Spectacular Iguazú

I had been hearing about Iguazú Falls since our arrival in Argentina three months ago.  It´s probably the most visited place in the whole country outside of Buenos Aires.  Everyone has great things to say about the falls, and I had heard all the facts about them prior to our arrival. Iguazu is the widest of the world´s falls, at over 2.7 km long, but the falls are split into 270 distinct falls and large islands (Victoria Falls is the world´s widest curtain of water).  Iguazú has the most average water flow per year (more than twice that of Niagara).  The neatest part about the falls though is the network of visitor walkways that affort spectacular vistas and interactions with the falls.

The falls themselves form a boundary between Argentina and Brasil, and Paraguay is very close to them as well.  We had been hoping to be able to visit the Brasilian side of the falls as well, but due to the fact that US Citizens must have visas to cross the border (even for the day now) it was too cost prohibitive and difficult to arrange.  The Argentine side is said to allow for more close encounters (which is definitely did) and the Brasilian side is known to provide more of a panoramic view.  I could have spent another day easily exploring the falls from the other side.  The one day we had though was perfect, and we were blessed with blue skies and sunshine, perfect conditions for lots of rainbows in the rising mists.

Simply put, the falls are one of our favorite places in all of South America that we visited.  A visit to them is awe inspiring and incredibly fun!  We spent nine hours straight yesterday just admiring them, walking around to different viewpoints, soaking in the mist, and getting as close as possible in a jet boat ride underneath them.  We arrived at 9 am, and I was excited the whole way there on the bus.  I felt like a kid at Disneyland as we waited our turn (in a fairly similarly sized line) to pay the entrance fee at the front gate.  There are three distinct systems of trails and bridges to explore on the Argentine side- the Superior Loop (which explores the tops of the falls and has the best panorama of them), the Inferior Loop (which puts you right down on their level and in their mist), and the Garganta del Diablo (the largest waterfall of all with water pouring down three sides of its U-shape).  We decided to visit the falls in this order first, because of lighting conditions and crowds.  Throughout the day we were rewarded with sightings of Toucan Parrots, Monkeys, Butterflies, Lizards, and Coatis as well as the Falls.

Coming around the corner and seeing the panorama of the falls is breathtaking.  I had seen this picture dozens of times already in guidebooks and postcards, but it is still beautiful.  It was such a lovely place that we returned to have lunch and dry out here for several hours in the afternoon.  The views were just unbeatable from our vantage point, and I could stay there for hours with a book just soaking it in.

Next we took on the lower loop of trails.  These were incredibly fun, because you could apreciate the massive wall of water better from the bottom looking up.  The falls are so powerful that you get soaked when you stand anywhere near them, as you see Garret doing in one of the photos.

The lower loop is also where the jet boat rides depart from.  Friends had recommended that we do the short 12 minute ride under the falls, so we didn´t think hard about the decision to go or not.  I mean how many times in your lifetime are you at Iguazú Falls?  Once?  Twice if you´re lucky or local?  It was loads of fun, and really pretty simple.  You put on lifejackets and then drive close to the falls in two areas.  You´re not really under them, but you wouldn´t know it.  The spray absolutely drenches everything.  Completely.  There were two people who wore ponchos and I saw them taking them off afterward, and they were soaked just like everyone else.  I mean really, how much good would a poncho do if you jumped in a river?  They were about that effective.  It was really fun though, and I´m glad we did it.  Here are a few pictures from the boat, and a video clip.  Our bombproof camera, the Olympus Stylus 1030 SW has been amazing on this trip for being able to catch fun action like this.

After that, we went to our favorite viewpoint and ate lunch, while we dried off for an hour or two.  Now would be a good time to talk about Coatis, a small raccoon-like animal overrunning the park.  You have to be careful where you picnic, and keep an eye on your food at all times.  The park posts signs everywhere warning you not to feed Coati, as it is not natural behavior, and detrimental to the animals. But you can see from the pictures how effective their warnings are.  These very inteligent scavengers managed to get our lunch scraps from the bottom of a park trashcan, and trying to shoo them off only resulted in hissing.  Now I know what the nurse stations around the park are there for- to deal with coati scratches and bites.

We saved the Garganta del Diablo (Devil´s Throat) for last to explore, because of optimal light conditions and because it is the largest single fall in the park.  To access that area of the falls, you take a train (now we really felt like we were at Disneyland) to a catwalk system stretching 1 km over the Upper Iguazú River, and over the few islands in the way.  Arriving at the area is preceeded by a large mist plume, and this signaled that we were getting close.  Garret suggested how crazy it would have been to be an early explorer, and just floating down the river coming upon the large mist plume.  Though I´m not really an experienced river traveler, I think from now on I´ll assume that a large mist plume spells trouble and time to get out of the river!

Insanely enough, my Lonely Planet book says that there used to be a tourist attraction here where a local rowman would row a boatload of tourists to the edge of the falls, then row backwards like mad while you looked over the edge, took pictures, spit, or whatever tourists do when they´re perched precipitously on the edge of a waterfall.  Though I can´t imagine the market for this was huge, it continued until the 1930´s when there was an unfortunate accident with a boatful of German tourists.  Yes, they all died of course.  So they (thankfully) don´t offer this thrill ride anymore.  I can´t imagine who ever thought it was a good idea.

The falls were definitely worth the two 20 + hour bus rides to get here and leave.  Tonight we are leaving to go to Uruguay, with stops in Montevideo, Punta del Este, and Colonia over the next 10 days.  If any fellow travelers are heading to Puerto Iguazu, I recommend our hostel, Che Legarto heartily.  They have the nicest breakfast buffet that we have seen, and comfortable rooms (if a little bit outdated).

Tagged as: Argentina, Iguazu Falls