So, first stop of my somewhat epic road trip (if I may say so myself) is Iguazu Falls/Puerto Iguazu.
Where to begin... First of all I was extremely lucky that my Dad's roommate from college and his wife gave me a coupon for 2 nights at a really nice hotel here. Although I came off a 17 turned 19 hour bus ride, with a duffel and some things certainly awry with my face and hair after such a trip.. the hotel accepted me anyway, believing I was the person who booked two nights at this shwanky place. Yes there were some dubious looks at first, but I have certainly made myself at home here!
Down to the nitty gritty, the extremely long bus ride was not so bad. The seats recline quite a bit, and I found it a lot easier to sleep on it, even though I am someone who has issues sleeping on planes. The guy sitting next to me was a little scary at first, being a fanatic of the Independiente, with tatoos and all... but after a small chat, explaining who I was and promising that my cursory interest in Argentine fútbol would be directed entirely to his team, he became a total sweet heart, even buying me dinner. He got off at some point around 1AM, but in typical Argentine man style, made me promise to let him know when I arrived safely in Iguazu, that last stop of the bus, about 8 hours away.
I fell in and out of sleep, not knowing where I was really, seeing a rain storm, and finally arriving at Puerto Iguazu at lord knows what time. After checking in to the hotel, and finding my way at that, I managed to commander my way across to the panoramic view of Iguazu Falls. The view was incredible, and left me excited for the next days excursion to the base of the falls.
Today, even though our bus was stuck in traffic from a really bad accident for about an hour and a half with some Dutch people and a few Brits and Aussies, we finally made it. The coatis (raccoons with long noses), toucans, iguanas and even monkeys were running wild. Even more though, the butterflies were all over the place! Unexpected, but lovely making me feel a bit like Cinderella as I walked down the paths to the base of the falls. The view there and on the way was just unreal. I have been fortunate enough to also have been to Victoria Falls in Africa, and I'm not sure which I like better. They were very different, but the falls here look the way you imagine jungle waterfalls to look like. Not too strong, just a ton spread out all over the place. As much as I don't want to use this comparison, they were sort of like the floating island waterfalls from Avatar... haha. I purchased a ride in a motor boat that took us up to the base of a few of them, and dunked us under some of them... good thing they gave us special bags for our things. I really got drenched. Luckily today was a lot sunnier than yesterday and I dried off pretty quickly..
After this I took a short ferry ride to an Island located in between Brazil and Argentina (although it is technically Argentine..). From there you could see a view of all the falls, and I felt as though I was in some sort of movie or epic novel. At this point I was pretty tired and had gotten a lot of sun, so I made my way back to the hotel to indulge in some of the amenities... For dinner I went into 'town' which seems more like a border town, which is what is really is, rather than a place that takes advantage of the tourism or is built up. Tomorrow it's off to the next leg of my journey... thankfully I'll be flying.. Updates to come shortly...
Where to begin... First of all I was extremely lucky that my Dad's roommate from college and his wife gave me a coupon for 2 nights at a really nice hotel here. Although I came off a 17 turned 19 hour bus ride, with a duffel and some things certainly awry with my face and hair after such a trip.. the hotel accepted me anyway, believing I was the person who booked two nights at this shwanky place. Yes there were some dubious looks at first, but I have certainly made myself at home here!
Down to the nitty gritty, the extremely long bus ride was not so bad. The seats recline quite a bit, and I found it a lot easier to sleep on it, even though I am someone who has issues sleeping on planes. The guy sitting next to me was a little scary at first, being a fanatic of the Independiente, with tatoos and all... but after a small chat, explaining who I was and promising that my cursory interest in Argentine fútbol would be directed entirely to his team, he became a total sweet heart, even buying me dinner. He got off at some point around 1AM, but in typical Argentine man style, made me promise to let him know when I arrived safely in Iguazu, that last stop of the bus, about 8 hours away.
I fell in and out of sleep, not knowing where I was really, seeing a rain storm, and finally arriving at Puerto Iguazu at lord knows what time. After checking in to the hotel, and finding my way at that, I managed to commander my way across to the panoramic view of Iguazu Falls. The view was incredible, and left me excited for the next days excursion to the base of the falls.
Today, even though our bus was stuck in traffic from a really bad accident for about an hour and a half with some Dutch people and a few Brits and Aussies, we finally made it. The coatis (raccoons with long noses), toucans, iguanas and even monkeys were running wild. Even more though, the butterflies were all over the place! Unexpected, but lovely making me feel a bit like Cinderella as I walked down the paths to the base of the falls. The view there and on the way was just unreal. I have been fortunate enough to also have been to Victoria Falls in Africa, and I'm not sure which I like better. They were very different, but the falls here look the way you imagine jungle waterfalls to look like. Not too strong, just a ton spread out all over the place. As much as I don't want to use this comparison, they were sort of like the floating island waterfalls from Avatar... haha. I purchased a ride in a motor boat that took us up to the base of a few of them, and dunked us under some of them... good thing they gave us special bags for our things. I really got drenched. Luckily today was a lot sunnier than yesterday and I dried off pretty quickly..
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