Iguazú Falls and the First Week of Class

While Blakely was here, I got to experience my first day of class (again)! This semester, I am taking Fundamentals of Happiness for Effective Leadership, Imagining the Modern Cities in the Americas: A Dialogue Between Buenos Aires, New York, and Rio de Janeiro, Web Design, and Digital Marketing (this one is in Spanish). Fundamentals of Happiness and Imagining the Modern City in the Americas are both mixes of exchange students and Argentines. Web Design has some exchange students as well, while Digital Marketing is pretty much all Argentines minus myself. That made the typical class introductions a bit more intimidating. It’s taken time to get used to subjects other than Spanish being fully taught in Spanish. I find I have to pay extra attention to make sure I can follow along, and even then, I occasionally find myself feeling a little lost. Thankfully, the Argentine students have been very friendly and welcoming. They have consistently shown an interest in getting to know me and being friends, which I am very grateful for. It also helps to have friends in class if you are confused. Knowing I can ask for help if I need it has made the process much easier than it would have otherwise been. I was pleased with my professors, who are all very nice, and the classes are interesting so far. 

To cap off the week, Blakely and I headed to Misiones Province to visit Iguazú Falls. The falls are located in northeastern Argentina on the border with Brazil. This way, you can visit both sides. They are extremely large: twice as tall and three times as wide as Niagara Falls, in fact. Our first day, we hiked around the Argentine side of the falls. You can see directly over the falls from this side with walkways that overlook the cascades, including the most famous part of the falls, Devil’s Throat. Unfortunately, the Devil’s Throat overlook was closed the day of our visit, but we still enjoyed exploring the trails and admiring the wildlife. My favorites were the butterflies: they had the brightest wings and were always a treat to spot, though I wasn't able to photograph them as they moved too fast.

The falls from the Argentine side

The next day, we crossed the border to visit the Brazilian side of the falls. We started the day off with a boat ride from a charter company that led us directly into the falls after a quick hike through the forest. I was glad I packed flip flops and quick-dry clothing, because we got totally soaked. Between the boat going up the rapids and steering us directly underneath the falling water, no one was spared. Thankfully, it was sunnier that day than it had been on day one, so that at least helped the drying process.

This photo was taken moments before we got absolutely drenched

Seeing the falls from down below helped solidify just how tall they are in a way that wasn’t as overt as when we looked over the top. I would definitely recommend doing the boat tour- it’s well worth the money. Afterwards, we wandered around the Brazilian side’s hiking trails. My favorite part was a platform that led directly over the base of the falls. Devil’s Throat being right in front of us was wild to see, and we could feel the mist coming off the falls. Of course, that platform was very crowded, so it took a bit of doing to get photos without photobombers in them, but we succeeded in the end. 

The falls were even closer than they look in the photo

I really enjoyed both sides, but Blakely and I agreed that we preferred the Brazilian side. It’s more panoramic, so it’s easier to see the falls while still being able to get up close and personal with them. The weather was also better that day, so I’m sure that colored our perceptions a bit. And our opinions also may have changed had the Argentine overlook for Devil’s Throat been open. Nevertheless, I think both sides are worth visiting just to appreciate the natural wonder that is Iguazú Falls. Seeing it in person, I could completely understand why Eleanor Roosevelt’s first reaction to them was “Poor Niagara.” I hope to return again someday.

I managed to capture a rainbow!