Poor Niagara - The Iguazu Falls

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We had an 18 hour overnight bus ride from Buenos Aires up to the Brazilian, Paraguayan and Argentinian border town of Puerto Iguacu. As always the ride flew by, this time we were treated to pre dinner whiskey, a steak dinner with red wine, a second round of beer and then finished with champagne. The ultimate bus ride to date.

By 7am the next day we were there, the climate had changed from a cold and dry in Patagonia to hot and dry in Buenos Aires to now, hot, humid and tropical. The city is surrounded by jungle and red dirt roads but the real reason for everyone visiting is to see the falls, a natural wonder of the world, which throw thousands of tons of water over the edge every second.

We wasted no time on the first day, quickly checking in, googling how to get to the falls and the jumping on the bus to the Brazilian side. It didn't go quite as smoothly as that, we missed the us by 5 minutes, with the next being 2 hours later, so instead of waiting for the bus, we jumped in a taxi and caught up with it and switched transport. We boarded the bus, unsure it was the right one, hoping that it would take us where we wanted to go. We got to the border, so at least we were going into Brazil, that much we knew. We got the stamps to say we were allowed in. It was then a 30 minute wait until we saw a sign saying Parque de Iguacu, we were on the right bus to the right place.

The Brazilian side is the less popular, more panoramic version of the falls giving unbelievable views that we were about to see. The first view point we approached overlooked the smaller half of the falls, which initially I thought was all of the falls. We've never seen anything like it, water is coming over cliff top everywhere. If you imagine a lake splitting down the middle, with one half sinking and the other staying at the same height and then watching all the water pour over the edge it would give you a measure of it (or just google it). We then moved further round to where you could see more of the never ending falls curving right around into the distance. The falls are higher than the ones if the Niagara and over twice as wide. Absolutely incredible.

It was onto the third viewpoint which is where it really gets good. Until this point we could only see one half of the falls, now we could see it all; a massive 180* jawdropping view which included the Devils Throat, the biggest part of the fall. It was now that I wish the camera could take a panoramic shot so that we could get it all in one but unfortunately we couldn't, instead making do with lots and lots of individual photos. All we could see of the Devils Throat, as it is everyday, is the mass of spray coming up from the bottom of the fall creating rainbows from every angle and stunning its visitors. No matter how long we looked at it, it didn't seem real, not here anyway.

The next couple of viewpoints take you right into the heart of the waterfalls, electronics aren't advised whereas a rain jacket or poncho is. The boardwalk starts from the lower side of the Devils Throat and going right out to the edge of the lower fall, which is where the raincoat is needed. So we donned the ponchos, put away the cameras and walked along the pathway. By the time we had got to the end we were drenched, or at least the poncho was, and it was then you could see the scale of the falls. The end of the boardwalk was determined by the start of the fall, terminating right on the edge giving everyone a view down, not for people scared of heights. From this point too we could see into the Devils Throat, and the spray of which was peppering us in the face. Many people were out on the edge in their speedos so that once they got wet they could get changed into something dry again. We weren't so smart there.

Soaked we went in the hunt of food. To our delight (the Brazilians know how to do it) there was an all you can eat buffet at the end of the paths, serving some awesome food for a buffet. We over gorged in food, made ourselves feel sick and then walked back the same way we came, taking in the stunning views a second time.

It wasn't just the falls that made the visit worthwhile, we saw a Toucan, Snake and a shed load of Racoony looking things called Coatis that will take all your food at half a chance. It was a top notch day and we have no idea how the Argentinian side, the supposedly better side, will beat today.

The journey back was a lot simpler than the ride there, the bus picked us up outside the entrance and took us right back to the bus station. Easy.

A day later it was the Argentinians turn to wow us with natural beauty. We were up a bit earlier and onto a bus this time with no problems. What we didn't expect though were the extortionate costs of it all, £10 for a bus each day and then £25 into the parks each day. Not cheap at all. But it is a place unlike anywhere else, and you cannot blame them for making money out of something that will keep the crowds coming for years to come.

Anyway, after the 30 minute bus ride we were at the falls once more, named by the Argentinians as the Iguazu Falls. This side had more people, a small train transporting people around and also had a lot more to do. We begrudgingly paid the money for the ticket and then the day was our own.

We started out at the lower circuit, giving views of the falls from an inferior perspective, going right down to the riverside. This circuit warms you up for things to come. Once we got down to the bottom the falls are intimidatingly huge, and to see the water coming over at such a rate blows you away. From there we went into the spray zone of one of the smaller falls which still soaks everyone to the skin. When the temperature is around 25-28*C and humid there's nothing better than the spray of a waterfall.

It was then onto the upper circuit, which gives views of the same half of the falls from on top. It was up here where we had a nightmare, my camera broke or had a minor seizure. It couldn't read the SD card anymore, and it wasn't due to moisture or anything like that, it just happened and wouldn't fix. So the rest of the day, Pheobe was to be kept in the bag with 2 very unhappy owners. Good job we had a back up. We were in a bit of a mood for a while but an unlikely creature was about to cheer us right back up again, or at least me. After finishing the upper circuit, we found that we had a Coati following us, he must have sniffed out our sandwich. The next thing we know, the bastard got into the bag, took our massive 1 1/2 foot sandwich and then did no more than take the ham and cheese out leaving us with the bread. I could had kicked it for 2 points but I don't think the park guards would have been happy. Another lesson learnt. We had to make do with a portion of chips.

The last walk of the day took us from the smaller half of the falls right out to the Devils Throat. We walked the same route as the train takes, finding swarms of butterflies along the way, all of which seemed to be eating mud and not nectar!? Laura was in heaven here, spending at least 20 minutes taking loads of photos of them.

And so we were onto the final boardwalk of the day, a 1 km elevated path a couple of meters above the river that leads right to the Devils Throat. Our luck then took a change for the better, we saw a Cayman in the water, sat out on a rock only 5 meters from us. Even better than this was that my camera for a good 5 photos worked again so we managed to photograph the alligator like creature with a couple of butterflies on its head. For me this was as good as the falls. Smiles at an all time high we carried on to the end of the path to finish off the Iguazu orientated days.

The view from the end was incredible, no other words for it. We were looking down into waterfall higher than the Niagara Falls and we couldn't get any closer than this. The spray from the bottom travelled all the way back up to the top, occasionally mimicking the effect of a rain storm, coating everyone in a thick layer of water. From where we were stood we could see the suicidal butterflies going into the falls never to return again, one or two would make it almost to the top, but never in the end get there. Poor things.

We then took the train back to the park entrance fully satisfied with the water filled, cayman spotting, camera braking and coati thieving day. We both had different opinions as to our favourite sides, mine was the Argentinian side but Laura went for the Brazilian. Clearly both are worth a visit.

An awesome couple of days. A nights sleep before another 21 hours in a bus to Salta. How we love buses!

Chao

p.s. we also had another blog for buenos aires which was a beauty one, unfortunately I deleted it and can't get it back, so it will have to remain a missing piece of the puzzle!

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