i'm in argentina, yo!

this morning dani went on ahead of us to get some breakfast and ran back to us all excited, "this hostel's breakfast is so much better than são paulo. you get a croissant and two croutons!" i thought he was joking. he was not. if you are going to say that breakfast is included, no matter how continental and skimpy it may be, a croissant and two croutons do not qualify.

after snacking on the inedible croutons, we went to the bakery next door for some breads. they may not be vegan but i tried to get the most vegan-friendly ones. then we went over another block to the bus terminal. that is one thing that is convenient about the hostel--it is quite close to the bus terminal. (one good thing about the hostel: warm shower.) we paid for roundtrip fare to the argentina side of the falls, to the entrance of the national park. it was only 10 pesos. the entrance to parque nacional iguazú was 40 pesos for foreigners. it was a fairly warm to hot day. i mean it's supposed to be the end of winter here but we're in the jungle. i'd hate to visit during the summer. plus i'm sick. i'm dried out. i kept buying these little cough drop type candies at the stores around the park.

devil's throat

the most popular attraction in this park is the part of the falls known as garganta del diablo (devil's throat). we wanted to see it with as small of a crowd as possible so we headed there first. you can take a train to a couple of stations and then walk to the falls. we walked the sendero verde (green trail) before riding the train for one station, then walking to the falls. the trail isn't that long but it seemed quite long due to the anticipation of reaching the falls. are we there yet? are we there yet?! finally, you start to see water and you cross over a bridge. then you can see mist in the distance. next thing you know, you are there! the roar of the falls was not as loud as i thought it would be. nor was it as misty. but if you stay there for awhile taking pictures and admiring the view, you could get quite soaked. what's really interesting about the waterfalls is that the spray is so strong at devil's throat that there are times when all you can see is white. those pictures were really boring so i deleted them on the spot. there are also birds flying right there, weaving in and out of the mist. it's not something that i could capture with my camera.

i didn't think we'd be there that long but the park suggests 2 hours and you know what, we probably did spend about 2 hours there. it wasn't that crowded but everyone is crowding around to take photos. a lot of time was spent just trying to take a photo, drying off the lens and camera, then trying again, drying again, repeat! i did make a quick protective cover out of a shower cap and rubber band for my camera, but there was nothing protecting the lens other than the uv filter that's now permanently attached to it. a little later in the day i tried to remove the filter to clean the space between the lens and filter. that's when i realized it is on there for good. it appears a bit warped. it must've gotten that way at the last victimas concert i went to.

rainbow over one of the falls

after we were done with the devil's throat, we individually made our way back to the train station for devil's throat. there are restrooms there and a shop. i spent my time waiting for the others to catch up by admiring the butterflies and trying to take a picture of them. once they caught up, dani headed over to the restaurant he saw near the entrance whereas twiddle thumbs and i bought some crappy pre-made sandwiches for lunch that we took the cheese off of. we tried to find a spot with some shade and avoid getting stung by all the bees that are attracted to the sweet drinks people buy. they are very curious about our food to see if it's for them. meanwhile, there is a slight fear of an accidental sting. i am not doing anything that will provoke them. it's just that the bees are that numerous.

next it was time for us to walk the circuito superior (upper circuit) where you can catch a glimpse of more waterfalls from above. there is also the circuito inferior (lower circuit) where you catch a glimpse from below. from there, water conditions permitting, you can take a boat across to isla san martin (san martin island) and get yet another view of the falls. we did the upper circuit while dani did the other two. again, more butterflies and birds. this time i also saw a lizard. the sun is really strong and it's hard to get the balance right for photos when people are involved. something is going to be too light or too dark. now i wish i had brought my other filters and a tripod or had purchased one of those split filters to block out bright portions of a photo. but that's ok. i'm here and enjoying it.

one of the many butterflies at the falls

the end of the upper circuit is not so crowded. we just admired the view and took our time. eventually, there was hardly anyone left. there was someone there selling some stuff. i didn't pay attention when we first passed her by. now that hardly anyone was around, i looked at what exactly it was that she had. she was giving a demonstration to a couple of her goods. she was painting on a tile by hand. no brushes, just paint on her fingertips and nails. it was pretty amazing. she won me over with that demonstration. i wanted to buy what she was working on but it needed to get glazed so sadly i couldn't take it home with me. instead, we bought several small hand-painted magnets as gifts for various people. if i had my own house with a tiled room, i probably would have bought something much larger.

after walking back, we looked around a shop to get some gifts and postcards. outside of the shop was a mail box but we didn't fill out the postcards there. we'll save that for a night time activity when we wind down and relax. we took the train back to the main entrance and were considering walking the macuco trail, but it was just way too hot and we passed the entrance to it while riding the train. i didn't feel like walking in the bare sun right now to reach the trail entrance. so we decided to call it a day and get on the bus back to town.

when we got back, we took our dirty clothes to a laundry place. then we walked in the downtown area if you want to call it that. we had dinner at bar tango--some pasta with freshly made pesto, no cheese of course. as we sat there eating, a stray dog who was injured came by and rested near the table next to us. for a moment he found a haven where no one would bother him. once he was rested enough, he went back on his way. such is life here. it's very different from the big cities. i actually feel like i'm in south america. actually, it kinda feels like a hollywood movie, like "romancing the stone" or something. after dinner we leisurely strolled back towards the laundry place and browsed at various shops for souvenirs and gifts back home. while walking around, we have already begun to notice people sipping yerba mate. it's kinda like sipping lemonade on the porch and people watching, except here it's all about the yerba. we were too early to pick up the laundry so we checked email at the hostel until it was time to pick up the clothes. not only is the keyboard layout different so i'm having trouble finding certain keystrokes, but for some reason, it's also set to korean. so i'm switching back and forth between korean and spanish to find all the characters i need to type.