From wet falls to the airport

This morning we woke early and went back to the Iguazu National Park to do the Adventure Tour we missed out on due to the protests. I find it odd cramming events in on the day of a flight, but the timing worked out perfectly.

At 10am we were on a blow-up raft floating down the river in the jungle. We saw more tropical and colorful birds (including both black and white Garuda and an Anhinga), a hallucinogenic plant that two hikers used in a salad a year or two ago causing them to get lost for two days, many orchids, bamboo, and more. We were not far from the actual falls and could see the mist in the distance. Back in the 20's a tour guide would row a boat to the edge of the falls and frantically row against the current while the tourists looked over the edge. That ended when one tour guide lost his battle with the river sending the entire party over the edge. Fortunately, we were plenty far from the edge.

The float was followed by a four-wheel drive 8km tour through the jungle which didn´t do much for either of us - the only specific flora/fauna pointed out by the guide was an endangered palm tree. The coolest thing about it in my opinion was the old-fashioned army-green truck we rode in.

Lastly we jumped aboard a speed-boat draped in waterproof ponchos and life preservers. We motored up to the falls at fast speeds going up the rapids. Quite fun. The driver slowed down and allowed us to take in the beauty (albiet with the sound of the boat in the background) from below (two days ago we saw the same falls from above). For the finale he motored us into one of the huge falls twice, both times completely drenching us. The ponchos were mostly for show. Huge fun, if a bit inconvenient.

From there we boogied uphill in massive humidity in drenched clothes to be picked up by our driver to take us to the airport. After a quick change of clothes in the airport restroom we were off to board our plane to Salta. That was about 8 hours ago. I am now writing from our very clean and quaint hotel in Salta. It is 9pm and we are just in time to grab dinner at all of Argentina´s normal dinner time of 10pm.

Oh, and the driving here. Good Lord. I was hoping it would be better in a small town, but no. Stop signs don´t exist and right of way goes to the one with the biggest desire (or size) to get through first. And lanes in the road? They don´t exist, or if they do, they are purely for show.

Thanks for reading,

Adios for now,

Mark