Puerto Iguazu, Argentina

Crossing over from Brazil to Argentina on the city bus was quite easy and cheap. You have to get off twice, once to check out of Brazil and once to check into Argentina (you do the same on the way back).

I made a big mistake in planning my trip in that I believed the guidebooks that said payment into the park could be made with either Brazilian Real or Argentinian Pesos and so I did not exchange any money. Once I reached the main bus terminal where I would catch another bus to the park I was told that I would have to pay in Pesos, but was also told there was an ATM at the park. I get to the park and do not see an ATM, so I ask about this. The ATM is in the park, so after leaving me passport as collateral (which I hate doing) I went in search of the ATM. I found it pretty easily but it had an out of service sign on it. When asked if there was another ATM I was told to try the Sheraton which has a hotel inside the park. The Sheraton was a good twenty minute walk and I`m now pretty deep in the park. I get to the Sheraton and I`m told there is no ATM and to try the one in the park. At this point my frustration level is getting pretty high (both with myself for not getting Pesos and with the park). So as I head back to the main gate I seriously think that I`m just not meant to see this side of the falls (at least not today). The park is about 20 minutes outside of town so the option of just going somewhere else quickly to exchange some money is not an option. I get back to the main gate and ask where in town in the nearest ATM at which point I`m told that if I buy something at the gift shop I can do it in Real and they`ll give me change in Pesos, why this option wasn't explain before my journey through the park I'll never know. So I go to the gift shop and of course there is a R$30 minimum payment required. I buy some chips and some water, neither of which I need since I packed my own lunch, but I got enough Pesos to get into the park.

I'm still surprised with the amount of visitors the park gets that there is only 1 ATM. Obviously they've yet to learn that the more access to money people have the more they will spend. The lesson of the day was definitely do not believe what you read or are told.
 
 

On this side of the falls the view is bit more intimate and still spectacular. This side of the park you can get up close and personnel with some of the smaller falls. One interesting thing that I saw is that since this was the dry season I did see a couple of the falls without any water coming down. This side was a little busier than the Brazil side, but it was still pretty easy to take as many photos as I wanted.

After visiting the falls and enjoying some sun time while I ate my lunch I decided to walk one the trails listed in the brochure. The trail was a bit out of the way and on the way the only people I saw where 2 older gentlemen that were headed in the same direction as I was.

The trail was not very busy at all, I only saw about 10 people on my way out. About twenty minutes into my hike I was regretting the 750 ml Tetra Brik of grape juice that I had with lunch. I`m unfortunately cursed with a set of mini-kidneys and bladder so it was not a wise move on my part to fill up on the liquids and then head out into nature. I didn`t want to turn back as I thought I was about halfway there. I was way wrong, I had another 30 minutes before I reached the end of the trail where there was yet another waterfall. The sound of rushing water did nothing to take my mind off all that grape juice and at one point a little lizard jump onto the trail and I almost lost it (if you know what I mean).

The thought of walking all the way back with a very full bladder was not appealing at all, but I did a good job of keeping my mind off this issue and had a some help from some monkeys and some coatis. Given the lack of people on the trail I did expect to see more wildlife but saw none on the walk out. As I walked back I heard some rustling in the trees and despite my rush to get back to civilization I paused to find the source of the noise. High up in the trees I saw a monkey jumping from tree to tree with no concern about how much noise he was making(I`m assuming it was a boy from all the noise). I tracked him as he jumped from tree to tree, he was pretty fast. So fast that when he jumped over my head from one side of the trail to the other I did not have my camera ready and missed out on what would have been a great photo. I heard and saw a couple of more monkeys as I continued on the path. Towards the end I saw about 7 coatis digging in the foliage in search of food. I passed right by them and the paid me no attention. It was nice to have this distraction and made the walk back go by fast, although from now on I will plan my liquid intake better.