Puerto Iguazu

Around 3pm, we finally arrived in Puerto Iguazu after 18 hours in the bus! We had a small breakfast (typical Argentine breakfast of coffee/tea and cookies/toast) on the bus around 9, but we were out of snacks, so by the time we got off the bus, we were starving. Puerto Iguazu is a very small, safe city that seems to exist solely to accommodate the many visitors to the falls. Lindsay and I walked the easy three blocks to our hostel, dropped off our bags, and then went to a parrilla, Color, that Lucía had recommended. As we were starving, we decided to go all out. We started out with a provaleta (the fried provolone cheese that I shall miss dearly back in the US), which was of course delicious.

We were expecting the Caesar salad we ordered (with the dressing on the side as dressings in Argentina tend to have way too much mayonnaise) to come out next, but it did not. Instead, our "parrilla completa", a sort of tasting platter of Argentine grilled meats came out next. Now, we had tried every kind of empanada, lots of dulce de leche things, the pizza, the ice cream, and several different cuts of beef and pork. We still had not tried any offal, something else Argentina is known for. Our parrilla completa had: chorizo, flank steak, black pudding (morcilla), chicken thighs, chitlings, beef ribs and kidneys. The chorizo was my favorite, followed (surprisingly) by the morcilla, which tasted like a very meaty pate. The ribs were also very good and fatty, and the chicken had nice crispy skin. The flank steak was a little tough, probably because I forgot to order it medium or medium rare, so it came out well done (the default meat cook setting in Argentina). The kidneys weren't bad, but it was a very fatty taste and the texture was a little off-pudding. I still had several bites before giving my verdict, though. The chitlings, on the other hand, took only one bite for me to know that I did not like them at all.

By this time we were completely stuffed and had forgotten about the salad, so when it came out we had them wrap it up to go (which is an acceptable thing to do in Argentina). 

We walked around the town for a bit. As I said, it was very small and cute and consisted mainly of restaurants, cafes, hotels, hostels, clothing and souvenir shops, and the bus station. We followed one of the main roads out of the town (which took about ten minutes of walking) to where it met Río Iguazu. For another 10-15 minutes, we strolled along with a lovely view of the river, the street lines with parks, to where Río Iguazu and Río Paraná intersect. It was still a very nice view, but it was a very overcast day and it was getting dark, so on a sunny day I'm sure it would have been better. 

By this time I was getting pretty cold, so we headed back to the hostel and (for once) went to bed early so we would be well-rested for the falls. Our room in the hostel, about the size of a large walk-in closet, at least had a private bathroom, plenty of extra blankets, and a friendly cat meowing outside out door.