Iguazu Falls and the Devil's Throat

I must say that for having set very few dates and making almost no actual plans, my trip so far has had a way of working itself out beautifully so far. (Knock on wood. Hard.) After my morning spent working on that pesky visa, I had just enough time left in my day to visit the main attraction in the town of Puerto Iguazu: Iguazu Falls.

I took the bus out to the park, a lovely drive in itself with almost nothing more than bright green on all sides and the occasional butterfly. Once I arrived I realized I had about an hour and a half at the park before I would have to leave for a shower at the hostel and a quick repacking before heading to the bus terminal. I headed for the info booth and was told to go straight to the Devil's Throat, the most important site to see in the park.

After a ride on the park's open-sided wooden passenger train, I got off along with about 13 cars' worth of other visitors and headed toward what I only knew to be a really effing huge waterfall:



Praying that the metal walkways holding me a few meters above a seemingly endless river were well-maintained and rust-free, I followed them faithfully past many scenic views of green and river vista.

Like this one.

After about twenty minutes of walking along the walkways in the hot sun, with the sweat, sunburn, and DEET all running together in stinging beads down my forehead and my camera full of nearly identical river shots, I began to wonder if this giant waterfall would be worth it.

Finally, I looked ahead to see a break in the waterscape:

Hm.

This is about where a breeze started to move across the walkway, a heavy mist was spritzing us over, and I began hoping in earnest for sturdy construction on the only thing keeping us all from being sucked into a watery abyss.

And then space and time began swirling downward into oblivion...

Aaaaaaagggghhhhhh!

As if.

After sloshing around the soggy viewing platform and taking as many photos as possible without ruining my camera, and hoping that my sunscreen hadn't all run off, I made my way back to the bus and my hostel, and then the bus terminal for my last night in Argentina.

The friendly staff at Hostel Inn Iguazu. Just kidding. It's some sort of reptile. But the staff were lovely.