Butterflies everywhere!
Just a few waterfalls
La Garganta del Diablo
Misty
Life is tough :)
My 'artistic' photo
Rainbow!
Palm trees & gorgeous waterfalls! *sigh*
la garganta del diablo from a distance
I went rapelling down that!
A Coati
They were huge!
Pretty
The one to the left - I went under that in a boat!
Amazing
The Jungle
Safari truck!
Reflection
Probably one of my favorite pictures!
Crazy looking bird
La Garganta
Again
Butterfly
A Cayman!
Ok, so I have some catching up to do.
Iguazu was gorgeous, as expected! But then again, any place that has almost 300 waterfalls in a national park has got to be pretty sweet!
The largest waterfall there is called La Garganta del Diablo (The Devil's Throat) - and let me just tell you, this sucker is HUGE! It measures 490 by 2300 feet (thank you wikipedia) and marks the border between Argentina and Brazil. It is definitely an experience in and of itself, especially when you're being sprayed by the mist that is caused by the force of the waterfall hitting the river below; it also creates a mystic (get it - haha) ambiance as it's visible in the air and makes for almost a foggy view through the valley below.
The first day we were at the park, we went on an 'ecological' tour, where we went down a river on a blow up canoe with one guy rowing about 10 people. Needless to say, he had some guns (referring to his arms...). Anyway, it was a relaxing ride and we were able to get some gorgeous views of the jungle and natural life from the river.
Later that day, get this, we went UNDER 2 different waterfalls in another boat!!! Of course, we didn't go directly under the waterfall all the way - I clearly wouldn't be writing this if that were the case - the force of the water coming down would crush anything that was underneath it. All the same, we got soaked. It was incredible! After that, we hiked the 2 different trails that lets you view all of the waterfalls that you can on the Argentine side. I didn't get the chance to go to the Brazil side, mostly because I really didn't want to end up in a Brazilian jail due to my lack of a VISA, but I seriously considered it :). I finally decided that seeing Brazil from a distance was good enough for me. Besides seeing the waterfalls, I also saw a large turtle, several gigantic spiders, birds with crazy colors, thousands of butterflies that would just randomly land on you and hang out for a bit, a cayman (it's like an alligator, but not really - it's smaller), Coati's (which are like a raccoon with the face of an anteater - I don't really know how to explain them), and a bee who had it out for me one day and literally chased me around the park and made some failed kamakazi attempts at my head - but don't worry, I outsmarted it.
The second day, we hung out at the pool for a while. Oh yes, our sweet hostel had a pool. However, around 2 in the afternoon, one of those giant, green safari trucks rolled up to our hostel to pick us up for our afternoon adventure. Lucky for us, it was completely empty and sounded like the equivalent of a monster truck on steroids, so we only attracted a little attention as we took off in our sweet ride - and by 'we,' I mean 3 people. And our guide - Roderiguo. Eventually we picked up a bunch of other people and off we went. You'll never guess what our 'activities' were for that afternoon, so i'll spare you the suspense: we went rapelling down a waterfall & we went on 3 different zip lines - IN THE MIDDLE OF THE JUNGLE! It was amazing! After going on our mini safari ride through the jungle in our green safari monster truck, we trekked down a path to get to our first stop. Rapelling. Rapelling is where they hook you up to a harness and you go to the edge of a cliff, or in our case a waterfall, and after putting your feet on the very edge with your heels hanging off the side, you lean back and you jump down the cliff/waterfall while somebody at the bottom feeds you slack as you go down. At first, I did pretty well. And then I hit the water. Let me just tell you, I could NOT get any traction on that slippery rock and therefore pretty much fell as gracefully as I could down the side of the waterfall, while trying not to smack myself against the rocks more times than was necessary. One of my finer moments.
On the third day, we went back to the park and went to San Martin Island. It's this island in the middle of the park where people can swim in the river, sun bathe or hike and see more view of the waterfalls. We did all 3. It's almost surreal when you're swimming in a river and waterfalls are litterally no more than a football field away from you. All in all, it was gorgeous and completely worth the 18 hour bus ride!
As for my last days in Buenos Aires, we finished our classes last Thursday (3/26) - and I just found out today that I got an A in my class! Hooray! Anyway, we also had some amazing dinners, went dancing, went sight-seeing and spent some quality time in the city. On our last night (Friday) I didn't sleep - our bus for Peru left at 5:30am on Saturday morning, so we really didn't see the point. I'm definitely going to miss Buenos Aires and Argentina. The time feels like it's flying by - I can't believe that it's already been 2 months! It's bittersweet though, because I'm so excited to see what Peru has in store for us!
I arrived in Peru yesterday, and so far (in one day) it has blown my mind. I couldn't be happier with it! I'll give an update tomorrow :)
XOXOXOXOXO
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