15/08/18

For this article I am going to begin with the description of the destination rather than the journey to get there, because the destination for this trip was just too mind-blowing to be left for later.

Last week Gen and I took a trip to the Iguazu Falls, a corner of the world where Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay collide to create magnificent waterfalls, which is one of the new seven wonders of the world. It was absolutely breathtaking and introduced me to the power of nature and reminded me of how small humans truly are.

The Beauty that is Iguazu

There are no words to describe the beauty that is Iguazu, but I guess the closet I can get is Holy Sh•t. The walk to the biggest water falls on the Argentinian side, “Garganta del Diablo”, is about 1.5 miles on steel bridges over the massive Parana River. Everyone on the walk over was silent as they admired the pure wilderness around them. When you see the falls for the first time, you really can understand the phrase “being left speechless”, because I was simply speechless. The falls are massive, powerful, gorgeous, and breath-taking. They allow you to feel the power that is Earth and really help you realize that humans are just one-part of this entire planet. The best part of the falls is you can really understand what almost-completely untouched, wild nature is like. It seems that everywhere you go, humans have altered the environment around them one-way or another, but in Iguazu, it is almost completely untouched-virgin Earth. It is outstanding.

Iguazu was created 100 million years ago by what was believed to be a fault, splitting the Argentinian and Brazilian sides. The Parana River, in Paraguay, feeds 270 waterfalls that encompass all of Iguazu, 2/3rds on the Argentinian side and the remaining 1/3rd of the falls on the Brazilian side. Gen and I hiked the lower and upper circuits in addition to the “Garganta del Diablo”, and were able to see a small portion of the over 200 waterfalls with the majority of them being unreachable to humans. The falls are ginormous, with some reaching heights of over 80 meters and for perspective, the falls are about 2x as wide as Niagara Falls!

The coolest part of this experience was being able to share a beautiful moment with two strangers. We all had our cameras out and were taking photos of the waterfalls, then we all put our cameras away in a seemingly-choreographed way, then we just looked. We all gazed and watched in wonderment, not thinking, but just processing the nature in front of our eyes. That was pretty cool to me, knowing that it seems everyone is so attached to technology these days, that a few strangers and I all had the same idea of …well just enjoying the present moment and the beauty that we were enclosed in. I live for moments like these and crave more of them!

The next day, we crossed-over the Brazilian/Argentinian border to see the Brazilian side…even though there may be no record of it in our passports. The Brazilian side was nearly as marvelous as the Argentinian side. You are able to see more waterfalls, but from a greater distance. Whereas on the Argentinian side, you are standing either right above or below them. Regardless, both views are absolutely tremendous and leave you feeling as if there are no worries in the world.

22 Hours Til’ Heaven, the Journey to Iguazu:

Buy at Night, Leave in the Morning

It was Monday night and I had just finished my first class of the semester. I was looking at my planner and realized how little time I had before the rest of my classes began for the semester. Gen was also looking at her calendar to figure out when we have to exit Argentina to re-new our tourist visas (I was unable to receive a student visa due to discrepancies with my home university, thus I have to leave the country every 90 days to remain legal). After looking at the weeks narrowing in on responsibilities, I decided it was time for another adventure!

Flights to Iguazu were about $1,000 round trip…. that was not happening! So… I decided to look into bus trips since I had become more accustomed to the idea of traveling via bus after getting lost at the bus terminal two weeks’ prior (ahaha, still so sorry about that Gen!). Thus, a 22-hour bus ride through the rural of Argentina was booked to Puerto Iguazu, bordered by Brazil and Paraguay, at the reasonable price for $146 round trip :). Gen and I bought our tickets at 8pm on Monday and left for Iguazu at 11am the next day. Also, huge shout-out to Gen for accompanying me on these last-minute adventures that may seem dangerous/scary to some. She is the bestest!!

And We’re Off

I had no idea what to expect for a 22-hour bus ride through Argentina. Was it safe? Would there be food? Would it be comfortable? Turns out the answer to all of my questions was yes. The people were very welcoming and really kept to themselves…probably because it was an exhausting trip to be made. We were served lunch, a merienda, and dinner accompanied by a game of bingo afterwards. It was actually very fun…. though Gen and I are pretty sure we heard an exorcism taking place in the back of the bus. I kid you not, there was definitely an exorcism that took place at night, but no one was harmed. At night, everyone went to sleep on what were called semi-camas, which are very comfortable chairs that almost recline fully. In the morning we were served coffee and a light breakfast before arriving around 10am in Puerto Iguazu.

Our Stay in Iguazu

Our stay in Iguazu was wonderful! We stayed in a hostel and met a very kind woman from Spain and an exchange student in Chile from Canada who is 21 years old (who we plan on meeting-up with in a few months!!), and ate some of the best damn food I have ever had.

Overall, this trip was incredible and the 22 hours were worth every, mindful captured instance.