The past few weeks I’ve been busy mostly with 2 things: studying and working out.  I’m in the zone.  But, after working both my body and mind, I have little energy to socialize.  I have had a chance to hang out a bit with my friend Karina who I met through my friend John from DC.  One Saturday night we headed out to see Cabaret – all in Spanish. Luckily I know the storyline from the movie and seeing it on Broadway.  Even though my Spanish is going well, I still find things like TV, movies and shows a little difficult to follow.  Anyway, suffice it say, I’ve been a little bit more of a shut-in than I planned – no easy feat in a city like BA.

Well, since I still hadn’t been to Iguazu Falls, I decided to take a break from the study action to travel up to northeastern Argentina to see one of the world’s most spectacular natural wonders.

I left BA on Saturday evening taking the 17 hour bus ride to Puerto Iguazu.  Even though BA is slowly moving from spring to summer, I wasn’t prepared for the heat and humidity sledgehammer that greeted me when I stepped off the bus.  While BA days are currently around 25-27C/77-81F, Iguazu is a very balmy 35C/95F.  Looks like I won’t need that light jacket at night that I brought.

I got checked into the hostel and rested during the afternoon.  I managed to arrange my trip to the falls and planned out the rest of my time here.

On Monday, the tour company picked 5 of us up from the hostel and we headed off to the National Park. I wound up traveling with 6 Spaniards.  Four were in their late 20s and working in Uruguay.  One had his parents visiting and they were kind enough to let me tag along.  These guys had very thick accents so understanding them was a little tough.  But, we got through it fine.

Once inside the park, we left with a big group on an open air truck to head for the river.  The falls are in the middle of the jungle and technically the terrain is considered “sub-tropical.”  The landscape was thick with trees and vegetation.  We saw several lizards and iguanas on the way.

At the river’s edge, we boarded the powered rafts and put on our life vests.  Since we’d be nearing the falls in the raft, we were given a large waterproof sack to put our stuff in.  We rode up the river enjoying the sunshine, the landscape and the occasional bumps of the river.  To our left was Brazil and to our right, Argentina.

As we neared the falls, their roar steadily increased in volume. We rounded a bend in the river and got our first view of the falls.  We continued a little further up past the first falls to take a “ducha”, a shower.  Well, those little waterproof packs came in handy as the raft passed under a relatively small fall, “Salto Dos Mosqueros” completely soaking us.  It was great!.  I would’ve been happy if they had stayed longer under the falls given the heat.  But, we had to move on.

We returned to the bend in the river to approach a major portion of the falls.  We passed Isla San Martin on our left then Salto Bernabe and Salto Mbigua on our right.  Both are large in size, but we continued on toward Salto San Martin.  This waterfall has so much water falling that there is an incredible amount of spray near it.  Well, we had our second and third ducha of the day playing in the mist and spray from Salto San Martin.

The boat let us off near the falls to continue the exploration on land.  First we went to Isla San Martin which faces directly in front of a big part of the falls.  We then followed the trail to see the various parts of it.  I didn’t realize how massive the Iguazu Falls actually are.  The length is several kilometers long with many nooks and crannies breaking it up creating different sites to visit and lots of opportunities to get up close and personal.

We climbed above the level of the falls and boarded a train to see the highlight of the day – “La Garganta Del Diablo,” or The Devil’s Throat.  From the train to the Garganta, you walk about a mile on a pedestrian bridge over the river.  It was amazingly calm given how close we were to the falls.  Once you get to the Garganta, you see how the river lazily streams to the brink and then crashes violently below.  It’s an amazing site.

The Garganta roared with spray and mist blowing over all of us on the lookout point.  By this point, I had dried off and after walking around in heat, the cool spray was exactly what I needed.  There was a group of birds playing in the mist below. The reflection of the sun illuminated several rainbows.  You can’t see the bottom of the falls for the thick wall of spray and mist.

The next morning, I headed off to see the falls from the Brazilian side.  I got a little turned around on the bus route and found myself in downtown Foz de Iguazu, Brazil, rather than at the national park.  So, after a 2 hour detour, I finally entered the park.  The Brazilian side is a further away from most of the falls so you get a panoramic view of almost the entire falls.  Again, it was a hot day so I stopped for a quick ice cream and then headed back to Argentina to the hostel.  I also found a spot to stand in the water’s mist to cool off.

On Wednesday, I got up early to take a tour of a local precious-stone mine and Jesuit ruins, inspiration for the Robert Deniro movie, The MIssion.  Our first stop was in the town of Wanda to see the mines.  We went on a tour of a mine that is a rich source for many including Quartz, Topaz, Lapizlasuli and the national stone of Argentina, Rodocrostina.

We then went on to San Ignacio to see the Jesuit ruins.  There are about 30 ruins across Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil in this region.  The Jesuits were a key part of the Spanish conquest of the new world and their work in this region.

Erected in 1632 and abandoned in 1817, the ruins at San Ignacio are part of what has been deemed a UNESCO World Heritage site.  There is a small museum at the entrance to give you a bit of background before you enter the grounds.  The ruins started to be restored in 1940. The grounds are not perfectly manicured and I hope it stays that way.  When you enter, you feel like you’re stepping back in time.  The original plan of the site was significantly larger reminding me of the Alamo in San Antonio whose current site is reduced from what it was.

The ruins are made of up of what is left of rows of housing for the Guarani people, the town square, the hospital/jail (yes, it was one building), and, of course, the church.  We first walked amongst the housing.  Made of stone, the rooms were small but basically used for sleeping only.  There was an entrance in the front, the back with an opening in the walls to the neighbors.  The roofs were gone, but the walls and perimeter structure were still intact.  We crossed through the former “town square” to head towards the church.  Still hanging were beautiful stone carvings above the entrances.  The interior walls were supported with girders to protect them from further deteriorating.  In the corner was a large stone sign bearing the symbol for the Jesuit order – a sight that took me back to my Georgetown days.  It was a great tour, almost mythical.

We had a long drive back to Puerto Iguazu but finally around around 6PM.  After a quick dinner, I headed off to bed exhausted after an amazing three days.  We had a huge rainstorm that night with lots of thunder and lightening.  Luckily it held out until I was done with my tour.  The trip was the perfect antidote to my cabin fever.  Unfortunately, I have one more week to go.  But, now I’m ready to hit the books for the final stretch before my exam.

Originally Published October 30, 2007

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