Iguazu Falls

The first stop on my trip was to Iguazu Falls, which is located at the corner of where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. To get to Iguazu, I first flew from Los Angeles to Santiago, Chile (11 hours, 5600 miles), then from Santiago to Buenos Aires, Argentina (1.5 hours, 560 miles), and finally Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu, Argentina (2 hours, 670 miles).

Needless to say, it was a long day of traveling (I left LA at 2:30pm and arrived in Puerto Iguazu 23 hours later) and by the time I arrived I was especially tired since I wasn't able to sleep very much on the first flight, despite my taking an Ambien and normally being a good sleeper on flights. I blame the combination of anxiety and excitement I was feeling about finally beginning my trip after thinking about it for so long.

I spent two and a half great days in Iguazu and saw the falls from both the Argentine and Brazilian sides, though I stayed in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina the whole time. From Puerto Iguazu, the Brazilian Falls were much harder to get to unless you splurge for a taxi, which I didn't. By bus, it took ~2 hours to get to the national park there and over an hour to get back, not including the 15 minutes it takes to get from the main visitors center to the Falls trailhead.

The inconvenience (and $125 Brazilian visa fee for Americans), however, is rewarded by much more scenic views and a better designed trail, though the Argentine side gets you closer to the various major waterfalls (there are actually many waterfalls at Iguazu Falls spread over a few miles), and has 3 separate trails.

I left Iguazu on Friday, Feb 29th for Buenos Aires where I am writing this post from. The reason it took me so long to post, dear reader, is not that I don't care, but rather I've been injured, though the poor internet connection at my hostel in Buenos Aires has also been a problem. The night before I left Iguazu was rainy and I fell hard on the slippery deck at my hostel. The result was heavy bruising and a number of cuts on my left arm, one of which seems to have gotten a small infection which is now under control thanks to the Cipro I brought with me.

In the future, I expect to post every couple days--barring injuries of course.

Now, for some pics (the slideshow feature to the right will over time include pictures from my entire trip, but as of now, it's all Iguazu so you've probably already seen these):

Here are world famous Iguazu Falls





















Kidding, of course ... here are the real falls:
















If you'd like to see more (with captions) go to picasaweb.com/26weeks.