Iguazu Falls

First really exciting adventure this past weekend.
Friday afternoon I met up at the casa with Will, Tim, Travis, Tucker and Kaylani. We all carried backpacks and donned comfortable clothes for travel. A hustled walk to the local train. $0.65 (pesos... $0.21 US) later we were on the train towards Retrio. We found food (pizza and empenadas, typical) and rushed to find our ticketing counter in the bus station. Several minutes later we were on the bus, the bus we lived on for the next 15 hours. The ride could be summarized by nasty food, great conversations, rain, rest and excitement. We were greeted in Puerto Iguazu by rain. An English-speaking travel agent offered assistance in finding our hostel and getting to the falls. Checked in to the hostel. It was typical- kinda smelly, dirty and cheap. We accepted the fact that we were ill-prepared for rain weather, most of us wore shorts and jackets. Bought rain ponchos later... Lunched it up and headed out. We were the only people on the bus to the falls, in addition to missing the mid-morning tourist rush, it was pouring.
We arrived about 30 minutes later to the national park. Hundreds of people were rushing out of the national park as we confidently walked through the gates. We paid, found the trail we desired and meandered down a seemingly endless path. Then we saw a small glimpse of a canyon, river at the bottom, water pouring from the top. I started jumping up and down with excitement.
What followed can only be described as incredible. The Iguazu River was hands down the prettiest place I've ever seen. We hiked down towards the falls, getting close to some, then continuing on to the coast of the river at the base of some falls. The 6 of us paid 75 pesos each to board a boat. It's still raining, btw. We were handed life jackets and bags for our personal belongings we didn't want to get wet then led onto the boat. This is the kind of activity in the states that you would have had to sign some waivers of liability for. Front row seats- uh, yes. We went over to the biggest fall in this lower circuit region, got a nice look then turned to go the other direction. After riding along the coast of Brazil for a little while the boat driver took us straight into a smaller fall. Soaking is the only way to describe my state of being at that moment. We screamed with delight. Water went inside my rain poncho and jacket. At that point, the boat, instead of turning back towards the original shore sailed back towards that first giant fall. And didn't stop until we were at the base. Drenched is the only way to describe my state of being at that point. We backed up. Then went for it a second time.
Definitely makes the top 3 most fun activities of my life. And I can't think of the other two.
We eventually docked back at the shore and made the solemn hike back to the main park entrance and grabbed some hot chocolate. As we made our way towards the exit we noticed a fancy hotel around a corner. Maybe we tried to sneak into the hot tub, but maybe it was locked, I don't really remember... But Travis did attempt to attack and catch some birds.
Eventually we made it back to the bus and hostel.

That night there was dinner and sleeping.

Next morning was sunny and beautiful. We grabbed a bunch of fresh made pastries from some shop on the way to the bus stop. The sun was shining, the bus was full of people (strangers... pickpockets... a red head(not Tim)...) We got back into the park and waited for millions of years for a train to take us to a different train to take us to a path that we walked on to get to the top of the Garganta del Diablo waterfall. The mother of them all.
The walk there was beautiful. Mostly on bridges over legs of the river, neat wildlife everywhere.
But we go there and it was unbelievable. The pictures are a nice glimpse but my words or photographs could never explain the size or grandiosity of that waterfall. Billions of tons of water were being pumped every second, the mist was so heavy that you couldn't see anywhere close to the bottom of the falls. It was amazing. We goofed off there, took millions of pictures, harassed other tourists, met a girl from Los Gatos, and stood watching, attempting to comprehend that water fall.

Seriously. Come to Argentina, even if only to see the falls at Iguazu, your trip will be beyond worth it.