Iguazu Falls

Quick stop back in Floripa from Vitoria via airplane which saved us 30 plus hours of busing and then its off to Iguazu falls. In Floripa, Paul and I stayed at a hostel perched on the side of a hill overlooking a lagoon, great place to spend a rainy day playing cards with our Aussie friends. I put in a good amount of beach time playing volleyball and bodysurfing before we head away from the coast to Iguazu and Buenos Aires. Brazil has been good to me. I am going to miss the beach life but at the same time I am anxious to head to Southern Argentina to do some trekking in Patagonia.
    Marty and Ben (Our Aussie friends we met in Rio) are a blast to hang with. They are jokesters and lay on the sarcasm pretty thick, which makes it fun to watch them interact with locals and other traveler's because often times they are misunderstood creating a good amount of awkwardness. For some reason, the Aussie accent comes off as gibberish to people from all around the World. I would act as a translator for Marty when people couldn't understand him.
    The average traveling age seems to be between 20-24, or at least that is the average age of people staying in hostels. At 27, I don't feel old, but when I tell people my age, they often respond with "oh wow, I thought you were younger than that". I have reached the age where people will compliment me by saying I look younger rather than older.
    We took an overnight bus to the lazy town of Iguazu and accidentally stayed on the bus too long and ended up in Paraguay. After our unexpected brief journey to Paraguay we checked into our hostel and headed for the falls. There are two sides to the falls; the Brazilian side and the Argentinian side. The Brazilian side offers a vantage point from across the river allowing for a view of the entire falls. The amount of water flowing down Iguazu is unbelievable. Pictures can't capture the vastness or the energy that is Iguazu. It is hard to see parts of the falls because of the mist that is created from the turbulence from the water crashing into the river below. There are metal walkways that go out above the river where I could get up and close with the falls, getting drenched by the mist as I took pictures with my waterproof camera.
    The next day, I said goodbye to Brazil and headed across the boarder to Argentina. No more acai but plenty of yerba mate (the Countries popular energetic tea). It is nice to be in a Spanish speaking Country, I can know communicate easier with the locals. Our first day in Argentina we chilled out in our hostel and caught up on some reading and rest as downpours of rain came and went.
    The Argentinian side of Iguazu is a much larger and interactive. We hiked through the jungle taking pictures of coati (a strange looking animal that looks like a cross between an anteater and a raccoon), lizards and butterflies. The walkways went all around the falls, from up above looking down to right up close and personal. We took a 20 minute action packed boat ride that positioned the boat right under parts of the falls giving everyone on board a free shower.
    The highlight of Iguazu is 'The Devil's Throat'. This is the main place where river converges, and there is a metal boardwalk that provides a perfect vantage point for viewing the falls. There are gusty patches of wind that would blow the mist from the falls onto the onlookers, cooling everyone off and ruining cameras of people dumb enough to be taking pictures with so much water in the air. I took some pictures with my waterproof camera, but the pictures don't capture the feeling of seeing 'The Devil's Throat' in person.