Alright, I recounted our adventures traveling to and from Iguazu but I didn’t mention anything about our time there. I guess I owe a post about that adventure. The first day we were there Randi and I were absolutely exhausted from the three-day tournament we had just finished so we took it easy. We had a relaxing morning and I got a little overly excited when the hotel had scrambled eggs for breakfast (previous hotels only had bread, ham and cheese). After a few portions of eggs, we obtained a map from the front desk and explored the town around our hotel.

We found we were set back from the downtown so we aimed ourselves to the city center and struck out. (To call it a downtown, might give you the wrong impression. Here’s a map of the area, decide for yourself.) We were searching for three things: a restaurant for dinner (it was Dick and Karen’s [Randi’s parents’] anniversary), the bus terminal to get to the falls and a place where we would have views of Brazil and Paraguay at the same time. The bus station was a quick find and we also found a grocery store and a bank as bonuses along the way. The town was pretty quite, though apparently we got there just as lots of people were leaving. The week before was Semana Santa, an Easter holiday. Many people take the whole week off and Argentina in particular had national holidays Monday and Friday. The town was breathing a collective sigh of relief as we ambled through. We found the bus station with a schedule and fares for the next day and moved on. Karen stopped in a local bookstore and found a guide to the local flora and fauna. We spent the remainder of the trip trying to check off as many species as possible.

We then headed towards the river. As we followed the winding road to the river’s edge, we were greeted by wonderful views and some surprisingly manicured landscaping. As we walked down the hill we noticed flood markers up to 40 meters above normal levels. That would be a pretty incredible flooding but their presence indicates it’s happened in the past and explains why there’s not much in the way of buildings at this level. The road continued around in a circle and as we walked up the hill we found a great restaurant overlooking the river for dinner that night. At the top of the hill, we arrived at Hito Tres Fronteras. This is a landmark overlooking a “T” in the river where each shore is a different country. From here you can see both Brazil and Paraguay.

Perhaps the result of some high water in days gone by.

A monument at the Hito Tres Fronteras. Standing in any one country you can see the other two. If you were really ambitious you could swim out into the river and float in all three at once.

This whole trip only took a few hours but Randi and I were thoroughly exhausted at this point and after inhaling some lunch we collapsed in our hotel room for the rest of the afternoon. In the evening, we all went out to dinner overlooking the river. The food was great, we had a nice bottle of wine and enjoyed being able to share in the celebration of a 30 year milestone!

With full bellies and somehow exhaustion from the day even after long afternoon naps, we returned to the hotel and to our rooms. Tomorrow was going to be a big day and we were all excited to see the falls!