Arriving in Iguazú

August 5, 2009

We arrived in Iguazú around noon and I spent most of the morning reading The 19th Wife, which Tammy lent me.

When we arrived at the resort-like Hostel Inn Iguazú, our best plan of action seemed to be waiting for nightfall and doing the Full Moon tour, then seeing the falls in daylight the next day.

So, we lounged by the pool, read,drank beer, and napped (in that order). We’d finally arrived at the winter-warmth I had hoped for during majority of our trip.

The Full Moon Tour cost 80 pesos ($28) and involved a bit of waiting and gathering before getting started. During this time, the night cooled off considerably.

We visited the highlight of the falls, La Garganta del Diablo(The Devil’s Throat), by moonlight, and the sight of the foaming, frothing falls was spellbinding, immediately erasing all other thoughts and worries from my head.

After the visit, they handed out complimentary caipirinhas (or sodas) and Tammy and I were off to find dinner.

For convenience, we dined at a restaurant across the street from the bus station, which was nice enough, except for the pushy harp player who solicited us throughout the meal to buy his CD.

We were then taken home by a taxista who, in addition to probably overcharging us, tried to convince us a strike was occurring the following day and only him or his son could gain us entry to the falls. The story was fairly plausible, but upon consulting with the hostel, turned out to be false, and quite desperate (not to mention the outrageous sums he was asking for his “service” and the fact that he would have been found out at some point the next day when the busloads of tourists did indeed arrive).

We had another full day approaching, so off to bed we went.