Parque Nacional Iguazu

19 September 2009

We visited the falls today!! Allie, Ilana, and I had such a fabulous time! The weather was great, a little cool in the morning, but very warm in the sun for most of the day. Since I didn’t have a good, sturdy poncho with me (how I forgot one, who knows), I just brought along a thin, long-sleeved shirt and a cheapo plastic poncho from the train station, which I didn’t even end up using.

The national park, which is so much more built up than we thought (ala Disney World) was a little underwhelming, but the falls were absolutely amazing. We started out at the main attraction, Gardanta del Diablo, or Devil’s Throat, which is the largest of all the falls and lies along the Brazilian border. The pics are mostly in the order in which we viewed the falls, but you can’t mistake this one. It’s huge and among the first pictures we took. From there we headed for the Lower Circuit Trail, where you can view the falls from below. The trail is also the jumping-off point for the Adventuras Nauticas, boats that take you along the Lower Iguazu River and INTO San Martin Fall, the second largest, and just in front of Gardanta del Diablo. There’re some fabulous pics of me looking like a goober in my swimsuit, but the girls were wishing they’d worn theirs by the time we got off the boat. We were SOAKED! Even with their North Faces, the girls were soaked from the waist down. This smart cookie had a change of underthings and plastic bags for my clothing, so by lunch, I was ready to change back into dry clothes, rather than hiking in wet clothing all afternoon.

Lunch consisted of some rather underwhelming empanadas and being hounded by Coatis, which are similar to raccoons and were all over the park, begging for food. Some very rude Argentine men kept telling us not to feed them, when in all reality, we were trying to shoo them away.

After lunch, Allie wanted to check out this trail that was less-traveled than the others, which turned out to be the only trail that was actually a TRAIL, and not a raised steel path above/below the falls. We hiked about 5-6 kilometers down to this waterfall, and there was a lookout over the waterfall and underneath, where there was a natural pool. The hike was great, the view was great, and our tennis shoes were covered in mud…exactly the kind of experience we had expected from the park. Ilana has some great pictures of us braving the mud puddles blocking the path. Afterwards, we checked out the Upper or Superior Trail, where we saw the smaller waterfalls from above. It was really an awesome experience; it’s no wonder that Iguazu Falls is considered one of the new world wonders. The “Argentine Grand Canyon” was really more than we could ask for, and many of the people we’ve met have considered this and Macchu Picchu as the highlights of their trips.

Tomorrow we head back to BA for my last week! I will be sad to leave the city, but I am SO excited about Tierra del Fuego…that is until I get down there and freeze my butt off! I think I’ve checked out all the parillas in BA that my body can handle, so I just have one more restaurant in BA that I’m dying to try – Bio, a gourmet organic restaurant that has received rave reviews. Perhaps I’ll stop by to get the hummus down the street from me, and of course visit my beloved café, Di Vino, a few more times, perhaps for breakfast this weekend, or if the internet decides to cut out for the entire evening (as it very well may do). BA has been all about food for me, so my poor, food-exhausted body will be the happiest about leaving, I think. A trip to our parilla in La Matanza for lunch one day for a last Churripan is definitely in the cards.

Tentative plan for post-BA travels

Tierra del Fuego via Ushuaia (Argentina)
Parques Paine del Torre, Las Glaciares (Chile, Argentina)
Boat tour through the Chilean Lakes District (hopefully)
Santiago de Chile for Christian’s Bday
San Pedro de Atacama (Chile)
Potosi (Bolivia)
La Paz (Bolivia)
Lake Titicaca (Bolivia & Peru)
Cusco & Machu Picchu (Peru)
Ica (Peru)
Lima - Buenos Aires - Dallas - Austin!

We’ll see if this can actually be done in a month….yikes!

These gorditas (little fat ones) are about to take our exhausted bodies back to dinner at our new fave restaurant, Pizza Color, here in Puerto Iguazu to recharge after the long day of hiking. Chau!