Easter Sunday arrived and with it, our last chance to see the Iguazú Falls in all their glory before we would be heading home from the extended vacation. The day started much like Saturday: breakfast, packing our lunch for the day inside the park and boarding the bus. However, contrary to the gloomy weather encountered on Saturday, we could not have dreamed for better weather or more brilliant skies than those which greeted us on Sunday. It was almost as if the sun came out exclusively for us! As we took our first steps into the park, it streamed out from behind the few clouds that remained and reigned prominently over the skies for the rest of the day. The second most amazing thing about Sunday's visit to the falls was how few visitors there actually were! Despite the weather, I would guesstimate that there were
at least twice the number of people visiting on our first day than the second...All the Argentine tourists had apparently gone home to celebrate Easter with their families.
Upon entering Iguazú, we immediately made our way towards Garganta del Diablo (The Devil's Throat), the biggest waterfall in the park. We had also visited this fall on day 1, but by the time we had arrived there I was so cold and it was raining so hard that I didn't even take any pictures. Not having pictures of this beautiful place became all but a fleeting worry as we experienced its grandness in a totally new way amidst Sunday's beautiful weather. A few images of Garganta del Diablo...
It was a group effort, eventually dragging ourselves away from la Garganta, but we had other things that we wanted to see in the park! Next on our exploration list was the
Sendero Macuco, an approximately 5 km jungle path hike in Iguazú. Our hostel owner shared with us that only 1% the park's visitors actually make time to trek this route. While we experienced a lot of great wildlife in action, including some beautiful birds, monstrous ants, sizable spiders and other creatures on four legs, the real treasure for me was at the end of the path.
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| A very large spider encountered on our Sendero Macuco hike. |
Here, you find one of the smallest waterfalls in the park and a small pool in front of the fall where you can swim! Needless to say, I was in the pool and standing underneath the waterfall before I even thought to break out my camera. Thus, at this moment, I unfortunately don't have any pictures of the fall.... hopefully this issue can soon be rectified by fellow ETA Stacy, who snapped lots of pictures while Sam and I more closely explored the fall. Unfortuately, Stacy had an early bus to catch back to Santa Fe so she departed shortly thereafter but Sam and I's adventures at Iguazú continued. Quickly drying in the beautiful sunshine, Sam and I returned to the upper and lower circuits of the falls that we had seen without rain on Saturday. More pictures were obviously taken and, finally, Sam and I decided to take the boat ride that lets you get up and close and personal with the falls....
Although we went directly under a couple of these falls, I couldn't exactly look up at their grandeur. One, because I certainly would have lost a contact lens, and two, because the waterfall's intensity didn't exactly lend itself to this action either. The boat ride was also rather humorous at times with the guide first yelling to everyone over the roar of the water and the boat's engine that we should take photos and then later, yelling again that it was time for us to protect our cameras if we didn't want them fatefully drenched. Sam and I were soaked for the second time that day but it was certainly worth it, having that experience of being practically
in the falls of Iguazú. With so few people in the park, we wrapped up our day just as relaxed as it had began, snapping a few more pictures and enjoying the beautiful weather...
And thus ends my Easter weekend travels. Sure, there was the relaxed dinner with some other Fulbright ETA's who were also visiting Iguazú, the moment of panic on the way to the bus terminal in which I realized I didn't have my cell phone (luckily found amidst a pile of blankets in the hostel, where it had been
all day), and the rush of almost missing our bus at the terminal (only because its digital screen on the front didn't read 'Resistencia' [our destination]; it said 'Rosario' [the bus's final destination])... I know, a few too many close calls for one day that I can laugh about looking back on them now.
This week marked the beginning of my "normal" teaching schedule at San Fernando Rey. Anecdotes to ensue on the variety of these experiences...
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