argentina: puerto iguazu and iguazu national park

one of the things i do when i travel is check the unesco sights list for that country/location...one of the most famous sights in argentina is on that list...it's a national park, split over brazil and argentina...i've forgotten the name of the brazilian side (you have to get a proper brazilian visa to go to that side, even if you're only doing a day trip!) but the argentinians call it igauzu national park...
we arrived in puerto iguazu, the nearby town, around noon...the entire town is based on the national park...we walked through, checking prices on a few hostels, and chose one of them...we sorted out laundry that needed to be done, got info on getting to/from the park, thought about a couple other tours, etc...

there is a bus from the bus station to the park that leaves regularly, so all we had to do was walk back to the bus station...easy to do...we ended up on a bus full of high school kids from san diego and tijuana...we were traveling in argentina a week or two before world youth day, in brazil, so there were religious groups traveling all over south america at this time...i ended up chatting with a girl who was planning to attend purdue the following school year...
the entrance fee to the park was not cheap, to say the least...(170 pesos!!!) that tends to happen with unesco sights...argh...sometimes i wonder what the money is used for...

we got a park map, then started following a trail...bo was fascinated by the creepy raccoon like animals we saw almost straightaway...they're not raccoons, but i can't remember the name...whateva they are, they're smart, and have learned from the behaviours of humans in the park...all the rubbish bins in the park are closed in such a way that is supposed to prevent these animals from getting in...i don't know if it works...
eventually, we got to the falls...the whole set is called iguazu falls...beautiful...they stretch a loooooooong way....some spots on the trails are better for photos than others...not surprisingly, we took HEAPS of photos...(so did everyone else, leading to me getting annoyed with people for doing the same thing i wanted to do, oops)...bo probably got annoyed with me wanting to stop constantly for more photos at slightly different angles...

the trails on the argentinian side of the park take you up close to the falls...very close...there are a couple places where you get totally soaked if you go all the way....SOAKED...(by contrast, the trails on the brazilian side give a better overall view of all the falls)...lots of falls have individual names, i found one named after me, how awesome is that?
we followed one trail as far as we could, until we found a park ranger who shooed us the other way, saying that the park was closing for the night and people had to leave...darnit...
that night back in puerto iguazu we ate HUGE steaks...HUGE...we should've shared a steak, but as usual, had no idea how big they would be when we ordered...also as usual, they were cooked perfectly...
breakfast was included in our hostel price, and there was a good spread set out that morning, yahoo!!
we decided to go back to the park...entry fees are half off if you go back for a second day with your receipt for the first day's entry...

we walked the first trail again, going the way we hadn't been able to go due to the park ranger the night before...i kept seeing rainbows, i really wanted to find the pot of gold, but it never happened...how amazing would that have been?
we also decided to walk a trail that went no where near the falls...bo wanted to see monkeys...and he did...we got to the end of that one, and saw the top of a small waterfall...really pretty, and rather quiet...considering all the other noise and people in the rest of the park, this was pretty awesome...i wouldn't mind hiking more trails in this park, in areas away from the majority of people...

i'd noticed that postcard prices in the park shops were heaps cheaper than in town, so i loaded up before we left...each shop was surprised at how many postcards i bought, but hey, that's what i do:)
before dinner, we decided to walk to a point in town where we could see how the borders of paraguay, brazil, and argentina all come together in this place...i wish we'd gotten there in daylight, but oh well...one day i want to see paraguay and brazil, too bad they both require expensive visas....
dinner that night was a lot smaller, thank goodness:)...we stopped at a random little spot, just a couple empanadas each...i think i was still full from the meal of the previous night!!

we ended up walking through a market, bo wanted olives...i can't stand the taste or smell of olives, but i liked the different cheeses and sausages we found...