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After my last full week in buenos aires which though largely uneventful(apart from getting scammed in a restaurant in La Boca, some top notch Thai food and a evening of mucho Fernet and Steaks and Amy and Rachel's new apartment) the long and slow journey to Iguazu commenced. Leaving at 2:15pm from Retiro bus station in B.A the bus, and its horrendous collection of "in-flight entertainment", wound its way to the very top of Argentina and the border with Brazil at Puerto Iguazu. Finally arriving at the back of 8 in the morning the 8 of us managed to get a couple of taxis to the hostel, or should I say resort. Greeted by the inviting sight of a massive pool and pool side bar we checked in and were shown to our room. Me, Jamie and Henry had the 4 person room to ourselves which was probably a blessing for whoever would have been unfortunate enough to be placed with us. We headed to the park and went straight to the train to take us to the Garganta del Diablo, the Devil's Throat, which was incredible, neither words or photos could do it justice, standing getting soaked in the haze of the most spectacular waterfall in the world is something that is just a surreal moment. We then did the lower trail which led us through the forrest and right up to the face of the falls, so much so that the water falls at most 6 feet from your face. At the bottom of the lower trail there was a speedboat waiting(for a fee of course!) to take us into the heart of the falls, after being soaked from the waves and the falls falling onto the boat we stepped of onto, relatively, dry land soaked to the skin but all with idiotiocally wide grins plastered on our faces. During the night we feasted like kings on the 30 peso buffet at the hostel, sank plenty of beer and played pool in the warmth of the evening. On saturday we headed back to the park to do the upper trail along the lip of the falls which gaved incredible panoramic views across the falls. At the train station in the park we were treated to the somewhat disgusting, yet captivating, sight of a Tucan killing and eating another bird in a tree. Nice. We decided to do the lower trail again just because it was so incredible. Unfortunately we couldnt take the boat to Isla San Martin in the centre of the falls as the river was too swollen. At night on saturday we shelled out a mind blowing 200 pesos...33 pounds...to take a tour of the falls after the park had closed under the full moon, no artificial lights for miles around. The falls were incredible during the day but just another level under the moonlight, the price also included an all you can eat buffet back at the park restaurant(steak, ribs, pasta, chicken, potatoes, salad etc etc etc), which rest assured we made full use of! On Sunday the others went back to the Argentine side of the falls as for australians and americans need a visa and $150 to get into brazil...EU passports get in free! So I took the bus alone(the first of many on this trip) across the border to Brazil in the 30C heat and blazing sunshine. While on the Brazilian side I managed to get my visa for Argentina extended by 90 days so the end of my trip will not consist of me fleeing from Argentine immigration officers. The Brazilian side doesnt offer as much options to get close to the falls but the panoramas of the whole falls are out of this world(sorry for all the superlatives but it is just that good!). Unfortunately my camera died at the worst possible time, just as the rainbows began to form around the falls. After returning to the Argentine side and meeting with the others we grabbed some food and got the bus back to Buenos Aires. The bus on the way back had black and white TVs, only films in Spanish, fairly poor food and kept getting pulled over at check points by the Argentine Army...thankfully I managed to sleep most of the way and arrived safe, if shattered back in Buenos Aires early this afternoon. Now I begin my last 3 days in Buenos Aires which, though bad as I don't really want to leave the people in the house, promise to be riotous and then off to Salta and the Andes to begin the epic journey from the Bolivian border to Tierra Del Fuego! Hasta Luego!
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