The Biggest Waterfall System in The World - Iquazu Falls

What was the longest bus ride of your life? From Vietnam to Laos used to be mine with a total of 23 hours but I now surpassed that number with a total of 24.5 hours from Salta to Puerto Iguazu. We left around 3:30 pm and had two bus changes at 5am and 11am the following day. To pass the time we downloaded 12 hours of netflix shows and movies on our phone and tried to sleep as much as we could. It cost around 1900 pesos ($110 USD) for the semi cama seated bus that included a few meals throughout the trip but would recommend anybody to bring healthy snacks between all the sandwiches and sweets you will be given. After we arrived to the small tropical weather town we headed to our hostel called Travelers Garden ($8 USD a night) where we spent a total of two nights. This hostel was once a small house where there is one big room with ten bunk beds and then one private room and the owner sleeps in his tent in the backyard. It was a good place to meet people and chat about life but after two nights we headed to a little nicer of a hostel since there are so many options everywhere in the small town.

That night we decided to go see a place in this town that is supposed to be completely magical. It is called the Hito de Las Tres Fronteras and it is so incredible because when you get to the view point you will see across the river Paraguay to the left and Brazil to the right as you are standing in Argentina. The water from the river comes off the Iquazu Falls and it was hard to keep realizing those were entirely different countries swimming distances away. At night time is the best to be here because there are fountains that play halographic traditional dancers with music on in the background and a great water show. There are street vendors selling art and food and it is a family affair so you will people of all ages and backgrounds there. Definitely a must in this small city to visit.

Before we arrived to Puerto Iquazu, we arranged to meet with our friend Wes, whom we spent a lot of time with in Cordoba and he was there at the hostel waiting for us! We all decided to go to Iguazu Falls together the following morning to catch the first bus that left at 7am. As we stood in the longline to enter the Argentinian side of this enormous park that is home to the biggest waterfall system in the world, we had to pay an entrance of around 500 pesos ($30 USD). We got in and the excitement of finally arriving to a place my grandparents visited twenty years prior was just a surreal feeling. It is one of the natural wonders of the world and when you finally set your eyes on it you will understand why. As we grabbed the map of the park we met a man that spoke english that worked there who told us to to go to the little falls of San Martín Falls and Bossetti Falls and skip out on going to the famous Devil's Throat until later in the evening. We took his advice and headed to the smaller falls but still when I say smaller they were the best waterfalls I have ever seen in my life. You could see multiple rainbows from the powerfall water flow and the mist that was over a story high. The best part was for almost an hour there was nobody else around and we just sat there enjoying the serenity of the place.

We found out that we could take a ten minutes boat ride for $35 USD to go under the falls and get soaking wet and see everything extremely up close. We thought, we came all the way here we are going to take full advantage of this! We got our lifejackets on and luckily I was only in a tshirt and shorts because they took us into the midst of the waterfalls. We got completely soaking wet and I felt like I could hardly breathe or close my eyes because I wanted to take in every second. I know it was a bit out of our price range for such a short boat ride but we couldn't have been more thrilled that we did it.

Around 11am the park started filling up fast with people and you constantly heard at least four different languages spoken all around you throughout the park. After experiencing the small falls and walking around that area until 1 we headed to the area where tables were so we could eat our packed lunch of empanadas, crackers and fruit while a bunch of animals called Coati were everywhere! They were like a mix between ant eaters and racoons and it appalled me seeing all of the tourists feed them when there are signs there that direct people not to. As we were eating the Coatis would surround us and try and get any of the food they could and I got nervous and would always run away from them! After lunch it was time to take the free train to get us to see the biggest waterfall at the park… THE DEVIL'S THROAT. The train line was extremely long to get through and then the line itself to see the waterfall but as soon as you got into the front and center and ignored all the people around you you will lose your ability to speak besides the constant whisper of wow. It was absolutely beautiful with the endless row of waterfalls and rainbows. I have seen hundreds of photos of the devil's throat before arriving and none of them did the falls justice. We spent around 30 minutes just staring and smiling before heading back out of the park. If somebody is traveling to Argentina on a time crunch I would say put this place as your number one place to go before anywhere else. You will not be disappointed.