Iguazu Falls is easily one of the most beautiful places I have seen.  It’s no wonder that these magnificent waterfalls frequently find themselves on lists of natural wonders. Though it is understandably a touristy area, it is nonetheless worth wading through the crowds to see these incredible sights. As we arrived at the airport near Puerto Iguazu, it quickly became evident that we had found ourselves in a much more tropical environment.

After getting spoiled in the temperate Bariloche climate, everything felt oppressively hot and muggy.   And, in light of some recent issues with dengue fever, the first words our B&B owner said to us were, “Do you have bug spray?” Soon after, we learned of the Zika virus in Brazil, which caused us to be even more careful to avoid mosquitos. We spent the rest of our stay there covered in deet and sunscreen, and all to good effect, as neither of us suffered any ill effects throughout our stay.

We retreated to our room briefly to change and found this little guy floating in the back of the toilet.

I “rescued” him and released him outside, but later considered he may have been happier in the cool water then outside in the heat. As evening set in, we rode into town for dinner. I had a local fish cooked in parchment paper, which was quite delicious and a welcome change from the steak I’d been eating regularly.

After dinner we went to el Hito de las Tres Fronteras, the point at which Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet. It was dark, so we returned another time in daylight, but I had fun photographing the children playing in the fountain.

There was also a cultural light show at the end of the evening, projecting various forms of dance and sport upon a spray of water to create an impressive, three dimensional presentation.

We went back to our B&B after that and settled in for the night.

We woke up to a lovely breakfast, including fruit from the trees on the property. The owner had some pretty sneaky cats. We stayed at Casa Yaguarete. Our owner was very friendly and accommodating. We would recommend this place to other travelers.

With full bellies, we headed down the road and caught a taxi to the park.

The first thing we saw was not a waterfall, but some adorable coatis.

They seemed friendly and demonstrated a complete lack of fear of humans, so they came rather close to us, but the posted signs were pretty clear.  They’re crafty animals; at one point we saw them steal some food right out of a person’s backpack.

We also saw plenty of colorful birds and some very impressive spiders.

Our first glimpse of the waterfalls was magnificent.

Everything was so lush.  Having come from Bariloche, which had not seen rain in some time, the vivid, green tropics of northern Argentina made it feel like we’d traveled further than we had.

The further we ventured, the more impressive everything became.

We took a boat ride under the waterfalls. Of course I couldn’t have my camera out most of the time.

we saw a bunch of beautiful butterflies, mariposas as they are called in Spanish, in all colors.

 

There was also an iguana, casually hanging out on the walkway.

The part of the falls that is perhaps most impressive, is nicknamed “Devil’s Throat.” It really was a site to behold.

We went back to el Hito after our day at the park and saw where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet in the light. We are standing in Argentina, Paraguay is to the left and Brazil is to the right.

This is Argentina.

This is Brazil.

And this is Paraguay.

We returned to our B&B for dinner that night.

The next morning, we started our day out right with our first ever real mate (a strong, local tea). The owner’s employee, shown here feeding the dogs and cats, showed us how to properly drink it the night before. They made us a tasty breakfast, complete with mango juice made from the mango trees on the property.

The owner has a bird, dogs and cats. She loves them all.

For our second full day in Iguazu, we were determined to see monkeys. At the advise of our host, we took a less popular trail in the park with the hope that with fewer people on the trail, the monkeys would be more likely to show themselves. We never did find any monkeys, but we did see lots of other cool things. We enjoyed walking through the jungle and soaking in the sights, sounds and smells. I enjoyed taking some detail shots.

 

At the end of our hike, we came to a watering hole with a lovely little waterfall. I went swimming in the cool water and felt the force of the falls on my face.

Having not found any monkeys, we decided to take a safari tour deeper into the rainforest.

The rangers told us on the tour the jaguars are the real treasure of the jungle. They spoke of the magnificent animals as if they were unicorns. They told us it is rare to see one in the wild. Loss of habitat and hunting have made them endangered, but the rangers work hard to help preserve the area that is left for them. Much like the monkeys, we did not see a single jaguar, but the tour proved to be very interesting nonetheless.

We were told there are 200 different kinds of butterflies in Iguazu. Above, a photo of a leaf eaten up by caterpillars. The rangers taught us that the caterpillars eat the leaves without disturbing the veins, so as to not kill the leaf. Below, cocoons from one species of butterfly attached to a tree.

Here is a video of us driving through the forest. A butterfly can be seen flying in front of the jeep.

The rainforest is dense and lush. It is very different from the forest in Bariloche. There are over 2,000 species of plants and animals thriving here.

There are giant ants. We saw some on our hike, but I was able to really get scale for my photo of them when one of the rangers picked one up.

This is a papaya. One of the rangers gave it to me and we ate it the next morning,

There is an endangered tree that can also be found here. It’s wood is a brilliant pink color and it used to be commonly used for beautiful pink furniture. However, it is now illegal to cut down these trees. One of them had fallen down on it’s own, however, and one of the rangers chopped off pieces of it to give to us so we could see the brilliant pink inside.

Here is a sample of some of the other species of vegetation we saw.

