Wow! What a whirlwind it’s been. Let me catch you up on the past few days…
We caught a bus from Montevideo, Uruguay to Salto, Uruguay. Despite a voluminous snorer and a woman who insisted on painting her nails three separate times, filling the bus in nail polish fumes, it was a pleasant ride and one that allowed us to see some beautiful mainland areas of Uruguay. In Salto, we caught a taxi from the bus station to a ferry station where our “water taxi” took us to Concordia, Argentina.
Our fluvial express.
Once we landed in Concordia, we made our way to the bus station and luckily booked the last two seats available on an overnight bus to Puerto Iguazu, Argentina. With a couple of hours to spare we caught a bite to eat, followed up by our regular helado (ice cream) intake. Returning to the bus station, we caught a shuttle to what we were informed was a “safe police check-point.”
The definition of “safe”.
After standing on the side of the road for half an hour at 11:00 p.m., our taxi driver flagged down our passing double-decker bus, we climbed on, and installed for the 12-hour journey to Iguazu. This leg of the journey was fairly uneventful. Pulling out our travel sleeping bags, we quickly gave in to “multiple-types-of-transportation-lag” (a.k.a. ground-based jet-lag) and drifted off as our bus rambled further north into Argentina.
By 12:00 p.m., we were the only people on the lower portion of the bus. At 1:30 p.m., Puerto Iguazu became our new home for the evening. We stepped off of the bus into 90˚ F weather and made our way to Hostel Sweet Hostel, our accommodations for the evening. A poorly functioning air conditioner served as our “motivation” for getting out and seeing what Puerto Iguazu had to offer. We had some delicious pizza for lunch, went for a hot but wonderful run, and then ate what has been my favorite meal of the trip thus far at a restaurant called Wok and Grill. A bowl of stir fried vegetables, shrimp, and rice has never tasted so amazing!
Which brings us to… Today! Vacation does not get any better than this. This morning we caught a bus from Puerto Iguazu to Iguazu Falls National Park. If you’ve never heard of Iguazu Falls, Google it. Now. Stop reading this blog. Google it, then continue reading. I feel like I’ve seen a lot of truly amazing places in the world but this place is UNBELIEVABLE!
After checking into our hotel (I’ll let Caitlin elaborate on our accomodations in a later post), we shifted into tourist mode. Immediately after entering the park, we saw iguanas and hoards of small animals called coatis. They look like a cross between an anteater and a raccoon. Further exploring the walkways we made our way onto the Lower Trail System, turned a corner, and came face-to-face with waterfalls as far as the eye can see. It still leaves me speechless thinking about that moment and not having the ability to communicate my excitement to Caitlin.
As she said, “this place is an amateur photographer’s dream”, which I couldn’t agree more with.
The rest of our early afternoon consisted of walking the trail systems, taking photographs, visiting an island via ferry boat, and looking for more incredible wildlife. Just as we were about to head back to our room for a little R&R, we spotted this gorgeous butterfly.
The Mariposa 88. Spectacular!
In the park, we found this owl on this sign bears a startlingly close resemblance to Woodsy The Owl. Woodsy was used by various land management agencies in the United States under the motto “Give A Hoot, Don’t Polute.” I wonder what the Argentinian version of Woodsy is called and whether he serves the same purpose? On somewhat of a side note, if you’re ever looking for a hilarious read, pick up Tim Cahill’s, Jaguars Ripped My Flesh, and shuffle through until you hit a chapter called “The Clown Owl’s Bitter Legacy.” It contains quite a, shall I say, “unique” perspective on Woodsy.
After a bout of air conditioning and a few snacks, we laced up our running shoes and set off for our final adventure of the day, Macuco Falls. A quick 3.5 kilometer run brought us to the base of the falls where we took full advantage of the cascading showers.
Our evening closed with some pool-side relaxation, an extraordinary meal, and reading the start of Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon. Under the suggestion of our friends Adam and Pearson, we’re planning to read it aloud together each night before we head to bed.
Tomorrow brings another day at Iguazu Falls! We haven’t seen any monkeys yet but I’m optimistic!
Riley
