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Published: March 1st 2013
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Early in the mourning after having something for breakfast nearly everybody at the hostal was eager to catch the bus to " Cateratas". The waterfalls are approximately 30km from the town.The bus takes about 30 to 40 minutes and they charge you 30pesos eachway. Very efficient survice running every 20 minutes. Non - South Americans pay 135 pesos for entry to the natural reserve.
Since I had opted for the Grand Voyage Tour, me along with people who had selected the same tour, were first given a guided tour of the rain forest through a designated track, on a truck, converted to carry people on top safely. A bilingual guide explained things about the forest, its flora and fauna. As expected we saw a lot of giant spiders and thousands of butterflies, one or two toucans, a couple of allegators and a few otters. The trail was cut through thick jungle and if it was night time there probably was a better chance of encountering a few pumas. The trail lead to the riverside (lower Iguazu). To reach the riverside we had to go down a lot of steps and inclined paths. Finally we arrived at the boat station which will take
Iguazu Boat Ride
Decked up for drenching us up throgh the rapids to the falls itself.
The ride upstream was excilerating with the boat fighting against the rapids rocking and shuddering as it went. From a distance we started to get a view of the falls for the first time, a never ending columns of falls that tend to go on further as youwer getting nearer to them. We had plenty of photo opportunities and we were glad we used it. We were not prepared for what was to follow. We were taken so close to the falls that the spray was drenchig us. After a few minutes of this the captain moved the boat away and gave us a respite. Then he took us right into falls. Almost every one was nearly washed off the boat. A minute or two of that and the captain drew back and took us to the boat station. Only then did we really understood why we were given special bags to protect our belongings. I had my waterproof boots on but they were not falls proof.
After getting off the boat I proceeded to complete the lower circuit and found a place to sit down and wrench some of the water
Glimpse of the Falls
First view of the Falls from the cloths and socks. It could not be dried in an hour. So, after some time I decided to put them back on and do the upper circuit where you come close to most of the big falls. After some photos of these we took the train to the Diablo station and walked to the Gargaunta de Diablow (devils throat) which is the biggest of the falls. The walkways are consructed over most branches of the upper Iguazi river (which were speeding down to all the major falls) to make access possible to the Diablow. This walk was spectacular for its scenery. The Gargaunta Diablow itself was not behaving well. It seemed like it did not like photography and whenever anybody raised a camera it gave aflash and the plume of water drenched everybody. For beauty some of the other falls may be candidates but for the shear immensity and power none can come near it. I forgot to mention that the boat never went anywhere near the Diablow. Even though exhilarated we were also starting to get a bit tired as well with all the walking and climbing in the process. I had decided not to do the
Iguazu
getting nearer Brazilian side of the falls as it could add nothing more to the experience. In two weeks I have seen experienced two of the natural wonders of the world. Salt flats and Machu Picchu is yet to come.
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