A Trip of a Lifetime: Iguazú Waterfalls

Estimados Amigos:

¡Vale la pena que vayas a las Cataratas de Iguazú en la provinica de Misiones, Argentina! It is very worth the trip to visit the waterfalls of Iguazú in the province of Misiones, Argentina! 

Another Friday adventure, Stef, Miranda and I booked a trip to fly from el Aeroparque Jorge Newbery to Puerto Iguazú to visit the famous Iguazú waterfalls.  Argentines are so proud of their waterfalls that they refer to Niagara Falls as "the trickle". Now, I've never been to Niagara Falls so I can't judge but the 175 waterfalls spanning an area of 1.67 miles that make up the Iguazú Falls were truly spectacular. 

We took an early AM flight from Buenos Aires to Misiones and took a bus to our hostel. I walked in to the Hostel Inn in awe. We were met with an outdoor pool and poolside bar, a spacious indoor reception area with comfy couches, wooden tables set up for the hostel's bar/restaurant, 6 chandeliers hanging from the exposed beam ceiling, 2 pool tables and a ping pong table and 6 computers with free internet access. We had a three person private room with bath that had 20 foot ceilings and a tv. What luxury for US$12 per night ! 

The outdoor area of Hostel Inn

The indoor view of Hostel Inn while sitting at one of the restaurant tables.

We hit the ground running, booked our tours and outdoor adventures for the weekend and caught a public bus in to town to pick up a couple things. We got on the wrong bus coming back and got off on the outskirts of town, oops! We were attacked by ducks and chickens on a dirt road and ran to the bus stop for shelter. We managed to get back to the Hostel Inn just in time to grab a quick bite from the restaurant and take our first adventure tour. Phew.

Our first tour took us on a jungle exploration of the area surrounding Iguazú National Park in an open air truck. The land we toured is government controlled (by guards with huge machine guns) but if people want to brave the jungle, they can live on the land.  Its a hard life, dirt clay roads, little electricity, we passed people washing their clothes in the river and family farms of a few rows of corn, chickens, and 1 cow. 

We spent the afternoon repelling down the side of a cliff, going on a nature hike and doing a 800 meter zip line experience through the canopy of the trees. I saw a live tucan! We had a total blast and were totally exhausted by the time we got back to the hostel well after nightfall. Early to bed, early to rise.

Day 2 began at 6:30am, we entered Iguazú National Park at 8am. The waterfalls are so huge that the park created a train system that transports people from one end of the falls to the other. We took the train to the farthest point to visit Garganta del Diablo, Throat of the Devil, the biggest series of waterfalls in the park.  From the train station, its a 25 minute walk to the mirador, view point, along a suspended metal walkway over water. You can hear the roar of the waterfall from the start of the trail.

The metal walkway, that "cloud" is the mist coming off the waterfall

One of the panorama shots, the waterfall is HUGE!

Me in front of another side of the waterfall

After ogling at the Throat of the Devil we took the train to the other side of the waterfall to see the "Inferior Waterfalls". They are called Inferior simply because no waterfall making up this circuit is as large as the Throat of the Devil. This circuit is made up of many smaller waterfalls and although they are not as dramatically enormous I find them more beautiful.

The view from the top of the Inferior Waterfall circuit

We took a speedboat ride up the rapids and underneath the waterfalls and got SOAKING WET. Thank goodness they give you waterproof bags to put all your belongings in!

In the boat, before getting soaked

After getting all wet we took another boat over to a little island and laid out on the beach to dry off our clothes in the sun. Stef and I found a great little rock and sat down to relax and take in the view. 

Look at the rainbow!

On our hike out I fell, hard. I twisted my ankle pretty badly and smashed my knee on the way down.  I couldn't move for quite a few minutes so people were stepping over me on the trail. Stef helped me up and seated me on a rock. Unfortunately, we were deep in middle of the jungle and had a little more than a mile walk ahead of us including about 100 stairs to get back to the train. I limped out.

Back at the hostel I kept my legs elevated and covered my knee and ankle in ice packs. We had dinner at the restaurant in the hostel, it was Brazilian Asado night and there were Brazilian carnival dancers to go along with the meal that kept us all entertained and got the guests involved. I sat at the table taking pictures of everyone dancing and enjoying the music.

