Iguazu Falls = Amazingness

This past weekend my friends and I went to Iguazu (E-Gwa-Sue) Falls and it was amazing; I have never seen anything like it before in my life. It is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and clearly shows how amazing God's creation is.

We left on Thursday night, around 7:00pm. In Argentina, the bus system is the way to travel (it compares to the train system in Europe.) There are many different options for seats on these buses: semi-cama (the seat lays back a little more than an airplane seat,) full-cama (the seat lays back a little further,) executive-cama (the seat goes back a little further, but still not all the way flat,) and VIP Suite (the seat lays back 180 degrees and there is a foot rest that comes up for your feet/legs.) Nevertheless, we chose the VIP suite...it wasn't that much more than the others and for a 18 hour bus ride, we wanted to make sure we were comfortable and that we could fall asleep. We get on the bus about 20 minutes before we're supposed to depart and I could not believe how nice this bus was: our seats were on the second floor and they were as big as first class seats on an airplane. They were extremely comfortable and there was a TV in front of every seat. We take off and embark on our long bus ride. At about 9:00 or so, they serve dinner which consisted of milanesa (chicken-fried steak,) bread, quiche, beverage, and dessert. Movies were playing until 11:00 when they shut off the lights and closed all the curtains on the windows so we could go to sleep. They provided us with pillows and blankets (both which were much nicer than those on airplanes.)

We arrive at Iguazu Falls at 11:45AM and go right to our hostel. It was a nice, humble place. They had two computers with internet access and also a large TV and couch in the common area. We met some English guys who were staying there and hung out with them the rest of the day. They were traveling around the world and Argentina was on their list of stops.

The next morning (Saturday,) we got up, ate breakfast at the hostel (coffee, tea, bread, apples, and jelly) and then made our way to the falls. The weather was great: shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops. It’s funny to think we drove north for 18 hours and the weather got warmer. It was only about a 20 minute bus ride ($5 pesos.) We arrived at the park where the falls are and took a train through the park to go to a place called "The Devil's Throat." Here, there are giant waterfalls that pour mist onto the observation deck. Also from The Devil's Throat, you can look across the falls and see Brazil. There is a boat that will take you to Brazil but since we're Americans, it would cost us $100USD because we are required to get a visa before we can go to Brazil. From The Devil's Throat, we went exploring through the other rims: there is an upper-rim trail and a lower-rim trail. There are several waterfalls throughout the whole park. It isn't like Niagara where there is only one big waterfall.

After walking around the rims, we went on a boat ride into the falls. The driver was turning quickly and making water splash all over us. It felt good because it was about 80 degrees outside. Once we got to the falls, he drove us right under one of them and we all got soaked. It was so neat to see the falls from right in front of them instead of only looking down upon them. After the boat ride, we walked around some more to see some of the falls that we missed. I have never seen rainbows like I saw here: full, complete, from end-to-end rainbows. It was so amazing. The pictures I took look like I placed the rainbow in the picture using my computer but they were really that spectacular.

My trip to Iguazu Falls was wonderful and I would love to go back. The immensity of the falls and the thousands of gallons of water pouring down from the falls truly shows how no man could have created that; only God could have formed something that marvelous.