Iguazu - Day 1

So I got on the bus in Buenos Aires yesterday (Sunday) at 7pm and arrived in Iguazu today (Monday) at 2pm. Yes, that's 18 hours in a bus, my friends. Surprisingly it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I want to do it again, but you'd be surprised at how many movies you can watch…and how much you can sleep. I started off with a Mark Wahlberg movie about a Navy Seal team that all but got wiped out in Afghanistan, which actually made me really sad and emotional to start my journey. Started having thoughts like, "Why haven't I done anything as important as do a tour of duty in Afghanistan?" Never good to compare your life to others - this is something I've learned over the years (even though it happens from time to time). Each one of us has a very interesting, adventurous, powerful, and inspirational story in our lives. The key is to imagine your life from a totally different perspective, that's all. Imagine someone in a plateau village in Mongolia is hearing about how you took a train to work and then took escalators to your office, which is on the 42nd floor of some amazing building. Yeah - that would blow their mind. Let it blow your mind every once in a while - think you'd appreciate it a bit more. So after the Navy Seal intensity with Mr Wahlberg, the next movie was The Hunger Games, Part II. I luckily already saw the first so I watched this one but only got about 3/4 of the way through before passing out around midnight. Woke up around 9am but then fell asleep again and got up around 10:30am. Yes, I'm a champion sleeper on train, plains, and automobiles. People hate me but I don't have time to worry about it…I'm sleeping! Two movies this morning - one about second chances in life and the other about online gaming. Yes, very random but they were both solid. Got into the station here in Iguazu about 2pm and had a 150 ft walk to my hostel. Cannot tell you how nice it was to only walk blocks and then jump in a shower and chill by the pool here. Yes, this hostel has a pool. But don't get too jealous, cause I'm in a room with 16 beds. That's 8 bunk beds to be exact. Luckily it's not all full, and the hostel is very clean, but it's still a lot of people in the same room. My plan is to get to bed early and use earplugs. The guys running this hostel are amazing. It's called Mango Chill - check it out here. Great vibe. I organized a full day of boat rides and exploration of the waterfalls tomorrow - all from the Argentina-side. You can view the falls from both Brazil and Argentina, but I figure I'll see Brazil Wed and then just go to my flight from there. I'm going to take a ton of pics tomorrow so expect a big update then. After I checked in today I took a walk down to the Parana river, which runs all through Argentina, but up here it divides Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. You can see in the T-formation in my pics - the right is Brazil, the left is Paraguay, and I'm in Argentina. Def a cool walk and a nice experience, but WOW it was hot. I walked around 6pm and was sweating my ars off, so I'm def prepared for it tomorrow. Also, saw some kids skateboarding down this big hill - was great to see their excitement. Also, they would have cars pull them up the hill. Random goodness here in northeastern Argentina. Hitting the hay happy and full of ice cream (for dinner).

I hope you all had a great Monday and just remember, you weren't in a bus for half of it…so you're doing pretty damn good ;)