Iguazu Falls

Last weekend I went to Iguazu Falls! It was my first time outside of Buenos Aires since I got here. Here are some of the highlights of my trip. These are only a few of the photos. You can find the rest on my facebook. I will also have videos up soon on facebook.

On Thursday evening, I got on the bus with the rest of the people in my program. The bus ride was really long, but it was fun because we all got to chill and watch some movies. The bus arrived in the region of Misiones (the region where the Iguazu Falls are located) on Friday morning. The dirt here is red, and it stains clothes and shoes and will never wash out, so I brought my clothes that I didn't care about. It was pouring when we got there, and so everyone rushed to buy these cheap flimsy raincoats that rip after the first use. We visited a Jesuit museum that showed what things were like when the Jesuits missionaries first came to the Guaraní people (the indigenous people of this region). It was kind of boring except for some cool Guaraní artifacts and some recordings of the Guaraní language.


Then we visited some ruins of an ancient city, which was cool. After the ruins, we went to an estancia (a farm) that grows yerba mate. Mate is very popular in Argentina, but it is especially popular in the region of Misiones because there are a lot of estancias that cultivate the yerba. Here, people drink mate multiple times every day, and in a way, mate is like a staple here. Mate contains a lot of mateína, which like caffeine, helps you stay awake. At the estancia, we had a delicious lunch (soooo much food) that the people at the estancia prepared for us. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out, playing card games, and drinking mate, which was a lot of fun. We also got to try some tereré, the "summer cousin" of mate. With mate, you put the yerba in the mate cup and add hot water (well, there's more to the technique than that). Tereré is very popular on hot summer days because instead of putting hot water in the yerba, you put cold juice (usually orange juice or lemonade) in the yerba. The drink is cool and fruity but it still retains its original mate flavor. After the estancia, we drove for a couple more hours to our hotel, where we had all-you-can-eat buffet for dinner (although I was already so full from lunch).

All day Saturday was devoted to our day tour of the Iguazu Falls. The Falls were enormous. And breathtakingly beautiful (no photo can ever capture its beauty, you have to see it in person). We walked all day through it and still didn't get to see all of it. But of course one of the things we got to see was the famous Garganta del Diablo (Throat of the Devil). We also visited various other falls in the Iguazu National Park. There were a ton of butterflies there who weren't afraid of people. A lot of these butterflies will just randomly land on you and stay there for a good 15 minutes while you walk through your tour, as if you're wearing the butterfly as an accessory. There were also a lot of other wildlife there, including these cute opossum-like creatures that are native to that region of Argentina. During a tour of Iguazu Falls, we took a ride on a speedboat which took us to areas were the water fell, and we all got completely soaked. It was a lot of fun. In the evening, we returned to our bus, which on the way back to the hotel stopped at the point where Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina almost meet (although they don't actually meet, since there is water separating them). Each of the three countries have an obelisk of its flag colors near the edge of the water. You'll have to go to my album to see them. Anyways, afterwards we went back to the hotel.

The next day, we got to visit a Guaraní village, where the indigenous people have preserved their way of life. They showed us a bunch of cool animal traps that they made. They also showed us a type of fruit that they grind up and mix with water to make a tea used for contraception. Then a group of Guaraní people performed a few songs in the Guaraní language. At the Guaraní village, I bought a bow and arrow, a blow dart, lots of necklaces and bracelets made from a native plant seed, and feather earrings. After we left the village, we had some time to hang out and eat before we headed to the airport.

It was a really fun trip, and you definitely can't go to Argentina without visiting the Iguazu Falls.

This is the last week of my current class, and then after my final exam on Friday, I have a week of spring break before my next class starts. So of course I'm taking this opportunity to go to Brazil for Carnival! So excited. The only that that disappoints me is that I will be leaving for Brazil the day that Shakira comes to Buenos Aires. Oh well, I'll have a lot of fun at Carnival, and I'll be sure to write all about it when I get back!