Iguazu Falls

So December 24 we got up and headed to the airport. There was a terrific thunder storm going on in BA and we figured the plane to Iguazu would be small so we weren´t even sure the flight would take off . . . but we headed out anyway. When we got the airport, a bunch of flights had been cancelled, including an earlier flight to Iguazu but when we got to the counter, despite the fact the guy didn´t speak any english, we managed to figure out our plane was still going. We were supposed to board the pland at 11:15 with take off at 11:45 but they finally posted our gate at about 11:15, we went through security at that point, which was basically ´we don´t bother you, you don´t bother us´ and found our gate. Finally at about 12:30 we were on our way! We landed in Iguazu and the humidity hit us instantly. It is rainforest there and you were sweating just standing there. Not all of our travellers are use to ´hostel´ living, so there wasn´t much anticipation as we boarded a bus for our next hostel. The first stop we pulled in everyone looked up and saw the huge swimming pool, recliner chairs, bar by the pool and looked back down so as not to get their hopes up . . . then I announced we had arrived . . . they all told me that wasn´t funny . . . then I said I was serious, well that certainly perked them up a lot! In Lonely PLanet they describe that hostel as resort-like and that it certainly was. The drawback was that we were 6 people in a room but we had our own bathroom and AC (you learn to be grateful for small things!) We hit the pool right away, as we were all soaked anyways, and fortunately happy hour was starting then as well so we were all set! We made all of our arrangements for the next day to go to Iguazu National Park. That night they also had a huge ´Christmas Dinner´ at the hostel and brought over everyone from the sister-hostel in town and had a huge meal with a ´Brazilian show´ afterwards. I was getting sick at that point and everyone was tired so we excused ourselves for that part . . . The next day we hard an early start, breakfast at 7am, the bus picked us up at 8am and we were at Iguazu by 8:30. It was going to be another scorcher but fortunately there was still tons of cloud cover at that point. Once in the park, we got on a huge truck that tooks us about 30 minutes through the rainforest, explaining things about the wildlife, trees and orienting us with information about the park. Afterwards we did another 20 minute boat ride along the river that the falls pours into, with Brazil on our left side and Argentina on our right side. At the top of the river was Iguazu Falls . . . there is an island in the middle so they took us to the one side and then the other side so we could get tons of pictures, next we were instructed to put away everything we didn´t want to be soaked . . . and then we drove straight into the falls . . . it was crazy, the way they could only do in South America . . . there´s no way you could ever do that with Maid of the Mist . . . the water was warm and it was so hot out so nobody really complained . . . just one wet poodle! The Argentina side of Iguazu is setup really well with tons of trails bringing you out to different parts of the falls and then you hike to the top and can go right over the falls and look down. Last, we got in a paddle raft and went along the river, watching for wildlife. We saw some more monkeys, SA crocodiles and birds. At our hostel we saw a toucan but we didn´s see any other in the park but tons and tons of butterflies everywhere! All in all it was a very long day but it was really fantastic! Although I was extremely sick at that point and then I got stung by a bee, I would still recommend it! That night we headed back to our hostel and awaited the next day when we would have to cross the border and grab another 24 hour bus to Rio de Janeiro!