La Bienvenida

The situation with the lack of plane ticket was resolved in a most peculiar manner. Arriving at 5:30 in the morning, I sought out an agent to talk to about the situation. I found someone, explained what happened, and was assured that we would get this resolved. After digging up my confirmation # (which I luckily wrote down at the time of purchase instead of relying on the typically very consistent email airlines typically send), the woman at the check-in desk simply took my passport, typed it into the computer and printed me up a boarding pass. I was never charged for the flight - and after 3 weeks of desperately trying to avoid scandalously expensive airline tickets, ironically flew to BA for free on Gol Airlines.

I arrived and grabbed a taxi - too exhausted to fight the convenience. An hour later they pulled up to my new apt. and I jumped out, met the agent who showed me the place, got the keys, walked straight out the front door to the pharmacy, bought drugs and passed out. The next morning I woke up and Alberto (my Italian roommate) gave me a bunch of generic antibiotics to take. When I asked him where he got them, his response was, "my mom and sister are both veterinarians."

The next few days were filled with more stories than could ever fit onto a page, but after some serious partying we decided to get out of BA before school started and head up north to see the Iguazu Falls - Argentinian waterfalls that are among the biggest in the world. After our plan to rent a car failed and airfare once again stiffled our hopes of flying, I found myself at yet another bus station buying a round trip ticket for 2 overnight busses for a combined 34 hours of travel. We left Wednesday night at 7:30 pm and pulled in the following morning at 12:00. We jumped out of the bus and headed to a hostal Lydia had heard about. We walked in, payed the $13 for the night, dropped our stuff in the room and grabbed the first colectivo to the falls. The waterfalls are not a 1 sight wonder. It is an entire national park FULL of waterfalls - imagine waterfalls EVERYWHERE you looked for kilometers. The entrance is a beautiful modern village, albeit touristy, with a museum and restaurants. From there you take a small open air train or a short 2 kilometer trail to "estacion cataratas" where you can either get off and walk the upper and lower circuits or continue to "la garganta del diablo". We decided day 1 would be the full train ride to the throat of the devil, a fall that is split directly on the boarder of Brazil with Argentina. Getting off the train, you walk across a catwalk like pathway over a sprawling river. It is so immense that the walk itself is roughly 30-45 minutes just to arrive at the falls. When you arrive, the catwalk goes along a cliff and you see before you a crecent shaped cliff over which is plummeting more water than I have ever seen. Because of the half-circle shape, all the water explodes at the bottom, spraying mist so heavy that within seconds you are literally dripping with water. From the falls we walked back, caught the small train and decided to walk the upper circuit. It took roughly 3 hours to walk the entire circle, taking you across and over roughly 10 distinct waterfalls. At certain spots it looks like the end of the world, with just an endless cliff stretching into the horizon with water pouring over the entire scene. At 6 when the park closed, we hopped the colectivo back to town and ate parrilla - Argentinian barbeque. Lydia ate intestines as part of our dollar challenge and then we found a nice cafe, got some coffees and played gin.

Day 2 we woke up at 7, threw our bags into the communal lockers and caught the colectivo back to the park. The previous day we learned of a 3 hour hike into the selva to a beautiful but small waterfall that is far removed from all the typical visitors. We set out on the hike and walked forever (something I have become all too familiar with on this trip) before arriving at a beautiful fall. Alberto and I peeled off our clothes and waded into the ice cool pool below in our bathing suits. Another dollar challenge presenting itself, I climed the slippery rocks under the fall and stood beneath the water. Then we dried off and hiked back to do the lower circuit. Another 3 hours of walking, this time we saw all the falls from below. Alberto & Lydia paid to get taken in a boat to the base of the falls, but the 12 minute trip was out of my price range so I stripped back down into my board shorts and headed for the lower falls. From the lower circuit, the view was an overload. I kept calling the experience an overdose of waterfalls because you reached a point of sheer numbness and disbelief at a landscape purely comprised of waterfalls. With very little time to make our return bus, we sprinted from the park, caught the 2:50 colectivo and arrived back at town at 3:10. We ran to the hostal, convinced them to loan us some towels, showered, changed, grabbed our stuff (i checked my email) then ran down to the station, stopped at a cafe to buy chips and a sandwich, and jumped on the 4 pm bus! We arrived back in BA at 10:30 the following day, effectively doing 32 hours of bus travel within a 63 hour time period. That is literally half of the entire time spent purely in transit! From the station, Alberto and I decided to walk back home through the botanical gardens.

There is no better feeling I have ever experienced than arriving from a long trip to a beautiful apartment that is IN a foreign city. It's the best of both worlds - getting to go home while still traveling! And from then the Argentina debachery continued... but as always, those stories await fresh pages and another day.