Iguazu Falls

What a weekend I had! On Friday after class, a group of nine students including myself, set out for Iguazu Falls by bus. For those of you who don't know what they are, Iguazu Falls are the largest waterfalls in the world, and the most famous. Amy and I left the Casa around 1:30pm and headed for the bus station across town. Once we got there, we were quite overwhelmed by the size of the place. We searched around for our bus terminal, so we could pick up our tickets. There were over 150 different bus terminals and companies at the station, and we were number 121! We walked up to the counter, and the two men at the counter just stared at us, so Amy began to speak to them in Spanish. After stumbling through a few sentences, they both started to laugh hysterically and told us that they spoke English. Ha ha, they were so funny. After picking up our tickets without issues, we went to wait for our bus. Eventually our group of nine was all together, and there happened to be another group of five Pepperdine students on our bus as well, so there was a total of fourteen of us. After boarding the bus, we settled in for our 18 hour ride. The seats were more comfortable than an airplane, and reclined partially and had a leg rest. The bus took off at about 3:00pm. After reading, playing cards, and wathcing a movie, they served us dinner. Amy and I were glad we had brought our own food with us - bus food is ten times worse than airplane food, so we gave ours to the boys, who happily accepted it. Amy and I had her jar of peanut butter that she brought from the U.S., so we happily scarfed a lot of that down with crackers. We also had Havana alfajores, which are like the most amazing little cookie things you will ever eat. Eventually, we all fell asleep and I slept for most of the trip, which was very good. The bus made stops all night long, so it wasn't the best sleep ever, but it was enough to get me rested.

We arrived in Iguazu at 9:30am on Saturday and headed for our hostel, which was called Hostel-Inn. It was the nicest hostel I have seen and probably ever will see - they had a huge pool, their own travel agents, a Brazilian carnival show, BBQ, internet, ping pong, etc. We all changed, put on our sunscreen and bugspray, and headed for the Falls. Once we got the the park we headed down the lower circuit where we were going to take a boat ride. Not really knowing what to expect, we had worn our swimsuit tops, which ended up being a very good thing. We all boarded a speed boat and it started to drive us around the falls. We went right next a big one, and then all of a sudden, the driver started to head right for a waterfall! It was small, so Amy and I were fine, but he drove right under it several times. Then, thinking the ride was over, we breathed a sigh of relief. But, to our surprise we headed back toward the biggest waterfall we had seen and went straight for it. Amy and I were holding hands and screaming our lungs off. We were soaked. We thought once was enough, but no, we went under again. My shorts, tennis shoes, hair, and everything was completely drenched - but it was all worth it because now I can say that I was in Iguazu Falls! I tasted them, went under them, and went through them! After we got off the boat, Amy and I decided to hike back up the the train station and go visit the Devil's Throat. Along the way we stopped for a snack and bought a bag of cookies. I was attacked by a Coatie (a raccoon like native animal) who tried to steal the bag from me. We were literally both tugging on the ends of it. I had to let go, and then a park ranger came over and scared it away. We even got our cookies back! After walking a long ways to get there, we finally made it and were in awe of what we were seeing. It was probably the most powerful and beautiful thing I have ever seen. I can't even begin to describe it, as there are no words or even photos that can do it justice. It is just one of those things that you have to be there to understand. God has made some extremely amazing things in this world, and I am pretty sure this is up there on the list.

After that, Amy and I were getting hungry and tired, so we went to have pizza and hot chocolate. We went to some souvenir shops while we waited for the rest of our group. We then went back to our hostel and got showered up. Amy, myself, and two others girls in our group decided to go out for dinner. We found this amazing pasta place, where you purchase pasta by the kilo. We got so much pasta and soda for only 8 pesos each, or less that $3 US. The food here is so cheap! After dinner we went back to the hostel and hung out, and we all called it a night pretty early on, as we were all tired. We ended cramming nine people into our six person room, so that was an experience. The next morning we headed back to the bus station and left Iguazu at 11:30am. We had a bit rougher trip on the way home, and I did not get as much sleep. At one of the stops on the way home they were giving out free yellow fever shots and some of the Pepp kids got them - Amy and I were way creeped out. We got into Buenos Aires at 6:00am and I went home, showered, and headed to my 9:00am class. All in all, it was an amazing weekend!

On Thursday I am headed for Bariloche, the Lake District of Argentina, with Amy and her family for our Easter Break!

Iguazu Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048546&l=92f0f&id=8506204