1. 2 years ago 

   Before coming to Argentina, I had not really done any research or looked into the possibilities of what my time in Buenos Aires might entail. As previously mentioned, most of the foreigners down here, unlike in Europe, are neither casual tourists or on business but ‘travelers,’ spending an extended period of time touring the continent. As such most of the people I’ve met from abroad have wild ideas about the places they want to go and the things they want to see. Combined with the fact that there is just in general a lot more happening here in Buenos Aires than say, in Hamburg, it’s definitely been an advantageous to have access to all the ambition and planning of some of my crew down here.

   Anyway, all this means that I finally got around to setting up a trip to Iguazu Falls with a buddy of mine, a trip I would have known nothing about had I not been hearing about everyone else’s plans to go. So we had plenty of information, booked the tickets, and off we went, up north, to the corners of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay where the falls come together.

   If you have any immediate plans to see Iguazu, I would not recommend looking at the pictures. I tried to avoid, as much as was possible, getting any sort of preview as to what exactly I was going to see. Would it have made much of a difference really? Eh, probably not, it’s really quite magnificent in person. However I’ve got a lot of big and detailed pictures, so if it’s just a far off and wonderful dream to make the journey there, I’d say by all means please take a look.

   ON THE WAY TO EL PARQUE NACIONAL IGUAZU
   This slideshow details some of the journey to Iguazu, including the very nice, green buses used by Via Bariloche. The bus system down here is quite nice actually, better than my experiences in Europe at least - I once saw what looked like no more than a city bus getting ready for a three day trip to Romania from Hamburg. There are also some shots of the Argentine countryside, which I imagine is interesting enough if you have no idea what northern Argentina might look like. I certainly didn’t. We made it to the hostel, which was really quite fun - a lot of young travelers, a pool, an open bar…all solid ingredients.

   I also included some pictures of the park before we had made it to the actual falls. I was a bit disappointed as to how developed it is; ultimately it doesn’t feel particularly natural, and there’s a very fine line between the local families out and about in flip-flops and the international travelers with big backpacks and full gear ready for an adventure. Either way we certainly made the most of it.

   CIRCUITO INFERIOR
   We decided to take the lower circuit under the falls first, a good decision in my book as it was my favorite trail and came just when we were at our most excited. It offers the best views of the entire waterfall complex, and there is a little-trodden trail that leads right above the water-line that we had to climb down to which was just fantastic. At the far end of the path there is a dead-end protruding out into one of the waterfalls where the water just pours over you and everything - it was pretty wild to get out there. All in all we were pretty lucky with the weather; this trail was just beautiful.

   CIRCUITO SUPERIOR
   The trail which goes out across the rivers over the tops of the waterfalls provides a much different view, although admittedly it wasn’t nearly as spectacular as being beneath and beyond the falls themselves. There is however a strong sense of perspective as you can see the jungles surrounding the park for miles and miles.

   SENDERO MACUCO
   Now this trail was absolutely wild stuff. We closed our day by trying to find this mystical path on our math referred to as the “Sendero Macuco” (Macuco path), and we managed to stumble across it about 10 minutes down some random road. This trail was significantly less developed, although granted it wasn’t exactly the untamed wilderness. The two-mile hike on the eroded path through the jungle led to a magnificent waterfall pouring into a natural pool. And of course we couldn’t resist the temptation to hop in the water, which was quite nice on a hot, humid, jungle day. So after an incredible Day 1 at Iguazu we still had a few more things on the to-do list, but it was back to the hostel for some pool, ping-pong, barbecue, brazilian show, and ring-of-fire.

   GARGANTA DEL DIABLO
   The second day out was slightly overcast and significantly muggy, so we were fortunate to have such great weather the day before. Either way we were ready to head straight up to the furthest station and the “Devil’s Throat” trail, where the other side of the waterfalls lay. Now this was absolutely spectacular, 270 degrees of raging water, and of course that meant that we were absolutely soaked (hence my lack of a t-shirt). Pictures were tough as my lens kept getting wet and the mist was causing some visibility problems, but either way you can definitely get an idea. It was an incredible trip and really made me appreciate coming back ‘home’ to Buenos Aires.

So I, Sean Kesluk, left Los Angeles for a 6 month adventure abroad in Europe and South America. After a few weeks studying the Deutsch in Freiburg, Germany, it's two months up north in Hamburg working for the city's Jewish community center. After a brief foray into Sweden, I'll head South to Buenos Aires for some Spanish classes and volunteer work in a La Boca soup kitchen. After that it's back home to the States and national service with AmeriCorps NCCC. With a month of training at the VA medical campus in Perry Point, MD, it 's off to Baltimore for my first project, two months working for The Samaritan Women, a non-profit renovating a hundred-year-old mansion to use as a transitional home for women in recovery from heroin addiction and human trafficking, in addition to expanding a farm/urban garden to distribute produce to soup kitchens, shelters, and those in nutritional poverty. The second project will see us down in New Orleans, LA doing post-Katrina work with The Phoenix of New Orleans, a non-profit which renovates homes for Lower Mid-City homeowners who can't afford to do so.

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