Advertisement
We crossed the border effortlessly on Wednesday morning and are now in Argentina. It is quite remarkable that just crossing a bridge over the Rio Iguazu can make such a difference. Here in Puerto Iguazu it is so different to Foz on the Brazilian side; it is scruffier, noisier, street dogs everywhere, more expensive, Spanish speaking and the food is wonderful. No more boring plain rice and chips served with either chicken, fish or beef. Here the food has more flavour and there is more variety. Great!
We are staying in a gorgeous boutique hotel, very smart with an en suite Jacuzzi. We thought we needed some pampering! The falls here are even more spectacular than on the Brazilian side; we didn´t think that was possible. The weather, however, isn´t very good at all. We were told that we would be in shorts and flip flops. Not so! We are in jeans, boots and cagoules. Whereas it is sweltering in England (around 30 degrees) and the temperatures at home in Spain are so high they are silly (over 35 degrees), here in Iguazu the thermometer only reached 15 degrees today.
On Wednesday afternoon, we explored
the town and walked along the Rio Iguazu to the point where it joins the Rio Paraná and the three countries meet; Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.
On Thursday we took a bus to the falls. It was overcast and raining at times, so we didn´t see any rainbows today. In some ways, however, the weather made the Devil´s Throat even more awesome. To reach it, one has to first take a little train through the rainforest and then walk out across the upper vast water table and rapids of the upper river, on a metal walkway, to the very top and the very edge of the 85 metre drop. Everyone gets drenched with the spray, which rises high above the abyss and one cannot see the bottom. The noise, the power and rush of water is immense.
After this we walked the upper trail above a dozen more huge waterfalls, again on metal walkways. The walkways crossed the top edges of these falls and afforded views to many more. We are going back on Sunday, when the forecast is for sunshine, to walk the lower trails. To get to these one has to descend
a lot of metal steps over rushing water and it gets rather slippery in bad weather, so we haven´t done it yet.
Our last blog was full of superlatives, describing the wonder that is the Iguazu Falls. We have run out of words now, so we shall let the photographs speak for themselves. As the poet Alfonso Ricciutto said in his poem about the Devil´s Throat (Garanta del Diablo)…”do not try to describe (it) with your voice”.
Garanta del Diablo Let your soul be sated
With the strange beauty of this landscape
That scrolling through the world on your travels
You can never find anything like this.
Good and bad, dynamic and changing
You will find here that your name
Takes in the humble heart of man,
A truthful and consistent message.
Meditate and feel the deep emotion,
Watching the vibrant paroxysm
Circled by eternal mists
And do not try to describe with your voice
Just lean your forehead against the abyss
Which is the mirror of the word of God.
Alfonso Ricciutto
O
Advertisement
Tot: 0.081s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0541s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb