After a bundle of long and tiresome days traveling by bus we finally arrived at the famous Iguazu falls. We arrived in the evening and sought out the closest economical accomodations that we could. Just a few blocks up the road there was a hostel that had exactly three beds left. Now, we were so tired and weary from traveling that we would have settled for a closet space to sleep for the night, however, we didn´t think they would actually give us one. The room, although cheap, was no wider than 5.5 feet! It had two bunkbeds set up head to head, leaving about a foot and a half to move alongside them. This proved to be quite interesting for all of us with our big ruck sacks, myself especially having our tent attached to the bottom with a width at least twice that size! But, in the end all we wanted were beds to crash in- and that we had succesfully obtained. We made a feeble attempt to go out to the biggest local bar called Cuba Libre knowing it was our last night with Travis, but once again our bedtime proved to come long before the clubs were even preparing to get busy. Our closet sounded much more appealing than a greasy club with loud music at the time anyways.

The next day we went and saw the falls. I am not going to waste any time trying to describe them, as our pictures really are worth far more than a thousand of my words. All I can say is that the beauty of this natural wonder is breathtaking, one of those sights that makes one wonder how we could ever want to do anything to destroy what nature took so long to create.

After taking in the falls all afternoon we took the bus back into town, only to be informed that the last bus crossing the border to the Brazilian side of the falls was leaving in 10 minutes. Morgan and Travis booked it back to the hostel to collect our packs while I went and bought the bus tickets and tried to stall the bus. We made it in time, said our goodbyes to Travis (who was staying at the falls and then heading to Peru), and headed for the border. We were about to go through Argentinean immigration when I realized that we didn´t have our medical kit. I had taken it out and put it in our locker so I didn´t have to carry it around all day at the falls. Travis, in a rush to gather our stuff from the locker for us, didn´t notice it. Long story short, we had to take a bus back to the town, I had to run back to the hostel, and scurry back to the bus depot in time to catch the last bus (this time the REAL last bus) that was crossing the border. Nothing like a good panic attack and running a few sprints to get the blood going faster than it has in over a month!:) Travis felt so badly- to the point of offering me money. It was a nice gesture- and the least he could do that forgetful squid- but I refused. haha No, but seriously, it was nobody´s fault, just really frustrating at the time.

We succefully crossed the border on our second attempt- more or less. The bus driver had told us he would stop at Brazilian immigration for us so we could get our passports stamped. He didn´t. So we had to get off and grab a taxi back to immigration, because technically we were illegally in Brazil. We finally understood why so many people have problems in Brazil because of not having a record of their arrival- it isn´t even on the road from where you come in to the country! Regardless, we lucked out and got it all done, saving ourselves a world of troubles down the line we have heard so many other people have had to endure.

Once again we just needed a bed for the night. The first place we tried was all full so we followed their advice to a new hostel. Hostel Natura is in the middle of nowhere but an absolute gem. Anwar, the owner of the hostel, was so friendly and accomodating. We were just in time for the feast that he was cooking up and kind enough to invite us to indulge as well. It was delicious, and so nice to eat something other than fast food, empanadas, pizza, or pasta. The hostel was full of other couples, and we sat around for a few hours exchanging travel stories and getting advice for the rest of our trip. We gladly went to bed in our own room before midnight- exhausted and full. The next day we woke up early because that morning we had a flight to Rio!