Day 3, Sunday, we headed home. GREAT TRIP!! Its been a week today since I twisted/sprained my ankle. It is very black, blue, green and yellow but I am now walking without limping and hope to stop wearing the ankle brace this week.

Hope everyone is doing well!!

Love,

Rocky

Friday Adventures, Mom and Poppy Visit and my 21st Birthday!

¿Como anda? 

Ok. I know it has been a little over three weeks since I wrote a blog entry but I have decided that for my last 7 weeks in la capital federal de la provincia de Buenos Aires en la gran nacíon de Argentina I am going to write an update at least once a week. You can hold me to that.

About a month in to the semester my friends Cat, Miranda and Stef and I all realized we don't have class on Fridays. We have since proclaimed that every Friday until the end of our time in Argentina we will go on Friday Adventures, meaning, we will go someplace new and do something we haven't done before every Friday.  Since my last update our Friday Adventures have included some interesting places all over the city. El Jardín Zoológico (the zoo) was one of my favorites, the sea lion show was fantastic.  We also went to a polo match, my first ever, on the national polo grounds on the outskirts of the city! The mens polo team of our university, La Universidad del Salvador (USAL), was playing in the final mens collegiate level polo match. We won in overtime, go team USAL! We also went out for Chinese food in the neighborhood of Palermo at a restaurant that Jason actually found online all they back in Boston, it was so nice to have ethnic food and break away from red wine and steak. We've since gone back to that restaurant twice, thanks Jason!

That brings us to Mom and Poppy's visit to Buenos Aires!!

They arrived on Thursday May 7 and we met for lunch at the Natural Deli, an all organic café near my apartment. Miranda's shares her May 7 birthday with Eva Perón so we had a little 21st birthday lunch for miss Miranda followed by our longgg español para extranjeros class. Thursday night I took the 'rents to El Desnivel my favorite parilla restaurant it was a huge hit, they loved the steak. To celebrate Mirandas birthday, went out for drinks at posh Le Bar renown for having the best cocktails in Buenos Aires, fact. My Friday Adventure with my parents was taking a double decker tour bus around the city and being very touristy. They gave me an early birthday present, a pink digital camera! I was taking pictures pictures all over the city, very exciting. Friday night a large group of us went to a tango lesson and milonga so Poppy could show off his dancing skills, we were all very impressed. The lesson and dance took place in swanky Club Europeo on the 21st floor of a skyscraper overlooking the famous Obelisco of Buenos Aires. Saturday we traveled to La Boca, a dangerous but touristy ghetto of Buenos Aires to visit an artist friend of my father's tango instructor back in the USA. Guillermo, the artist, was such a sweet and interesting man. We bought some artwork from him and spent an entire afternoon chatting, I'm supposed to take private tango lesson from he and his wife. Saturday night we went to a dinner and tango show performance that was absolutely out of this world.

Lunch in La Boca

Poppy and Guillermo in the art studio goofing around with an accordion 

Sunday, I turned 21!!

We had a wonderful day wandering around el Cementerio de Recoleta and visiting the open air crafts market. I took them to visit my favorite sausage man who makes the most delicious sausage and cheese baguette sandwiches and to the place where I buy fresh fruit salads drowned in freshly squeezed orange juice, yum! We started the evening with tequila and hors d'oeuvres at the hotel and then went out for dinner. The girls bought me the entire Twilight series in Spanish for my reading pleasure and language practice. Mom had cake and tea ready back at the hotel. Leave it to her to be in a foreign country, and set up a well executed lovely little celebration! Thanks Mama and Poppy! 

Eva Perón's grave in el Cementerio de Recoleta covered in flowers for her May 7 birthday.

Let them eat cake! Me posing with my assortment of birthday cakes :)

Monday we went tango shoe shopping and mom had to leave as I went to class. Poppy and I spent his last two days shopping and relaxing. We saw the new Star Trek movie which had me crying in the first 10 minutes, if you haven't seen it, go see it. We also had our last lunch back at El Desnivel because Poppy loved the steak so much. We parted ways on the corner of Avenida Santa Fe and Calle Callao as I headed to class and he headed to the airport. A wonderful visit!!

Thus concludes my very long winded update. I'll write again about my weekend trip to Iguazu Falls very soon.

Hope everyone is well. 

Lots of hugs and kisses,

Rocky

PS. Graduation congratulations to Tía John Ralls!!