They taught us that if you want a tree to die, all you have to do is cut around the circumference of the trunk. The rangers had done this to this tree because it is an invasive Chinese tree, not native to this forest, and it is destroying indigenous species.

The rangers here really seemed passionate about what they do. We had a fabulous time being adventurers in the rainforest, even if I didn’t find my monkeys.

We wrapped up our time in Iguazu with a delicious dinner, complete with fresh heart of palm from the area. We thoroughly enjoyed this wondrous place.

Evan and I both fell in love with Bariloche at first sight. It was so unbelievably stunning. Evan described it as an area where all the most beautiful parts of Colorado were squished into one place. It is the only place in Patagonia that we have ever been, but it has inspired us to one day return and backpack through the region.

We had arranged for an Airbnb and had been speaking with the owner through the app. She was a French ex-pat, fluent in both French and Spanish but only functional in her understanding of English. She told us to take the bus to what seemed to be the middle of nowhere, promising she would meet us there. After some confusion at the bus station and basically nobody who spoke English, we eventually figured out how to get a bus card and put enough money on it to get to our stop. When we arrived, our host, as promised was waiting for us with her son and his car so that he could drive our bags up to the house.

The house we stayed in was as near to a tiny house as we’ve ever experienced. It was off the beaten track and personally designed and built by our host with the help of her family and friends. It truly was a work of art. The large circular window and the style of construction gave the impression it was ripped straight from the writings of Tolkien.  We grew to really enjoy our strange little hobbit house.

We had our own room, the entire upstairs, and our own balcony/roof area from which we could watch the stars. It was our beautiful little bohemian sanctuary. The only odd part was that the host, an older woman, slept below us and there was no door. It worked out fine though–adventure time!

That first night, we were pretty exhausted. We went for a walk around our area and then our host made us a delicious, homegrown dinner. Small talk without a common language, we learned, can be challenging. Nonetheless, we tried our best and soon retreated to our room to star gaze.

Our first full day in Bariloche was magical. We walked a little ways down the road and came across the cutest and most random toy store I have ever seen. We walked past it many times during out stay and it always seemed to be open– whether it was 11 am or 11 pm. All of the toys were handmade. I bought Jen and I each a little purple elephant.

We continued further down the road to an uphill hike our host had recommended. We could have paid to ride the gondola up, but instead opted for the free hike, which proved to be rather challenging.

The reward at the top was worth every challenging step. It was one of the most, perhaps the most, beautiful views I have ever seen.

We enjoyed some wine at the cafe at the top while gazing at the magnificent view.

After soaking in the view, we headed down the mountain and went to a nearby cafe for lunch. It became a favorite spot for us. It was situated on a lake, had wonderful food and a friendly staff.

Adding to our long list of mishaps during our Argentina trip, we somehow lost our bus ticket on our first night. We asked the waitstaff at this lunch spot where we could buy a new one and found out that the only place to get a new one was at the main bus station, roughly 17 miles down the road. Our waiter and the manager were super nice though and the manager gave us a spare of his. He told us we still needed to get into town to put money on it though, and the buses do not accept any payment but for credits on these passes.  He advised us to ask fellow passengers to pay for us, an idea which seemed rather terrifying to us on account of both the awkwardness of the cultural disconnect and our language issues. After repeated attempts to ask, in our stilted Spanish, for help we did eventually get two really sweet guys to agree to it and they didn’t even let us pay them back.

We spent the rest of the day walking around the town of San Carlos de Bariloche. It looks like a little Swiss town nestled in the mountains in South America. It’s a very unique place with artisanal chocolates, Saint Bernard dogs and cafes lining the streets. We went to an open air market, where I bought a couple hair clips and then ended the night with a fondue dinner at a german-style restaurant.

We also discovered the mascot for our trip motto, adventure time, in a store front, in the hands of a small child on the bus and plenty of other places.

The next day we asked our host about laundry service, which she had advertised on Airbnb. She did have a washing machine, to our amazement, but it was outside in the back of the house. We were only allowed to do one small load, because she ran everything on well water and the season, so far, had been very dry. We chose our most important items and then hung them on the close lines to dry while we went on a lovely hike.

The hike was a longer one than the previous day, but not as steep. The water was an absolutely gorgeous shade of turquoise and we were surprised by how tall the trees were. Evan’s video really shows off the height of the trees.

Exhausted from our hike, we went back to our Airbnb and changed and then opted to go to a nicer dinner. On our way to the hike, we had passed a fancy hotel with beautiful views and decided to go back there for dinner.

For our final day in Bariloche, we took it a bit easier and rode a gondola up to another beautiful view.

We continued hiking a trail near there and saw some beautiful trees and flowers.

We enjoyed a snack and some wine in the revolving restaurant at the top after our hike, and then rode the gondola back down.

For our last night in Bariloche, our host invited us to a traditional Argentinian barbecue at her son’s house in honor of her son’s fianceé’s birthday. It was so awesome to be able to really get a feel for what it is like to be a local there. The food, cooked over the open fire, was delicious and the people were very friendly. They embraced us as if we were longtime friends.

Here we are with the birthday girl (left picture) and with our host, one of her sons and his girlfriend (right picture).

We absolutely fell in love with Bariloche and are eager to see more of Patagonia. We will someday return to this beautiful, magical place.