Bad Case of Wanderlust (My Trip Around the World): Iguazu Falls, Day 2 (Jan 11th)

In the morning, I woke up at 6am to the dulcet tones of JP's alarm clock going off every 8 minutes, despite the fact that JP had not yet even gone to bed. He finally ambled in around 7am, turned off the alarm, and crashed. But by then, the time had come to wake up anyway.

I collected my laundry from the barn-- yes, from the barn, because that's where the washer was-- and met the Haitian crew to head off to the Argentine side of Iguazu. The hostel helped us arrange a van pickup where the driver would handle all of the formalities at the border and take us directly to the park entrance.

We had started off a bit later than originally planned and the border crossing seemed to take an age. Then we had to obtain pesos once we reached the park, when of course there were no ATMs at the entrance, despite the fact that tickets could only be purchased with cash. Gracie had to run in alone, withdraw the money for the tickets, and have the rest of us reimburse her in reales.

At this point, we were running so late that I had started to worry that we might have lost too much of the day for me to see everything I wanted to see. But as we walked toward the park's internal train to head to the Devil's Throat, we realized that we had crossed time zones and gained an hour in the park. As we boarded the train, the skies cleared and turned cian, as if to teach me a little lesson in patience.

A group of raccoon-like coatimundis greeted us as we got off the train, and despite warning signs all over the park, Chris couldn't resist sticking his finger in their mouths. He got bitten, of course, but at least they didn't break the skin.

After a mile-long trek on a metal catwalk that stretched over the water and out to the falls, we arrived at the mouth of the Devil's Throat.

My mouth dropped open. I was absolutely flabbergasted Never have I seen anything so astounding. The sheer power of the thing! Truly humbling.

A fog arose as the water pummeled the rocks below, obscuring the waterbed below.

And the walkway allowed for such incredibly close access that we all got soaked by the spray.

Of course, fittingly my final reaction to the magnificent force of the falls?? "I have to pee." So after taking a final turn around the lookout and simply taking it all in, I headed back to the starting point of the catwalk to find a restroom, where even there something beautiful awaited:

As I emerged from the restroom, I ran into the same tour group I had met the previous day. I chatted for a bit with their James Franco look-alike guide, who mysteriously wore a name tag that read 'Eduardo' despite the fact that his name was Guillermo. Then I hopped the train back to the main section of the park to see the other trails. The Haitian group and I had said our goodbyes back on the walkway since they had another day in the park and wanted to take things slower.

As I came upon the first view of the falls from the Lower Circuit, I involuntarily gasped, "Heaven."

Each view surpassed the last, and soon I had reached the bottom where the under-the-falls boats departed.

The boat ride began with a ride toward the Argentinian side.

We were able to take pictures at this point from our own boat and of the ones ahead of us.

As we veered toward the Brazilian side and the Devil's Throat, we saw what awaited us as the boat in front of ours went in under one of the smaller falls.

The crew then gave us waterproof bags to put our belongings in, and it was our turn. We drove right under the falls on both sides, laughing hysterically, as the water pounded down, onto and around us.

The bags had done their job and kept my things dry, but I was soaked. Somehow everyone else on the boat seemed to have known just how wet we would get and had worn bathing suits, but I was too exhilarated to mind my clothes sticking to my skin.

Refreshed by my waterfall shower, I decided to use the rest of the day to tackle the Upper Circuit, starting with a fantastic close-up view of one of the falls from below.

As I walked through the inner trails between the falls, I glimpsed a bit of the diverse wildlife on offer within the park.

One particularly curious monkey entertained a group of us by coming down onto the path and dancing around.

And yet another spectacularly-colored butterfly landed right in front of me then climbed onto my finger for a spell.

Eventually, I reemerged above the falls once again.

Even after seeing so many jaw-dropping vistas, I had not grown immune to their over-powering beauty.

But nothing could have prepared me for my first view of a full rainbow.

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect ending to my time at the falls.

I headed back, but arrived too late for the free shuttle from the bus to the hostel. Fortunately, I ran into Alessandro, another one of the hostel workers, and he took me on a shortcut through a bunch of moonlit fields. Gorgeous.

I ended the day with some dinner and drinks with a great group of Aussies and a snuggle with the precious hostel puppy. Then it was lights out!