And the story goes on!!!!
I swear! I've been completely intent on posting everyday, but Argentina SERIOUSLY does not like me documenting adventures, so every time I intend to post something, she's throws small obstacles in my way....like a new city, another random traveler with a very awesome bad idea, a free bottle of wine, a pack of Israelis, Swiss- Germans, hangovers, BBQ's, 22 hour bus rides, getting lost....often....you know, the normal traveler stuff.
Iguazu Falls….the most beautiful thing I’ve seen so far
Iguazu Falls definitely lived up to its reputation. From my adventurer side, it was one of the most amazing outdoor adventure oriented things I have ever seen. The size of the waterfalls alone is mind boggling. The animals that you randomly see hanging out are just as impressive, and the fact that you can see the entire experience just a few feet from the edge of the waterfalls tops it off. So here’s how it went.
From Buenos Aires, I took a 22 hour bus ride to get there, which was actually better than first class plane flights I’ve been on. I never would have guessed. FYI, traveling by bus in Argentina is extremely cheap and a reasonably comfortable way to travel. $100 got me about 800 miles away, in a fully reclining seat (to the point that it became a bed), two full meals, and a free viewing of an Ozzy Osbourne concert from the 70’s. I think the Ozzy Osbourne concert was the best part. The dude is weird….end of story. I’d go into it, but I don’t think there’s enough room for random tangent here. But, 22 hours later…..Iguazu begins.
The city of Iguazu is pretty interesting. A quaint little tourist town hidden in South American jungles. It somewhat resembles a pre-economic boom ski resort town with a couple main streets and restaurants….except the money troubles are fairly evident. None the less, the city had quite a bit of character but I’ll stick to Big Bear.
The Iguazu Falls were purely amazing. I’ll divide this part up into my outdoor side and my more logical city boy side.
Experiencing Iguazu Falls
The Iguazu Falls were probably the single most amazing thing in nature I’ve seen in my life. The size and design of these falls make them just marvelous. I really can’t put it into words, so I’ve attached a few pictures. For me, the day started with a 20 minute ride on the public bus which just so happened to stop at the falls. From here, I followed the herd of tourists into the park (which at first resembled the San Diego Wild Animal Park), at which point I proceeded to fork over pretty much all the money in my pockets to get into the park. There’s a common habit of viewing tourists in this country as walking ATM’s, so if you’re not South American, just hand them your wallet and hope they at least leave the pictures in it.
Within the park they had a couple interesting little tours. Against my better judgment, I opted for both. The first involved hopping into a cargo truck for a mini safari through the South American jungles to get to the best vantage point for the waterfalls on the river. The second, involved getting on a boat to cruise up the river and view the waterfalls from “a different angle”. I probably should have asked more about this part before I bought my ticket. The jungle safari was fairly uneventful, except for the huge spiders hanging from the trees. It ended at a long path that led to the river’s edge….and the boat for the next part of our journey.
So, as I started coming closer to this boat, I have about 50 different alarms going off in my head. The most important of which is that I do not like water. I can swim pretty well, but I’m not a fan of swimming in water I can’t see through, and therefore can’t see whatever creature is thinking about making me it’s chocolate Lunchable. This river pretty much looks like the Amazon. Muddy and murky where we’re at. God knows what’s in the water….but, back to the boat. As I hop on, the driver hands us all these huge plastic bags to keep our valuables dry….and then strongly suggests we put as much as possible in there. That’s warning number 2, at the least. We all hop in, strap in, and the driver takes off. As we cruise up the, we initially see the smaller falls, and in the distance, we see the larger ones. Iguazu Falls has a total of over 100 separate falls. It was beautiful! The closest I can describe it is that it felt like the scene in Jurassic Park when you initially see the island. We cruised up the river as the driver drove in circles giving us tourists the chance to take pictures of the first two of the three larger falls. Initially, we got within 100 meters of the falls….it was an amazing sight. Then, we cruised further up the river to view the largest and wildest of the three major falls….the Garganta Diablo. It is named as such because you actually can’t see the bottom of the falls. Because of the amount of water and how far it falls, the mist that comes up prevents you from seeing the bottom….making it look like a bottomless pit of water, and supposedly, a gateway to hell. At this point, the driver spins around and the tour is over….or so I thought.
Having the living $%6t scared out of me by Iguazu Falls!
