adventures abroad: one of the 7 wonders

there was a feria de picadas (basically a food fair) in the tiny town of iguazú

we bought some olives

french man we kept seeing

garganta del diablo aka "throat of the devil" entrance. you have to walk three-quarters of mile on boardwalks to get to the top

on the way, we saw these birds

the devil's throat is the tallest part of iguazú (i'm pretty sure). the boardwalk extends almost over the waterfall-terrifying. i can't even explain how much water rushes down this part of the falls. i couldn't even take that many pictures because the spray was so strong

the water drops 90 degrees into a foggy abyss. the water was so strong, you couldn't even see the bottom for a depth reference.

the green trees on the other side is brazil! from the argentinean side, you can see about 80% of the falls. the other 20% goes to brazil, where you can basically see a nice panoramic view.

the devil's throat was probably one of the most terrifying things i've ever experienced. you peer down into this massive crevasse that is just rushing water. the falls are incredibly loud, and we got completely soaked. looking down into the waterfall gives you a rush of adrenalina, although it was incredible, i was glad when we got off the boardwalk when we returned. the height of the tallest waterfall is almost 300 feet! the falls themselves span 2.7 kilometers as well. the falls of iguazú are located within the parque nacional de iguazú, so the whole place is protected. not to mention it's a jungle, so it was super muggy and humid. we walked around the entire park, taking pictures of waterfalls and getting wet by standing under them until 3pm, when we decided to hike over to one of the individual falls that you can swim to. bri has those pictures, so i will steal them when she puts them up.

although we were tired from walking all day, we made it back to the hostel just in time to cook an early dinner and crash before 11pm. because we had seen the falls in a day, we had nothing to do (and didn't want to spend the extra 50 pesos) to re-enter the park the following day. our bus didn't leave til 6pm, so we sat around, completely bored until our bus arrived that afternoon. another 18 hour ride, and we were back in buenos aires! bri left yesterday, so i am staying in a hostel by myself for the last night (tonight-eek!). i'm glad we went out with a bang, but it's sad to know that i will never return back to mendoza as a student, or come back to argentina and have it be the same. for now, i'm just going to enjoy myself on my last full day in this country by hitting up some markets and eating some good food and drinking some malbec.