Iguazu Falls, Tafi Del Valle, and Cafayte - Argentina

Spectaular. Iguazu Falls truly is a wonder of nature.

Firstly though, we survived the bus there which was no hard feat when you are sitting in the upstairs front seats of a double decker bus and have a panoramic view of the landscape along the way. The further north we travelled, the more lush the scenery was. Plantations of sugarcane, bananas, orchids and just trees and grass and greenery everywhere, with rich red brown soils that bleed everywhere onto the highways.

Arriving in the middle of the day, we were grateful the hostel we stayed in had a pool as the humidity was intense. But perfect blue sky summer weather and we headed to Iguazu early the next day on the local bus. Its about 30 mins from the town centre of Puerto Iguazu. The entry fee is about $30 aus to enter Parque Iguazu on the Argentinian side and walking through the gates almost felt like a amusement park. But you quickly disperse from the entry and the shops, and lose any crowds around you. There are 3 trails you can walk which meander through the park before you see the falls. And when you do, its breathtaking and so beuatiful, and really loud with such an immense amount of water. We took the lower trail first upon advice and you can so close to the falls that you get wet (not so much on the Brailzian side which we didnt go to). Footbridges take you around every vantage point possible and needless to say, we took hundreds of photos as its just so picturesque and lush. You can take a free boat across a section of the falls and then hike up a mountain in the centre for amazing close views. And then, you can swim! How cool to swim in Iguazu Falls! There is a train which takes you to the Garganta del Diablo (Devils Throat) which is the main semi-circular section of the falls where the world literally seems to drop away. Its awe inspiring and we were either lost for words, or could simply mutter basics like ´wow´.

So we had a greta day, did all the trails, and saw lots of wildlife including spiders, and millions of colourful butterflies that land on you as they please, and birds with blue crests, and these animals (cant remember what they called, but they have short legs, a long tail which sticks up and a long pointy nose and are about the size of a wombat maybe). They are really quite tame and cruise about the rainforest. We came across about 20 of them and they could smell something sweet in jebs bag so they were right into and we had to really fight to get the bag back. Very cool.

We had wanted to go from Iguazu to Salta but the bus was full so we took a bus to Tucuman instead (still 22 hours). Have to tell you about the bus food for this trip...for dinner there was 3 different types of sandwichs all with ham and cheese! And, we had already had the same thing for lunch! And they cut the crusts off bread here. Gotta laugh...

Tucuman is just another city, so we deicided to get on another bus for 2 hours north and go to a small town called Tafi Del Valle with a population of 4000, and and an elevation of 2000. The bus ride was amazing as you drive through an amazing rainforest valley which looked like it was out of a fairytale. The lushest place i think ive ever seen, there was no sense of where one tree finsihed and the next began. Everywhere was just green and mossy with a big creek running through the middle of it. So glad we didnt go straight to Salta, because to arrive in Tafi was a blessing. There are mountains surrounding this valley and we hiked one for views of the area with a Dutch doctor we met. It rained all night which was unfortunate, so we left the next afternoon and came to Cafayte which is where we are now. The bus ride again was scenic but this time the vegetation changed to arid landscapes with huge cactus marking the hills everwhere you looked.

Cafayate is a wine producing region and is also surrounded by big mountains. We did a small wine tour yesterday. The best grape in Argentina is called the malbec. Wine here tends to be very dry and my favourite tasting was of the rose which is unsual for me. Last night, the hostel we are staying in put on a huge bbq feast, local wines and tunes. Ahh life is hard...gotta go now as we are taking a trip through the canyon area.