Oh Iguazu

Iguazu-the place Jo and I traveled 49 hours (yes you read that right-49 hours to get to and from). I should add those last 31 were in absolutely no way as nice as our first 18. It took everything I had not to literarily kiss the ground as I got off the last bus from our 31 hour trip to Salta, feeling exhausted, dirty, thirsty, famished and still suffering from extreme stomach pain (yes Jo warned me about the veggies and fruit).

So was it worth it? We could easily have passed on this unbelievably hard to reach place. We could have avoided a few sink showers, using the washroom by candlelight and Jo asking me to chloroform her and telling me she is going to have to burn her clothes on the second last leg of our bus trip.

But in the end, I remember the toucans, monkeys, iguanas and the aggressive and a little frightening Argentinian raccoon (ok this last part I could have done without). I remember the incredible world heritage falls that make Niagara look like my bathtub. I remember our jungle boat tour where I was almost lost to Joanna by massive hanging vines. (If I knew then we'd be facing a 31 hour trip I may have opted to hang on to those vines and take my chances in the jungle).

Finally, I remember taking the most extreme boat ride of my life, riding on a small speed boat INTO the falls, the salt water in my eyes and having a hard time breathing from fear of actually crashing into the jagged rocks that I could probably have touched if I extended my arm, all the while being smacked around in our tiny boat from the crashing falls above (only in Argentina).

Then I think...are we crazy?! No place on earth is worth the bus stops with the feral dogs, not sleeping for days and the loud Spanish Bruce Willis movies you can't turn off.

I'm kidding!!! I'm kidding. It was worth it. Afterall, they say the best way to discover a country is driving through it. And eventually, we won't even remember the travel but only the stops in between and one of those was indeed the beautiful Iguazu.