From Buenos Aires, we opted to take the "fast" bus to Iguazu Falls. It was faster, comparitively. Our other option was to spend between 18 and 21 hours on a small selection of other buses.
I think it's important at this point to discuss the bus. Not only was it fast, but it was awesome. For dinner, we were served several appertizers followed up by beef pot roast. Yummy. This was also accompanied by an ever filled glass of wine. We all laughed as we recalled my inquiries at the bus station - does the bus have a bathroom? Do the seats recline? No wonder the guy just laughed and shook his head affirmatively. In my defense, my questions were well founded after having taken buses in Peru and Brazil.
We slept well and upon arrival headed immediately to our hostel. The hostel was very nice with a large pool...unfortunately, drained for the winter...and a large gathering area with pool tables, computers, etc.
The first day it rained hard, so we stayed put and enjoyed reading and sharing a bottle of wine. In the evening, the hostel had a barbeque. The food was great - all-you-can-eat sausage sandwiches, beef, salad and caipirinhas (I think we all remember those). After dinner, we continued to converse with Marcus, a friendly German guy that had sat down next to us at dinner.
All of a sudden, music started and a very animated guy came out with a scantily clad woman who was dancing very seductively. Before we knew it, poor Marcus had been grabbed on stage and was forced to dance with the woman along with several other unfortunate (or fortunate) guys.
This continued for several songs and we all laughed as we tried to surmise whether we were at a hostel or a brothel. Another lady that looked like Ruth Pointer of Pointer Sisters fame then came out and continued the freaky deakiness.
And then came the big finale.
For this number, Bonnie and I were pulled to the dance floor. Fortunately, this was all good clean fun and we learned an interesting, albeit boring, dance that ended up in a congo line. Bonnie stayed with me as we limbo´d, but ducked out the back when the jump rope came out. I am proud to say that I still have not lost my touch and despite a few ¨spirits¨ I could hold my own.
Shortly after the song ended, the entourage packed up and left and all of the hostel guests were eft wondering what had just happened. We're still not sure. At least the feeling was universal.
The next morning, we got up early and took the hostel van to the waterfalls. Iguazu Falls lies on the border between Brazil and Argentina. It is higher than Niagra Falls and twice as large. Having not taken a formal tour, that is all that I can tell you.
Shortly after walking through the park entrance, we saw one of the creatures that we were hoping to find: a coati. This is a racoon-like animal that comes out during the daytime. It has all of the markings of a raccon, but looks quite different. It has a long medium girth tail with a slight hook on the end and has a small rounded head. People have taken to feeding them so they have become quite tame in the park and can be somewhat aggressive. The guy we saw had already ransacked the trash can though and was back on his way to the jungle. He was too fast for our camera, but here is a picture courtesy of Wikipedia:
The park is well laid out with three different paths that can be hiked. The first two trails border the first set of waterfalls and visitors can choose between walking the upper trail above the falls or the lower trail that provides a better vista of the falls themselves. We did both trails in about three hours.
It is winter right now in South America, however, and this particular season has been even drier than usual. Although a few of the preliminary waterfalls were quite powerful, many were dry and we couldn't help but feel a little cheated.
The third trail leads up to the culminating finale, Devil's Gorge. It was a nice hike that took about an hour at our leisurely pace. We laughed as people passed us at mach speed to make a beeline for the falls. So much for the journey being the destination.
Devil's Gorge definitely lived up to our expectations. The falls were magnanimous and powerful.
A large rock was poised in the middle of the gorge as the water crashed down on all sides. We stood for more than twenty minutes enjoying the scenery and watching a crane that stood just twenty yards away on the other side of the falls.
Hopefully, this explanation will suffice because the pictures will take a while to get before we can post. In a repeat episode, Bill forgot back up and the camera died right as we got to the Gorge.
Bill Edit: Yes, I let the camera battery die again (who can keep up with the pace with which Chrissy takes pictures). Here are a couple of shots from the falls before the battery died:
And, I will say that the camera died when my wife was shooting a video:
On the hike back, we saw several plush-brested jays. They are beautiful birds,with their black and white markings and red beak. We also enjoyed seeing a Picassamus fish (a.k.a., algae eater) that reminded of us of our not-so-little pet fish, Shiddo, who´s back home in Dallas with our friends, John and Steph.
Bonnie bought a nice woven purse from an indegenous woman and then we caught the van back to the hostel.
After a wonderful meal of wine, pasta and suruba fish at a local favorite restaurant, we retired to our hostel and room. The morning would come before we knew it and we would be off to Salta...