Paradise

I spent last weekend in paradise. I went with two of my fellow UPSers who are in the program to Iguazu Falls. They are in the NE on the border with Brasil and are surrounded by sub-tropical forest that are full of all sorts of exotic wildlife (tucans, monkeys, lizards, you get the drift). The forest was incredibly green and lush and the air fresher than I could have imagined. The dirt everywhere was a rich, sienna red color apparently caused by a high iron content. I think every hostel in the town of Puerto Iguazu had at least two hammocks. Entire families of four got around town on one motorcycle. The streets weren't paved but made of chunks of stone and the beautiful red dirt. Needless to say, it was probably the most relaxing environment I have ever been in. The bus we took was an all-nighter that left Retiro (the station in BA) at about 7 PM on Thursday night and cruised into Iguazu at about 10:30 AM Friday morning. Now usually, the discomfort of spending an entire night on a bus would have put me in a semi-uptight/cranky mood. But when we got into town I just couldn't help but relax. We checked into our hostel and went straight to the falls. The falls are absolutely indescribable. You really expect a unicorn to pop out of the bushes, everything is so unreal. There are huge groups of butterflies that will take flight and swarm around you if you happen to walk through them. They have no problem taking a time out and landing on your hand. The falls create a mist that hangs over the forest nearby and the island in the middle of the falls. Random wildlife will appear out of nowhere. For the first day we hiked around the trails of the lower circuit of the falls. The second day, we went on a guided tour called La Gran Aventura that included a little truck ride through the forest and a boat ride right up to the falls. And when I say right up to the falls, I mean we got off the boat ride soaked. It was incredible being so close to such a powerful force of nature. The second day we completed our hike around the park with a walk to the section of the falls called Garganta del Diablo. You can't actually see the bottom of this group of falls because the rising mist completely obscures the view. It was incredible.

On the way back top BA we had to stop in basically every town with a station along the way to fill up the omnibus and I absolutely fell in love with one of the towns. It was called El Dorado and it was just a little town but it had so much charm and character. We stopped there while the sun was setting and casting a pink glow over everything. It was magical. This trip made me realize that I am currently in a country with such a diverse landscape considering its size. Spring break is coming up and it should be another opportunity to se more of this gorgeous country.