Iguazu and Cataratas

The entrance to the mine of precious
stones

My last stop on my wonderful trip to the North was the city of Iguazu and the waterfall in Cataratas. Our first day in the area, we  stopped at a mine of precious stones of Iguazu and all got to rock the ever fashionable hard hats. That afternoon, we got to go on a jungle bus and see the rainforest, then zipline through the canopy and rapel down a waterfall--very fun, but very wet! The next day we went to the Seventh Wonder of the World, the waterfall in the rainforest in Cataratas, and it was pouring rain the entire day, hence some foggy or smudged photos and the ever fashionable ponchos that we all caved in and bought out of desperation. The waterfall is not in one long sheet of water like in Niagara Falls, but in lots of smaller ones, so it is actually bigger than Niagara. The biggest one is called Garganta de Diablo, or Devil´s Throat, and some of the names for the smaller ones are things like Two Sisters Falls and Man Falls. To get to the falls, you have to get on a little train and then walk on a slippery metal walkway above a raging river for roughly two miles--not what I would call toursit friendly but definitely worth it. After a lunch at the restaurant in the National Park where the waterfall is located, we went on a speedboat to see the lovely waterfall in the sunlight for the first time, and the boat actually went under some of the falls, which was very neat and got us all extremely wet. At the end of this little excavation, we went to a clearing with gift shops and I bought post cards and such, and we saw a huge pack of little animals called cuoti, like raccoons or something with mole noses that move completely when they want to sniffle about. They love food, and will jump up completely on the table and take anything they want. You have to guard your bags with your life, even if there isn´t anything remotely edible in them. One girl was eating chips at the table, and one jumped up on the table, grabbed the chips, and dashed into the rainforest. The way to fend yourself off is kicking at them, but they look pretty fierce, like rainforest animals, and you would think that this isn´t exactly the wisest idea. However, they are very domesticated from having so much experience with tourists and can apparently only make one sound, a high squealing yelp thing--which doesn´t exactly inspire fear. It was a great trip, and I had lots of fun going with other exchange students--it was nice to speak English for a change!

The road into Iguazu

At the mine of precious stones, announcing very
clearly that a palm tree is in fact still a palm tree

A pile of precious rocks we are apparently not to touch,
expertly enforced with the sign

Avery, another girl from the United States, and me

All the rules of the mine

Me touching a valuable stone

Our tour guide--just calmly sticking his hand
down a huge hole in a mine where it is well known
that spiders the size of Black Widows live, and who knows
what else.

A hole in the rock outside the mine,
framed with gorgeous stones

Beautiful wind chimes that would not make it home
on the airplane for love or money

Statues of cute little animals from the rocks
found in the mine

Me outside the jungle bus we took to the rainforest

Kids from Austria, Denmark, and Iceland, as well as me

Vines hanging from a tree, which our tour guide begged
us not to touch or hang on, because Tarzan is not
real

One of the exchange students, hanging from the
forbidden vines.

The very rickety staircase to get to the zipline

Very tall and rickety. Not good for you if you
have a fear of heights.

Me with my zipline harness.

Rainforest!

Before repelling down a waterfall, with kids from Denmark
and Germany

After rapelling down the waterfall with kids from the USA, Germany,
Denmark, Sweden, and Norway

The all pudding dessert, after dinner that
night

Rocking the poncho like an American

Visitors Center for the park in Cataratas

Warning sign with descriptive pictures

On the train going to the waterfall

First sight of the river

Us in the rain

The river below the walkway

Don´t leave the trail or a snake will eat you

Devil´s Throat

Cascada de las Dos Hermanas, Two Sisters
Waterfall.

I don´t know how to rotate this, so it´s upside down

Still pouring rain, but the view was so worth it.

My friend from America, Xena, and me

A condor, which fly all over here

An alligator sunbathing

Our boat we used to go under the waterfall

My friend from Austria and me

On the boat

RAINBOW!

These cute little guys are called cuati, and
I think they sort of look like a raccoon or
beaver or something, but with the face of a
mole--they love food more than anything in the
world and when they sniffle around their entire nose moves!