stop 1- Igazu Falls

so its definitely a task to pack for 3 weeks when you´ll be experiencing all of the climates possible on your trip. we packed the best we could and headed to the bus station. we were so excited to go we mistook the departure time an hour before it was actually leaving :) rookie mistake not to be made again. we boarded onto a bus reeking of foot smell, but other than that, it was very nice. While we waited we met some other kids from America and chatted with them. Throughout the night we went to the 1st floor of the bus and said hello. The meal...we were served a airplane quality meal of a sandwich, some crackers, and some other little stuff so we scarfed it down thinking that was our meal. THEN he comes around with a hot meal of rice and pork in gravy. We also were served wine. When done with dinner, he came around and gave everyone champagne..typical protocol for argentines. anyways, it was just funny. One of the guys we met just graduated from a college in Tennessee and is a mechanical engineer. They didnt have any champagne left, so he got a cup of whisky...i just think its so strange they give that out on a bus but whatev.. they do alot of things in argentina i dont understand. The ride wasnt too bad.. about 18 hours but we slept alot of it and they had movies playing all the time as well. Breakfast was the typical argentine breakfast of a medialuna, some toast and cafe. I was super excited though becaus the cafe was black, and i drank it.. i dont have to tell you that somehow it was super sweet.. it was black and thats all that matters ;) once we arrived in igazu, a beautiful, tropical, warm city, we jumped in a cab and came to our hostel..puerto canoas.. Its awesome! there's hammocks hanging all over, very colorful, the owners are friendly, there are hummingbirds all over..its just great. The city itself is very small and friendly. After katie and i showered, ate our peanut butter sandwiches, and took a rest in the hammocks, we headed out to see the tres fronteras, where the rivers converge. It was pretty sweet to look across the river and see paraguay and brazil. We walked down a muddy trail and saw a little waterfall but the trail tetered off into nothing. At this point i was sad i didnt have my chacos, but they didnt make the cut because the purpose was minimal here and they're clunky..i still love them though :) On the walk back to our hostel, we got whistled at, BARKED at, hissed at.. haha at one point I hissed back and gave an "are you serious" look. We usually just ignore it and keep on but I felt compelled to give a response at that moment. We encountered a man trying to sell his companies boat ride but we regretfully declined as we had just walked the entirety of what we would've seen from the water. IF he would've said you can stop and get out in paraguay and brazil, then it would've been a deal! haha we tried to find el gardin de los picaflores (gardin of the hummingbirds) but it was closed.. a huge bummer :) but on the bright side, we were experts at the city. When we stopped to find this other museum of the forest, it had apparently shut down and moved.. haha The little town of puerto igazu was very friendly and everyone knew everyone. When we were just around the corner from our hostel, we saw some teenagers playing soccer, they said Hola chicas which gave us the perfect opportunity to respond and ask to play. They said yes and we changed. There was actually an older man out there (Netti was his name and he was 52) and then 3 younger boys (Jose, Jose and Johnie). We were aprehensive at first but took off our flip flops, and jumped on in. 2 other girls from down the street came to play in regular clothes ( they were 14 year old twins) and then before you know it, we had a game of 4v4. My team was up for a while and then the others came back, I was focusing on not busting my but because I had on stark white shorts, and the ground was bright orange, kinda like GA. THe highlight was the teamwork between us even though we weren't really talking.. and then of course my header goal :) haha thank you ernse for all your patience (an old high school coach). Afterwards, we sat around and chatted a while. The boys had run across the street and brought back a pitcher, a tin cup with a straw and were passing it around. I declined at first for many reasons and kept to my water. Then katie tried it and was amazed so i had to. It was mate (the herb they are crazy about here thats usually mixed with hot water) and pear juice..gosh it was good! We continued chatting for a while and then the boys asked our plans for later. Katie and I had met some kids on the bus the night before and texted them but hadn't heard back. We're always up for a safe cultural experience so we decided to meet them for dinner.. We went our seperate ways and met back up later. We went to this little ourdoor resturant called Carrito 5 and they had a promo going on.. cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato and a drink all for 10 pesos (like$ 2.50 am) and it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!! gosh i was soo relieved to have a solid american meal :) haha afterwards we hung out at the tres fronteras and just chatted. When i would get frustrated at my lack of vocab, i reminded myself we'd been communicating and hanging out all afternoon and they had been understanding, and i had been too. THey boys were somewhat younger and knew we weren't interested in their romantic sides so it was just a cool culturing time. The moon was beautiful and we had contemplated going on a moonlite tour of the falls but it was a little too pricey for us. We went back to our hostel later, had a quick chat with the guy who worked there (Diego) and headed to bed. Breakfast was great, a slow nice wake up with coffee, medialunas and strawberry jam!! exciting because thats never offered. we got ready and headed to the FALLS! We caught the bus and arrived about 20 mins later. It's tropical here so the temperature as perfect..about 77 and sunny. we checked out the visitors center, took the green trail and started then on the superior trail. The feeling while walking out the bridge to the overlook is similiar to that when you're about to see the grand canyon.. you dont know quite what to expect but its gonna be good you know! and it was good.. we actually ran into that kid chris there and chatted for a bit. We later decided to join him and his friends at another hostel and make dinner. But before that, alot of exploring happened. we hit up the inferior trail next and saw coaties (koo-A-ties) tearing up the trash cans.. they look a bit like racoons but have long snouts like ant eaters. The butterflies were flocking all around.. all types, some orange and brown, some red white and black, some camo.. just lots! The view of the falls was amazing, just so much water. APparently there isnt as much water as there usually is and for that we couldnt take the ecological tour. BUT we still got to get in a boat that took us up into the falls and got pounded by the freezing water! haha it was great. We were about 15 feet from brazil..and definitely on the brazilian side of the river :) My favorite part was after this though.. we asked about the train and some workers told us we better run to catch the last one out to DEVILS THROAT...la garganta de diablo..so we ran. WE took a rickety train about 15 mins out to see where all these falls originate from..and it was AWESOME! the multitude of water falling ever so delicately into the midst..and mist..you cant see where it goes but you know its going far down there. it was absolutely breath taking. once again you could see brazil on the other side which is just cool. WE were kicked out after about 30 mins because the park was closing and the train needed to go back. We passed some people staying at our hostel and some kid we'd met on the bus a couple days before..its funny that igazu felt small because of this. The 20 minute bus ride home was a rough one.. my feet hurt SO bad from walking a ton and the guy in front of me smelled so bad! there were couples all around kissing and its just ridiculous.. they have no filter for PDA! anyways, we showered, hit up some supermarkets, and tried to find the bus stop. funny thing, there are no bus stops..the corner is just it..definitely insider knowledge needed. We got that knowledge and then the bus never came. So we got a taxi :) he said 12 pesos but i told katie to just give him 10 and he was happy. IN reality it was like a 5 peso ride but taxis are few and far between here unlike BA so whatev. We were like an hour late according to our prior plans with CHris and for that, our dinner was waiting for us. THe pollo we brought to contribute was then cooked by me and added to the meal made by the boys. Edgar and brett, two other guys were at the hostel and we all chatted for a while. THe hostel was like an american resort..not for me. I'm in another country, i want to meet locals more than other americans.. really a mix of both is best we had a nice time playing pool (which my team won haha) pool, and foosball.