February 18th - 21st
We left Pellegrini, the town from which we had done our excursion to the Ibera Reserve Park, down one long, straight, dirt track. An hour or so into the journey, our driver and his friend tried to help a woman who's car had broken down pretty much in the middle of nowhere but after about 45 minutes of peering at and prodding different engine parts, it was concluded that the petrol gauge was probably faulty and the car was trying to run on fresh air. Doh!
We were dropped off at a bus station at 9pm where we were told we should be able to get the 11:45 pm bus direct to Puerto Iguazu. It turned out, however, that no reservation had been made for us so the bus would not be dropping in to the particular station where we had been dropped off. We would have to get the 11pm bus to Posadas, arrive at 12:15 am and then get the 1.30am bus to Iguazu or sleep in the station and get the first direct bus in the morning. We bought tickets for Posadas.
All actually went ok until about half an hour into the second bus ride from Posadas to Iguazu. A large crashing noise at around 2am and a woman crying out that she was bleeding pulled me from my efforts of trying to sleep. I thought a heavy piece of hand luggage had fallen down but then realised the lady had glass all over her. Someone had thrown a large stone through the window, shattering it over her face. It was alarming and probably the first time in 7 months of travelling that I felt a little uneasy - we had been sitting just 2 seats in front of her. The bus pulled over, the police came and took her basic details and her husband then arrived and drove her away. I'm not sure how the health system in Argentina works but I heard mutterings about insurance and the lady had said she didn't want any ambulance being called. The curtains were then stapled together, the larger pieces of glass picked up and we continued on our way. I think it was some time around 5am when the lights came on again and we were told to get into a new bus. One final local bus from Iguazu bus station then brought us to our hostel at around 7.30am. I was shattered.
The Hostel Inn in Iguazu was the perfect place for recovering from the journey. The building used to be a casino and is more like a hotel than a hostel. Thus we found ourselves recuperating along side a huge swimming pool, drinking cocktails and taking part in the hostel's rather cheesy night entertainment programme (we congaed, limbo danced and participated in a samba class on stage all in one night).
We spent the next couple of days visiting what we had gone to Puerto Iguazu for - the waterfalls of the Iguazu River which are located on the border between Argentina and Brazil. I had seen photos of the falls, heard other travellers raving about them but there is nothing, luckily, that can take away the pleasure and amazement of seeing them with your own eyes. They are huge (up to 82m in height), numerous, (275 falls in total), loud and colourful (dotted with rainbows and beautiful butterflies). The Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo) is particularly impressive being 150m wide, 82m high and 700m long. Unfortunately 3 out of the 4 cameras which we had (Robbie's, Robbie's mum's and mine) were not working by the time we got to it but the sensation of seeing it is hopefully locked in my mind.
The big debate surrounding the falls is which side - the Brazilian or Argentinian - provides the best views of them. Each country's flag soars proudly on the respective side of the border. In practical terms, the amount of effort you have to invest in seeing the falls is far smaller on the Brazilian side as you simply walk down a path and get a lift back up to where you started. It's also from Brazil that you get a spectacular panaramic of several waterfalls at once and you can start to grasp the size of the park. My vote for the best experience, however, would have to go with the Argentinian side as you can get incredibly close to individual waterfalls, feel the sprays of water on your skin and are much more in contact with the lush jungle surrounding them - in addition to the vast amounts of water, we saw coaties, iguanas, huge birds, large spiders, an alligator and several butterflies. With each sightseeing day topped off with a session at the pool and with our last dinner in town (steak, of course) being accompanied by locals dancing tango, the few days we had at Iguazu were truly wonderful and a memorable way to end our time in Argentina and, indeed, my time travelling with Robbie and Eva ...
