Igazu Falls

 This past weekend a group of students and I decided to go check out the massive waterfalls of Igazu. The bus ride there was 32 hours round trip and we actually only stayed there for 32 hours as well, but it was worth it! The buses here are actually quite luxuroious, if you can say that about a bus. They give you thick down blankets, decent food, about 3 movies to entertain you, red wine, and then they come around with glasses of champagne. So random yet so lovely. Though I slept the majority of the ride there, when I work up I realized we had entered the jungle. It was so pretty and completely different from Buenos Aires. Looking out the window I could see, well I guess couldn't see, how deep the jungle was on the sides of the rocky road which we now drove on. When we arrived to Igazu my friends who I was traveling with went to the Brazilian side of the park and because I am an American and did not want to pay for a $140 visa, I could not go. The governments between South America and the US definitely have some type of grudge between each other, there is a fee for every country that I enter, it's ridiculous. fortunately the hostel we stayed at was more like a Club Med and had a gorgeous pool and fantastic weather so I stayed with another friend by the pool and got a tan for a while, and then walked around the town of Igazu.. That night the hostel had a bbq and a zamba "show". It was a good time and I got to try my first caphrina. Delicious. The next morning I woke up early because I wanted to make my trip worth it and spend the whole day at the park before we had to leave later that night, so I decided to walk the park on my own. When I first got in the park I was a little skeptical. There were tours everywhere, and a train you could take to get around the perimeter of the park had a long line and to me it felt a great deal like Disney Land. I talked to the people that worked there however, and found out that you don't have to take the cheesy train and can walk the 5km instead. This was such a way better option. I prefer walking any day to sitting on a crowded train full of tourists and I also got the opportunity to enjoy the jungle all to myself. The first waterfall I saw was Dragon's throat and you could hear it 1 km away. It was incredibly massive and I got wet just walking there. On the Walk there I encountered what seemed like 100 types of butterflies, every single color you could imagine. So beautiful. On the walk back from Devil's throat the most amazing thing happened. I heard something in the trees and I thought, "wouldn't is just be so cool if monkeys jumped out" and that's exactly what happened!! About 7 monkeys were above me in the trees just looking at me. A few of them jumped down and came right up to me. One of them found a light bulb on the ground and tried breaking it open, (I have a video of this, so precious) to find food and was unsuccessful so threw it back on the ground. They were so tiny and had the cutest faces. I felt so lucky that I was able to experience them all to myself. After that I was high on life. I walked to the upper trail and the lower trail which goes above and below the waterfall, respectfully. It was a very nice walk and got to see my first wombat, which in my opinion looks like a rat and a pig had a baby. Before I knew what they were called I named them catones. for raton (rat) and cerdo (pig) mixed together. See these are the thoughts I have when I walk by myself. When I got to the lower trail I knew I wanted to take the boat ride that goes under the waterfall, even though I was kind of scared because a month ago the boat crashed and 2 people died. However, I got my fright under control and went on the boat, and I am happy I did because it was really quite exhilarating and it got me completely soaked. After waking the three waterfalls I was kind of tired but I knew I still had 2 hours and wanted to make the most of my trip so I asked the park about the "secret waterfall" that you can walk 4 km to and swim in. I started off on that hike and within 20 minutes I saw the monkeys again! This time there were about 12 of them and there was also a baby one on a momma's back. This walk was way more off the beaten track then the other two. It is in the middle of the jungle and the sounds are so incredibly loud, it's pretty scary. There were giant ants, spiders, and tons of butterflies. I'm really happy I walked this hike, because although the waterfall wasn't that spectacular, the hike itself was really great. I returned and found my friends at about 5:30pm and at 7 we headed back to the bus. Even though it was a very very short trip and 2 very very long bus rides, it was completely worth it and was really something to see.

the boat ride!

can you spot all the monkeys?

secret waterfall