own. It was four o´clock and the park closed at 6pm. There was still a lot I wanted to see. The last train left from the park at 5:15 pm. I broke away from the group so I could see all of the falls. The falls were amazing. The sun ended up coming out, rainbows appeared, and you could feel the overspray of the falls. I loved it. I couldn´t imagin coming to Iguazu during tourist season though. There were so many people as is, a few more would have made me irritated and I wouldn´t have been able to enjoy myself quite as much. Also, because of the time of the year it was too cold for misquitos. That is a good thing for someone such as myself without a yellowfever vacination, expecially since two monkeys died last month from yellowfever.

After exploring all of the falls, except one I couldn´t get to because they were on an island and the boats weren´t going to the island because the water was too high. The other was a two hour hike and I was out of time. So, I endulged myself in one last ice cream cone for the day. While I was eating my ice cream cone these racoon like creatures with really pointy noses came out of the woods and were sniffing around in hopes of some food. The time was nearing 5:10 so I had to hurry up and get to the train. I ran to the train, but was briefly hulted by a group who wanted their photo taken. I made it to the train just in time. Everyone else had ended up on the train too. Karen and Alisa were quite glad to see me considering I had the key to their room at the hostel.

Brazilian BBQ

Once we left the park we went back to the hostel. There was a Brazilian BBQ at 8pm. It was so much fun. They made some type of alcoholic beverage with sugar, lime, and vodka. You got your sides from the table and when the meat was done they would bring it to you fresh off of the grill on to your plate. It was amazing. Argentine´s know how to cook meat, believe me. This stuff is amazing.

Once dinner was over a woman dressed up in a shimmering purple bra and matching thong with high heels and a head dress showed up. She put on quite a show. When she was done a second one showed up. We all danced and had a blast. Then, towards the end they picked out three guys, one of which was Darren. Each of the guys had to do a little dance with their hips. At the end Darren was the one who got the most cheers so he got a special dance from the two girls dressed up. It was really funny. I taped it with my camera. I told him I would email it to him.

After the party died down a bunch of us were going to go out to the bar. I have been kind of avoiding the night life here. I just don´t really enjoy going out as much unless there is dancing involved. Considering Argentine´s don´t even eat dinner until 10pm, the night life doesn´t get started until like 2am, so I am usually exhausted by then. I ended up going to town with two guys from Australia, John and Joe. We had an okay time. We sat around and talked over a beer for a while, until everyone else got there. They seem to have an issue with the US, expecially our ability to obtain guns so easily. It was not how I wanted to spend my evening. Oh well, learning the sterotypes of the world has been all part of my adventure.

Kate from London

My favorite person I met so far was Kate from London. I like Darren very much too, but Kate is my favorite. She is 26 years old and loves to travel. She has an incredible spirit. She is very optomistic. She is an artist. She got a little off track because she had to go back to London for nine months prior to coming to South America. She is leaving to BA where she will stay until December. Traveling really inspires her.

Before Kate came to South America she spent 9 months in India. She said those 9 months were amazing. You can really tell a difference between the rich and the poor in the country. It is very dramatic.

One of the things about Kate is that her favoirte part of traveling is meeting the locals. I can see why she really likes it. It is where you learn the most about a culture. It gives you an appreciation for other people and other cultures. We talked about traveling, we talked about other countries, we talked about sterotypes. I really had an incrediable time with Kate. She is an amazing person.

Between the Iguazu Falls and meeting Kate my day couldn´t have gotten any better.

Staying at the hostel in Iguazu was a great experience. I met people from all around the world. It was a very encouraging stay. I realized I am far from the only person who has come to Argentina and not known spanish. I also realized how much I like traveling alone. I enjoyed my time with new people, but you get so caught up in being with everyone else you loose sight of spending time with yourself and the community you are in. If I was with someone else I probably would have never met John from Rosario. The only reason I invited him to dinner was because I was sick of dealing with the spanish language. Being alone also requires me to spend time with myself and figure out what I want to do. It also challenges me more, so I get more out of the experience. I had a great time with everyone, but I am ready to have more time for myself.