Iguazu Falls

We decided to cross the border into Argentina because we had the time to do so that evening and we had been told that you need a full day to enjoy the Argentinian side of Iguazu Falls.

I secretly really wanted to go there asap also because I prefer the Spanish and also I just like Argentina better than Brazil. I didn't say this out loud to Veronica or Alon but I was thinking it. Also since Veronica is a native Spanish speaker I knew it would be easier getting along on that side.

Crossing the border turned out to be not the easiest task in the world. We avoided a taxi driver who wanted to scam us at the exit to the Brazilian falls and took a public bus to the bus stop where we caught the border bus. It took us to the Brazilian border checkpoint for $1.50 each, where we got stamps on our passports to exit. When we left that bus we were given little tickets that would allow us to catch the next one coming through without paying again, but the next bus that came through said it was a different company so we ended up paying $1 again. I had a feeling that was a scam, but we didn't mind that much since it was only $1 and we were worn out from the day of walking and the 24 hour bus ride.

That bus took us to the Argentinian checkpoint where I got my passport stamped again to enter. (I have so many stamps in my passport now)

On the 2nd day of Iguazu, we woke up and headed off to the park from the city's bus station. If the Brazilian falls is a backyard, the Argentinian side is like a city park. There's a lot more walking to be done, and a jet boat ride that not only takes you to the waterfalls, but also goes *in* them. Not the biggest ones of course, because you'd probably get hurt, but it completely covered the boat no problem.

I took a video of the boat going through a fall using my waterproof bag. It's trippy watching it afterwards.

Veronica and I opted to do the long boat ride, which ended up being a mistake. It wasn't worth the money over the short one. It was one of those cases where the salesman tells you what you want to hear and purposely neglects to tell you what you don't want to hear, and by the time you figure it out it's too late, because he didn't technically lie, he just didn't give you all the info you should have received.

I think normally I would have caught the trick there but because I was with Veronica I was a lot more relaxed and content with what was going on. It annoyed me that I had been scammed but we didn't have time to complain. Veronica wanted to go back to the ticket to let the guy know that what he did was wrong. I smiled at that idea. It didn't stress me out because she's got this way of complaining that isn't angry, it's more guilt trippy and allows the wrongdoer to correct what was wrong for the sake of good karma. It's cute.

After the boat ride we walked 2.2km at the top to walk out to the grandest part of the falls, called Devil's catwalk. From there the waterfall looked like how Niagara looks up close. Just millions of gallons of water going over the edge and hitting the ground with such force that the air is misty everywhere and rainbows are aplenty.

The view was majestic. Standing there was amazing. I could have done it all day long. I could have fallen into a trance looking at all that water.

The hostel we stayed at during our 2 nights in Iguazu was excellent, except for the breakfast, which was like 2 pieces of bread and a coffee. It's sad that they call that breakfast. The beds were clean and very comfortable. On the 2nd night, Veronica and I floated and chatted in the swimming pool until 4am while looking at the stars. That was *so* relaxing. We had walked around for nearly 2 hours that evening looking for the right hostel that would allow us to swim that night, and it was worth it.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T