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This weekend was absolutely exceptional! I’ve been in Rosario for two weeks now, and the constant rush of the city is rather different than what I’m used to. It was very refreshing to have a break from the hussle and bussle and see the wonderful Iguazu Falls in Misiones, Argentina.

The trip started with an 18 hour bus ride from Rosario to Iguazu. After the night long trip we wandered around the city of Iguazu to find a hostel. My Spanish has been improving so much, that I didn’t feel nervous at all about asking for directions and prices for rooms. We ate some pizza and ice cream. (The shop in the picture is owned by a man who makes his own ice cream with all of his original recipees!)

After staying Saturday night at the hostel, we took another bus to to the falls. It was seriously the most breathtaking thing I have ever seen! There are 3 different trails to see the 150-300 different waterfalls! The river and the falls separate Brazil and Argentina It is an absolute spectacle, almost terrifying to to behold. There are three trails to see the different falls. One leads down to see under one of the falls, one is above, and the last leads to the Garganta del Diablo (the throat of the devil) which over half the river tumbles down.

On one of the trails a butterfly came and landed on my hand. He stayed there for about a half hour! (I don’t know why he liked me so much!) We also saw a Tucan! And, I got attacked by some coatis. I set my backpack down to rest for a moment, and about ten coatis (small rodent-like creatures) smelled the Oreo’s and started swarming. One jumped inside my backpack and wouldn’t let go! I was scared for my life for a breif moment…

After the falls, we had another 18 hour bus ride back to Rosario. I had bought my ticket separately then the rest of the group and I didn’t know that they bought the seats for the bottom floor of the bus, and I accidentally bought mine for the top floor. I was sad at first, to be all alone, but it was actually a blessing in disguise since I met some new friends!

The guy sitting next to me was named Eduardo, and we talked for about 5 hours about all the politics of Argentina. He was a computer scientist and is getting married next month. He explained that secondary education in Argentina is free, because Education should be accessible to everyone. I completely agree with this, and it has given me a new perspective of how a country can educate their people. This is something I am still grappling with, since Eduardo and also my host mother have talked about how it has it’s pro’s and con’s. We talked all about the politics of Argentina and the importance and also disadvantages of everyone having their own opinion in a society. I finally fell asleep at about 1am, and when I woke up Eduardo was gone.

Sitting on the other side of the isle was a group of guys making jokes and drinking mate. (The traditional green tea of Argentina. Everybody drinks Mate!!!! You drink from a small gourd and a metal straw, and all the of the shops sell them, and everyone and their grandmother can be seen drinking mate on street corners or at their work. It’s highly strong, caffeinated and addictive, and it has great health benefits!) Anyway, so they offered me some Mate and we started talking. Turns out they were a group of Marines from the Argentine army that has a base on the other side of Rosario. They were very nice, and they also taught me some useful Argentine slang. It made the rest of the trip a breeze!

So that was my wonderful weekend, it’s just one adventure after the last. I am excited and ready for whatever happens next!  Emily