IGUAZU FALLS... what a beautiful place! After a week in the big city, we were more than ready to get out of town, and into the jungle. Puerto Iguaza, a cute little town 20 km from the falls, was such a welcome change from Buenos Aires. Everything is in walking distance, the sun is so shiny, things are clean, and cute, and WE LOVE IT! After exploring the town, which takes all of about 20 minutes, J and I headed to the falls for a full day of hikes around the incredibly huge and rumbling waterfalls. Upon entering the park you take a train to the base of the falls, where you are dumped off, with several different trails to take. The waterfalls are incredible... you can walk right up to them. The water roars wildly as it plumets hundreds of feet down the rocky cliff. The force of the water creates so much mist, that it rises up in thick white billows, and almost looks like smoke. Everywhere you go you are sprayed with the mist, which is SO refreshing after hiking through such heat. The largest fall, La Garganta del Diablo, or The Devils Throat, was phenomenal. We walked out on a rickety little bridge over the falls, when you look down all you see is the crashing water disappearing off the edge of the Earth... very scary, but also very beautiful. All around the park colorful butterflies zip by in bright shades of blue and red, often landing on you as you pass through. Huge lizards, were not really sure what kind, lurch across the path, sunning themselves on the rocks of the falls. We also saw several turtles, and a water snake... yikes! The highlight of the day was a 6km hike down to a secluded waterfall, feeding into a tiny swimming hole. Most people dont make it to that part of the park, so it was nice to have the jungle to ourselves. The insects buzz loudly as you walk down a windy red dirt path through the trees. The humidity of the jungle makes all of the sounds hang in the air, making the insects SO loud! At one point in the hike we looked up to see a huge woven web with a BIG spider chillin in it, RIGHT NEXT TO US! Ah, we were paranoid for the rest of the hike! Luckily we didn´t run into any, that we know of at least. Upon reaching the swimming hole, we were eager to jump in and cool off. The water was warm, but still refreshing. We swam to the far side of the pool and climbed on the slippery rocks to stand under the cool waterfall which fell from the cliff above. It was an incredibly beautiful day! Once we got back to the hostel we realized that all of the mist and sweating of the day had washed away our sunscreen, and we both had some pretty gnarly sunburns... OOPS!! Iguazu will definitely be one of the highlights of Argentina, I can´t wait to see the rest! KC
