Iguazu Falls...Amazing!

Ever since we started planning this trip, Steph has said over and over how much she wanted to go to Iguazu Falls. I'm sure the lure of massive waterfalls was there, but I think what really excited her was when she heard they have a lot of butterflies there. Well I guess we were there at the wrong time of the year, because there weren't a whole lot of butterflies (tho the ones we did see were pretty cool), but the falls more than made up for that. Iguazu Falls lays at the border of Argentina and Brazil, with Paraguay very nearby. Coming from Buenos Aires, we ended up in Puerto Iguazu, which is on the Argentina side of the "cataratas" (waterfall in Spanish). While Steph had been hyping up the falls for months, I had tried to ignore them and not expect too much, hoping to be blown away when we got there. As we walked through the park the roar of the falls slowly grew louder and louder, until finally we came out on a fairly unimpressive waterfall. I mean it wasn't bad, just not nearly amazing. I don't know what I was thinking, because I knew there was more to it, but still I let myself get disappointed. Could it really be this lame? Well, no. With emphasis, no. We turn the next corner to see over a mile and a half of waterfalls spread out before us. A mile and a half! It was incredible.

the first waterfall...kinda unimpressive

that's better!

There were a bunch of different trails that you can take. Above the falls, below the falls, almost under the falls. There is even an island that you can take a ferry to where you'd get really wet, but the boat wasn't going for some reason. The sheer amount of water, especially in some bottleneck locations, was just incredible. I'm confident it can be riverboarded, if only they'd let me...

The pictures really don't do it justice. We put together a video to give you a better feel for the experience, but you'll have to wait about a year until it finishes uploading (that's a joke, next time we get good internet speed I'll post it). The Argentinian side is known for it's up-close views while the Brazilian side offers a better panoramic view. We loved the Argentinian side and felt like it gave us a much better feel for the power and size of the falls, even if the Brazilian side made for a better picture. So the next day, after taking a bus to the town of Foz do Iguacu (Portuguese name for Iguazu waterfalls), we decided to pass on the Brazilian side. I guess we were feeling lazy and tired, but we don't feel like we missed anything. From Foz do Iguacu we were considering taking a bus to Rio, but it's 20 hours! Ugh. Not happening. We thought we'd have to pay around $250 each for the one-way flight, but ended up finding a last-minute deal for about $130 each. Yeah, we'll take that. We're very excited that we have officially taken our last South American bus! Some were really nice, like I've mentioned, but we're just over it. The trains of Europe await. But first, Rio de Janeiro...coming soon.