IGUAZU!!!

Sorry I didn't get this up earlier. I had to get straight to homework when I got home in Córdoba. And I really, really wanted this post to have photos this time. I still have to wait for my friend Gabriel to return from Buenos Aires before I can upload them to my computer. I was just going to take pictures from my friends' facebooks, but the blogger photo-uploader says they're all too big. (lame)

I can't remember every detail, but I'll try my best. I probably could have done a day-by-day report while I was there since our hostel had wireless internet connection, but it was too slow for my liking.

I went with Julie and Rachel, fellow students of CC-CS, and two of their friends from Church, Mónica and Nathaneal. Nathaneal is a missionary from Chehalis, Washington. (Represent!) And Mónica is from Colombia, and she's teaching English here in Argentina.
We left around noon on Friday, and the bus ride was a little over 24 hours! (Good thing we took the full-cama bus that served two meals!)

The hostel we stayed at was called STOP hostel Puerto Iguazu. It cost around 32 pesos per person, per night. (That's like $10 a night!) This included breakfast and sheets. Here's a link to their website. (I hope it works)
http://www.stophostel.com/Hostel-Iguazu/en

On the day of our arrival we just took the time to unpack and relax, but we also walked over to El Hito de las tres fronteras where the borders of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina meet. They're all separated by rivers, but the view was spectacular. It was amazing to be that close to 2 other countries at once.

The next day we took a bus to get to the park (only 5 pesos). I ended up having to pay more than expected to get in the park though. We've heard by word-of-mouth that there was a discount with the International Student ID card, but that's a lie. They did have discounts for Argentine and Brazilian residents though. Rachel was the only one who remembered to bring her UNC card that day, (which counted as proof of Argentine residency) and only had to pay 25 pesos to get in. I, however, was stuck paying 85. I can say that I helped pump the local economy that day.

But my God the falls were so beautiful and HUGE! And I can proudly say it was my first time in a real Tropical rainforest! I felt like a kid at Disneyland! There were these raccoon-like creatures called Coati roaming all over the place. We weren't supposed to pet them, but we tried anyway. They were so cute! And Nathaneal really wanted to see a monkey the whole time, but I was the only one that did!

We also payed around 130 pesos to take a truck and boat tour of the falls. The truck part was only mildly interesting. It did make us think of Jurassic park, or going on a Safari through the jungle. But we didn't see any animals on the way. We did, however, stop at a Palm tree as the tour guide gave a five-minute lecture on how palms are used in Argentine food. Not that it wasn't informative, but I didn't go all the way to Iguazu to get a five minute lecture on palm trees.

We finally got to our embarkation point. We put on lifejackets, and they gave us plastic bags to put our shoes and other items in, so they wouldn't get wet. We rode the boat up the river with Argentina on one side and Brazil on the other. And then they took us right to the base of the falls!

It was incredible! There's something about the weight of the falls at the bottom that makes you stop breathing and just stare. Julie and I wished we had goggles, because we wanted so badly to look straight into the falls, but the water kept getting in our eyes. After the ride, we were totally drenched!

Even though we didn't have our visas to go to the Brazil side, I can say from experience that it wasn't all that necessary to our trip. All of the cool stuff was on the Argentina side. The Brazil side basically just has 3 look out points from across the river. On the Argentina side, you get right on top of them, next to them, or right underneath them.

We also took our own lunch into the park, which every visitor should do, because the prices for food there are ridiculous! It was 10 pesos for a bottle of coke!

The next day we took a different excursion into the Jungle (but not in the park.) We paid 100 pesos each to go rappelling and zip-lining! The company picked us up in front of our hostel, and went around the town picking up other tourists that had reservations. To get to our activities we had to go deeper and deeper through this rural area, where everyone lives in shacks. It was unnerving at first, but when we saw all the young kids running up to wave hello, it was a little relieving. We also crossed a shallow river where we saw two kids bathing, with their cow tied to a tree. It was kinda cute!

The rappelling was okay. It was the first time I jumped the whole way down. They normally do the rappelling down a small waterfall and let you get wet, but since it's wintertime, and it was kinda cloudy that day.

There was an Argentine family there that brought their two small boys with them. I think they were around 6 and 9. I was surprised the company let them come along. The older boy went down rappelling by himself, and they tried to let the younger boy do it too, but he was too scared, so they had one of the guides carry him down at the end.

Then we walked all the way over back to the truck, and rode to where we went ziplining! It was separated into three parts with two platforms in between. I don't know exactly how high up it was, but I know it was the longest and highest zipline I've ever been on. AND IT WAS IN THE JUNGLE! Any fear of heights I had just disappeared because I was so amazed, just taking in the scenery, realizing I was really in some place foreign and exciting. And the actual zipline itself was just incredible. It was amazing knowing I was zipping through the canpopy, having my legs and feet brush against leaves and tree branches!

I am so glad I went to Iguazu! And I would totally go back too to take friends and family. It was a great way to spend a vacation.