Iguazu

So if you do not already know, Iguazu falls are these HUGE waterfalls located in the upper tip of Argentina and partly in Brazil. And when I say huge, I mean they make Niagra falls look like a bucket.

We set off Tuesday afternoon on the 22h bus ride up to Iguazu. Yes, 22 hours. As crazy as it sounds, we have really gotten used to these insanely long bus rides and they aren't so bad anymore.  Especially when you have such great movies as Cats and Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore to entertain you. No im not kidding. 

We got there about noon on Wednesday and went to the hostel. As crazy as it sounds, staying at the hostel was maybe one of my favorite parts of the trip. Dont get me wrong, I absolutely loved the falls and you will see why in a second, but I love meeting new people at the hostels. I loved sitting at the table drinking my coffe and talking to people as they came to get breakfast. People from all over the world just traveling and enjoying life. I also loved listening to their accents, especially Ireland/England/Australia.  

 These were two of our friends that were always hanging around the hostel: Che/john and Catherine. They did not like each other very much.

The next day the other half of our group arrived and we set off for the falls. You will notice a new face on the left, our new friend Oli. When met him as we were entering the park and he ended up tagging along with us all day. I figured out that no matter what the phrase is, it sounds way better when said with a British accent.  My favorite thing he said that day was "she went over the fall in a barrel?" and I made him say it a few times. :)

 There is no possible way that I could accurately decribe how amazing the falls were. We all just saw them and got kinda quiet. It was pretty much all you could see for a mile and the part that amazed me the most was the magnitude of the water! I tried to get pictures, but they don't even come close. Google earth it- it's worth it.

Of course we had to get a tiger paw picture

 Jeff got really jealous of the huge tour group and tried to join but he stuck out a little.

The rainbows from the mist were breathtaking. 

One of the view points was really close to the waterfall and so you got soak from the mist. This was one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip. It pretty much just sums up Jessie. 

The butterflies were incredible. Not only were they gorgeous, but they were everywhere! this was my favorite, its wings had an 88 on the outside and the inside were a bright orange.

But don't touch! haha

an when i say there were a ton of butterflies, I mean a ton. Mira: 

There was a Sheraton Hotel INSIDE the national park. Weird.

These little guys are called coaties and the best way I can describe them is they are a mix between an ant eater and a raccoon. They were everywhere and really cute at first, but then they got a bit annoying. They kept trying to get our food, but there were tons of signs that said not to feed them. Signs that said if they get people food they get aggressive. This is one of the signs:

 That night we went back to the hostel and had a great time playing telephone pictionary and cooking dinner. The next morning we woke up "early" and got to the park to take a "monkey hike" as we called it. It was a nature trail in which we did see some monkeys and then ended up at this little waterfall and natural pool at the end. Of course Jeff had to get under the fall.

Then we did the coolest part of the whole trip. We took a boat ride pretty much into the fall! If you look closely in this picture you will see the boat we took. Luckily they gave us dry bags because we sat in the back of the boat and got SOAKING wet. It was amazing. The first round we were allowed to have our cameras because we didn't get that close- but round two we put everything up and went right up against the fall. My favorite quote was when we were right up against the falls and couldn't even open our eyes because there was so much water and the girl next to me goes "I want to look but I can't, it's just too beautiful!" haha  

We went right under this rainbow. The Lord is incredibly creative.

This is what we all looked like in our rain jackets. Thank you Missy for being my Vanna white. 

To get to the boat dock, we had to walk down the side of one of the falls and there was no railing. Thats pretty normal for Argentina though.

This is a video I took on the boat. It doesn't do it justice, but it's a glimpse!

That night I got a little sick, but luckily I had wonderful friends there to get my sprite and crackers in the morning. Half of the group left that morning and so Missy, Taylor, Jessie and I took it easy and walked to the three borders. Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay are all touching, and there is one point where you can see all three at the same time.

I am standing in Argentina, Brazil is on the right and Paraguay is on the left. A river separates the three.

Each country had an obelisque  (I had no idea what that was but Missy informed us it is the monument in the photo.) It was really cool to stand or Argentina and see into two different countries at the same time.

That night we went to this Asian restaurant and got REAL Chinese food. So good. I still wasn't feeling 100%, but it smelt so good I had to eat some. Worth it. The walls were covered with chalk writing and when we asked the owner he told us that they didn't let people write on the walls anymore. But 2 minutes later he came by with some chalk and just smiled. O and the chalk he brought us was orange and purple. What are the odds of that?!  

We left our mark in Puerto Iguazu :)

All in all, it was an amazing trip. The waterfalls were breathtaking, the town of Iguazu was precious and really fun, but once again it was the people that made the trip. The Lord has blessed me beyond belief with these people and I cannot imagine the past 5 months without them.