That crazy driver! My next alarm should have been when he yelled to put away all of our cameras and puts on an entire water proof suit, googles, and pulls out a gigantic camera waterproofed and encased in a plastic shell. He yells to sit back, tuck away any electronics and hang on, and then guns it! This crazy f&*^er drives the boat right underneath the waterfall. This is the same waterfall that dwarfs Niagara Falls, and is only rivaled by Victoria Falls. I have to be honest, I have never gripped the railing of a boat so tight. I was scared as hell….definitely scarier than being pursued by the transvestite at Club 69…kind of. And this was just the first waterfall. The driver then proceeds to spin the boat around doing 360’s just so in the slight break from having thousands of gallons of water dumped on us as the but spins in circles we can laugh at the people at the other end of the boat nearly being drowned right before we have the realization of “damn, here it comes again!” Did I mention that I sat in front? After a couple spins (and laughs from the guy in the waterproof suit) the driver backs off, backs away, and then points the boat at the second fall. He then leaves time for a dramatic pause….and does it again on the second fall! I watched several other boats do the same tour and none of them got as close. I seriously think they had some kind of twisted social experiment going where when a black guy comes, they push the limit with the waterfall to see how much he’ll freak out. Stereotype testing, maybe? After having their fun on the second waterfall, they proceeded to the third, the Garganta Diablo. Thankfully, they didn’t go nearly as close with this ride. Because of how huge this fall was, it would be ridiculous to try the same feat. It would have been fun to make CNN though. After the ride, I’d felt calmer than I have in a long time…but I think it’s because I didn’t have any adrenaline left in my body. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
Opossum Bandits and the Art of Begging
So, an interesting thing about Argentina is how everything is so relaxed that it makes coexisting a breeze. Stray dogs lie about on the sidewalk and occasionally follow you for a few blocks better than any pup I’ve seen in the states. Also, if it sees that you’re staring at it, it will usually come by and offer you the chance to pet it, wag its tail, and then walk off. They don’t bark, and they don’t bite. If you’re eating food, they don’t even beg or bother you. It’s amazing, and I think it all has something to do with the Latin American sentiment of “screw it, what’s the worst that could happen…just leave it”. This works very well with pups….but no one filled the opossums in on that story.
The second most entertaining part of Iguazu was easily the opossums. Throughout the park, there is a huge population of opossums. With very few predators there, they flourish….but they are the friendliest things ever…a little too friendly sometimes. In the food court, there were at least 15 opossums hanging out and waiting for people to drop food…if no one dropped food, they’d come up and ask, and if no one shared, they’d actually create a setup…one would distract the picnickers and the other would run of with the goods….like Yogi and Boo Boo! I swear I could hear them squealing “Run Paco run! Amazing. I wasn’t even mad, I was actually impressed. I spent half of my lunch watching these little guys sit off to the side and wait until someone took an eye off of their food and then swipe their bag of chips. These opossums would also walk up to you and put their hands on your leg and then look at your food, then look at you, then look at your food, then look at you as if to say “you gonna eat that?” My favorite one hopped onto my table and sat right in front of my plate and looked at my nectarine, then looked at me, and then pointed at my nectarine with his nose, and then sat back and looked at me. I was so impressed that I held it out to him and he took it from my hands, set it next to my plate and ate with me. Damn, I hope I don’t catch anything.
The rest of the day at Iguazu was spent wandering and marveling at the waterfalls….and deep down, hoping to God that the bridges wouldn’t break on me. ( I swear I’ll stop partying if you let me make it through this intact….without dropping my iPhone into the river…..or something like that).
By the end of the day, I had walked for about 8 hours looking at these waterfalls. Just to give you an idea of how amazing it was, this little adventure changed my entire trip here in South America. It made me realize how much of my trip has been speant partying and then racing to get home (or to the nearest McDonalds) before the sun comes up. Originally, I had planned on ending this adventure in Brazil, celebrating Carnaval in Rio and Salvador, the two biggest Carnaval spots in the world, and then proceeding to Florinopolis, which notoriously has the best beach parties in the world. Instead, I’ll be heading down to Patagonia to trek and camp through the party days. The views are supposedly amazing, and just as epic as Iguazu Falls….except there are a ton more of them. Many people have gone into Patagonia, fallen in love with the mountains, and disappeared, so I’m going to make sure I give the continent its due justice and do some wildnerness trekking. So, for the record, Iguazu Falls is so amazing, that it made Carlos choose camping over partying. Just epic.
**Update** I think I might have been convinced to head to Colombia for part of Carnaval. Somebody started googling pictures of Medellin and the “scenery”, and I have to say…the outdoors are beautiful, but Colombia is putting out some amazing….um…entertainment potential? I might have to renegotiate this Patagonia thing. Definitely going to mountain man for a well…but Patagonia can’t be selfish!
For now, its 4AM again and I have to call it quits, but since the Iguazu adventure, I’ve bounced forward two more cities on my adventure, and wandered to the border of Pargauay, Brazil, and Uraguay one night at 4AM after hitting a local bar….but those stories will have to wait until later. Until then…you guys really need to start planning your trip to South America. Take care!
