Blown away by a natural wonder of the world

Our traveling lifestyle had now completely changed: the bikers we were have now turned into public transport people. Over the last few days, we have realized how different these two traveling styles are. On the plus side, the weather is no longer an issue: rain or shine, we are dry and comfortable in our bus and we only see the strong wind through the windows, no longer bothered by it. We are also able to cover distance much faster as buses run overnight for stretches of 15 to 20 hours. Here, traveling by bus is very comfortable and unlike with the bike, you can read, plan the trip or write, chat with other travelers. Pretty cool. On the minus side, we have lost a lot of freedom and spontaneity. We are no longer able to stop on the side of the road if we see something nice, we chose the places we go to based on whether public transportation is available or not and we have to plan much more where and when we go based on transport schedules. What we miss the most however is the daily contact with the locals thanks to the Rock star image our bikes gave us. We no longer go to gas stations where strangers would talk to us, or parked on a street where people would come and chat or take pictures. We feel a little more ordinary now:)

The luxury of long distance bus traveling

We took our first Argentinean bus from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu, next to the famous falls. This is a 1.300 Kms (16 hours) bus drive, traveled mostly by night. While this sounds pretty unpleasant, we were in for a treat as we bought a “Cama Suite” ticket, the equivalent of first class on a plane. We have heard the service was just amazing but we were far from imagining it would be that great. The two-level bus was all new, with wide seats that reclined fully, just like a bed and we each had our private TV screen with big nice headphones, a soft fleece blanket and a nice pillow. We were so comfortable, in our big chair that converts into a comfy bed in seconds (although a little short for Chad). They served us a nice warm dinner with wine and after, we could watch a movie on one of their six channels with a glass of champagne or whiskey. What more could you ask for? Maybe a foot massage would have been nice... The next morning, we got breakfast after a wonderful night sleep in our bed. We arrived at destination rested and still amazing by how great this travel experience had been. We no longer looked at bus traveling the same way as before.

We had a hard time believing we were only a few miles from the Iguazu Falls, just after a night of travel. We were all the way up there in Argentina, right next to Brazil and Paraguay. As we checked into our hostel, we found out that the park was offering night tours of the falls since it was full moon. We had not really planned for it but decided that it would be a nice way to discover the park. We took the local bus after dark and entered the park with the full moon setting its soft light on the jungle. We started by having a nice Parrilla dinner and then took the mini train to the Garganta del Diablo (the Devil's throat), the magical place we would see under the moon light. We walked on the walkway over the Rio Iguazu, the moon revealing the trees and the water around us. We started hearing the loud roar of the falls in the quiet night, and shortly after saw the big white cloud of mist. It was time to put our rain jackets on. There they were, the impressive falls and the massive force of the water. The moon was making it so unique, tones of white and blue reflecting in the water, falling in the dark of the night. From time to time, a big cloud of mist was coming up to wet us, as if the devil himself was breathing hard from down there. This first sight of the falls had been quite mystical.

Soaking wet from a high thrill boat ride

The next morning we were back into the park: we started with the same spot was we had seen the night before and where impressed by how different it looked. With the sun shining, a rainbow was arching above the water. We stayed there for a long time, walking from viewpoint to viewpoint on the platform until we were so wet it was time to go. We rode the little train to the next station where we sat down to enjoy lunch. Colorful butterflies were all around us, of different colors and size, and we had another visitor, a coati. The big rodent seemed more interested by the bread we had on the table than by us and as Chad tried to scare him off with big crazy gestures that made him look like a madman, it jumped on the table and ran away with the food. Incredible how fast to steal the little guy was, totally not scared by Chad. We would be more careful or aggressive the next time.

We continued our visit to the superior and inferior set of platforms that offered breathtaking views from the top and the bottom of the falls. It had rained quite a lot over the last few days and the water level was high, hence creating a lot of mist. The waterfalls were so large and powerful, just a long wall of cascade after cascade, with a beautiful rainbow in the center. Some walkways were getting really close to the water and we ran all the way to the end of them and back, these few seconds enough to get us all wet. We were laughing so hard, drying quickly in the afternoon sun. We took the stairs down to the lowest level to take a boat ride. This is normally from where you can also take a boat to the Isla San Martin to enjoy more spectacular views of the falls, but due to high waters, the island was currently closed. The boat ride we were about to take was more of a close encounter with two areas of the falls. We removed our shoes and the clothes that we wanted to keep dry, put all our belongings in dry bags, wore the life jackets on and jumped on the speed boat. This was no joking as the boat started the trip on high speed immediately, taking a few sharp turns to the first set of falls. We stayed at a reasonable distance to take pictures and then headed to the other set of falls where we were warned that we should now be ready to get wet. The rest of the ride was pure craziness: we were as close as the boat could get to falls, splashed from head to toes and rocking on the rapids. We could not even keep our eyes open since the water was so harsh on our faces. It was a lot of fun though and we kept on asking the captain for more.

No piece of cloth was dry when we stepped out of the boat. We changed what we could and put our dry shoes back on. The rest would dry pretty quickly. That was the best way to finish our visit of the park. There had been so many unique views of the falls, peaking through the jungle and we had not even seen the whole park due to the closed island. Looking at the map of the site, we realized how big it was and how much more you could explore if you wanted to or were willing to visit the Brazilian side. Chad needing a visa to go to Brazil, even for a one-day trip, we had decided not to explore that side. But to be quite honest, the Argentinean side had offered us plenty of views of the falls and entertainment. We did not feel an absolute need to see more. Our exploration of one of this natural wonder had been more than rewarding and exceptional, both by night and day.