Natrual Wonders

The day we crossed back into Argentina was mostly dedicated to travelling, we did manage to see the triple frontier though. Having lived on an Island all my life it was really strange to see 3 different countries in the same vision, all divided by rivers! The Paraguayan and Brazilian side of the triple frontier are said to be quite dangerous, smuggling, robberies and kid napping are very common as things easily can easily be popped across borders and never seen again!

We decided to stay in Iguazu, a little town between the triple frontier and Iguazu falls- one of the 7 natural wonders in the world. The town which is normally full of tourists was almost dead. The falls had dried up recently due to the lack of rain but fortunately it had rained every day since we left Chaco so we were going to see the falls in all its glory! After finding ourselves a nice little cabin in Iguazu Darinka and I decided we would need a little siesta in order to hit the town at night! The ghost town dished out a much more eventful night than we had ever imagined! We met lots of local guys and although they were all friendly and innocent to begin with when we decided we were going to go home they weren’t having any of it! We ended up getting into the taxi and having to ask the taxi driver to close the door on them as they all stretched out their arms and begged us to stay or meet them tomorrow! And as if that wasn’t bad- as we were nearing the cabin the taxi took a detour! We had no idea what was going on until he told us that one of the boys was following the taxi on his moped but with his light turned off so he could hardly be seen! We went round and round and round the city trying to loose this hooligan. When we thought we’d lost him we headed back to the cabin, and as we demounted our carriage and thanked the taxi driver 4 of the boys passed on their mopeds, lights off, scarves on and hoods up! We informed the owner of the cabins of what had happened- he told us that we could sleep peacefully; that they are innocent boys with nothing better to do and that he would keep an eye on things! Thankfully he was right!

The following day we headed to Parque Nacional de Iguazu (Iguazu national Park). I passed with a nice little discount due to being an “Argentine”. Darinka and I decided that although there was a train to take us to different areas of the park we wanted to walk which was a great decision as we encountered lots of animals, insects, interesting people and gob smacking views along the way. Having said this no view could have prepared us for the moment that we arrived at the “Garganta del Diavlo” (The Devils Mouth) which is the top of the main waterfall. The sensation of seeing such great volumes of water plunging into one place was indescribable so I’m not even going to try it! We stood in silence with our mouths wide open, hair blowing in the wind and hand firmly gripped to the safety barrier! It was beautiful! We left the sight quietly (which was totally out of character as we had been splitting our sides with constant laughter, jokes and stories since we left Chaco) trying to comprehend the natural beauty that we had just encountered as the image repeated its self in our minds.

As we headed Westwards along the border of Missiones Province and Paraguay towards home I started to realise why people tend to say that Chaco is ugly. Chaco is the arid stretch of monotonous landscape sandwiched between the North West and North East provinces which boast a forever changing landscape of mountains, strong colours and foliage! Having said this Chaco is totally within its rights to boast about its people!

We stopped off in “Minas de Wanda”, which is a gemstone mine full of amethysts and quarts. Having been a collector of gem stones when I was younger the thought of going to a gem mine was incredible but unfortunately it turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax! Maybe it was due to the contrast in the other natural wonder that we had already come face to face with that day OR the reality of a gem mine was incomparable to the images and ideas I had imaginatively put together as a child! Darinka on the other hand was “woooooowing” and “Oh my goding” at everything in her Spanish accent! Haha- I think I’ve taught her well!

We split up the long journey home by staying the night in a little town called San Ignazio. A small place in Missiones province bordering Paraguay but very famous and well known for its Jesuit ruins! We visited the ruins the following morning in the fog which was a beautiful sight. Without a guide and a great interest in archaeology the “wooow” factor was once again missing but we enjoyed our earl morning stroll around the ancient sight!

We made various short stops to break up the journey home and undoubtedly for Pablo to escape our constant banter, giggles and singing!