Iguazu Falls, Iguazu, Argentina January 2012

So this post has been a long time coming between arriving in Oz, searching for jobs and finally get them, moving houses, socialising etc the blog has taken a bit of a back seat as life takes over! But hopefully this next post will be worth the wait...

From Mendoza we travel to Cordoba, Argentina's second largest city and a beautiful place too. We stop for two nights only, meeting our Aussie friend Brad here as a pit stop before the dreaded 24hr bus journey to Iguazu. We stay in a dingy but incredibly fun hostel and browse markets and art galleries until we can take it no more and finish the evenings with plenty of deliciously cold beer! Yum! I don't have very interesting photos from Cordoba so I have skipped to the good stuff...the beautiful and spectacular Iguazu Falls!

I have no idea what this is...but we watched it eat this orange thing for about 30 minutes.
If anyone knows what he is tell me please! :)

Our 24 hour bus journey turns out to be more luxurious than we could ever have anticipated as we are greeted with large leather 180 degree reclining chairs, tv screens, wine, dinner, duvets, 24 whole hours of not having to think about our itinerary all the while blissfully free of Matthew McConnaghy film torture, heaven!

The village of Iguazu itself is small and pretty with gorgeous little wooden Cabins and restaurants and seems to function solely on the existence of the Waterfalls.

Our accommodation is spectacular, advertised as a hostel, naming itself 'The Hostel Inn', a more apt description might be 'Dream Resort Paradise but As Cheap as a Hostel Inn '. A huge round
swimming pool equipped with beautiful men, volleyball net, a cute bamboo roofed poolside bar coupled with delicious heat has me in my bikini in no time, trying not to splosh clumsily amid the chiseled bods.

We plan to go see the falls the next day and organise the 30 minute bus journey to get there.
As Iguazu Falls crosses the border of Argentina and Brazil they can be accessed separately from
both countries - I had no idea that it is also a National Park with some amazing wildlife. Many of
the animals are quite tame as they are so used to the tourists.

It was such a lovely surprise and so easy to get up close to take pictures of them...Happiness! There are some pretty crazy creatures...I don't have a clue what the reptile-y things are, I tried to find them in the books in the tourist shop to find out but couldn't find them...any ideas throw them my way!

The roar of the water can be heard from the entrance to the park and the excitement of finally seeing the waterfalls in the flesh puts us both in great form. After a 20 minute walk into the park, turning
that one last corner before they finally come into view is just another of the many many jaw-dropping experiences that have become synonymous with South America for us.

The sheer enormity of these magnificent cascados vibrates in your chest and bones and makes you gasp aloud as realisation of how small we actually are sets in. We spend the day wandering around the parks enormous network of pathways stumbling upon smaller secluded waterfalls and monkeys and turtles and kingfishers and butterflies! Oh what a lovely day we had!

On the second day we decided to visit the Brazilian side of the waterfalls which was well worth the extra effort. The majority of the park is on Argentinian soil, and therefore there is more to see, but the Brazilian side is just as stunning. For some reason the Brazilian side is much greener and also has hundreds of smaller waterfalls tumbling like tiered cakes into one another. It so beautiful that I would have been sorry if we had missed it.

This little Island is in the middle of the park and has a small little beach on it - stunning.

Cootie got Cooties!

 At first I thought these little guys were the cutest things ever, there were all these little families of them all running around the pathways together with tiny baby ones trying to keep up...all paying zero attention to the throngs of people. There are signs up all over the place saying 'DO NOT FEED THE COOTIES'. A guy feeds the cooties and it comes back for more, nearly gnawing the hand off him in the process...a nerve wracking but riveting watch!

Side Note: I thought cooties were a fictional Simpsons creation...

This is the boat we got in which goes right up under the waterfalls -  Scary!

'Garganta Del Diablo' - The Devils Throat

Birdy!

Small really...

These guys were all over the place...see the little baby on its back!

Have yous seeyan dis buhleedin wahtarfall?

Think these waterfalls were called 'Los Dos Hermanas' - The Two Sisters

Oowee...the baby is better in this one!

Evil Cootie...

Burnt much?!

Another crazy Reptile! He was just still like that at the side of the pathway.

This is just to document criminality - a 5 star hotel overlooking the park, what an eyesore!

Theres a choo choo train that takes you right up to the top of the falls...its very fun!

I wish I knew what all of these animals are...this guy seemed to be doing a spot of fishing.

This is right up at the top of the Garganta Del Diablo - this was amazing and slightly terrifying!

This Turtle was under a bridge we were walking over!

This is the Brazilian Side

Brazilian Side

Brazilian Side

Cootie family!

Before our boat journey of death underneath the waterfalls...

During Boat Journey of Death...

After Boat journey of death...Alive! :)