Iguazu Waterfalls - Argentinean Side

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Iguasu. Iguacu. Iguazu. Iguaçu. These are all the different spellings we have seen for the waterfalls. Here they are known as Cataratas. The picture’s I have posted with this blog do not do the falls enough justice. They’re so big it took us four days to see them properly. You can see them from just about every angle possible and the sheer size of them is immense. There are approximately 270 waterfalls and there is four main trails to see the falls.

The Upper Trail
We walked this trail on the first evening we got to the national park. It’s about 650 metres long and takes you along the upper lip of the falls. The views were fantastic and you got to see the water gush down over the side of the cliff. The views from above let you see all the falls and along the route we saw some amazingly colourful butterflies. Some of them are the size of small birds but never rest long enough to take a photo of. The smaller ones rest a bit more and even land anywhere on your body and stay until they are disturbed.

Garganta del Diablo
Translated it means Devils Throat. This is where the first waterfall and most powerful one appears. The volume of water that passes through here is incredible. There is a strong mist coming up from the bottom from the power of the waterfall. We had to take a train for about five minutes to the start of the trail where we then had to walk about 1.5km to Garganta del Diablo. It was an nice walk along the river and through the forest. The train we had got was pretty full so the walk to the trail had a lot of people and it was hard to take in your surroundings as you had to keep an eye on the people in front and behind you. When we got to the Devils Throat the crowds were pretty big and you had to wait your turn to get a spot at the railing. You could stand there for hours and watch the water pour down over the edge. Getting a photo with one of us in it and the fall in the back round was pretty hard with all the people. We went at half ten and I would advise anyone going there to go earlier than that if they would like the place to be a bit quieter. Our idea was to get there before the midday sun as the rest of the trails we would do later would have cover as you walk through the forest to reach the falls.

Lower Circuit.
On this trail you get panoramic views of the falls and get up close and some times wet! It is about 2km’s long and there is a lot of steps as it is the lower circuit. The walk through the forest is very nice and provides shelter from the sun for about half the trek. There is a lot to see and plenty of wildlife like iguana’s and lizards. Most of them are not bothered by the people and I even think they pose for pictures!

Isla San Martin
At the bottom of the lower trail you can get a free boat over to an island called San Martin. As we are at the waters level we have to climb back up the island to get to the viewing points. There is a lot more wildlife here and plenty of colourful birds (not women lads!). Here you can get even closer to the falls and the spray is refreshing. You can swim in the water at the bottom of the island and I would recommend to anyone to make sure they bring swimming shorts. We didn’t bring any as we didn’t know and have now decided to always pack swimwear regardless of where we are going as you just never know. I did get to dip my feet but in the heat a swim would have been nice.


In total I reckon we walked up to 15km that day between all the trails and walking to the trails. Most of it was flat but when it went up the way it was very steep. We were walking for about 5hrs practically none stop. In the process we got a little burnt but nothing to cause any discomfort. We had sun cream on but sometimes you leave it too long and yesterday we looked a little red! It cost us €20 each for the two days and was worth every penny. Inside the park the train to Garganta del Diablo and boat to Isla San Martin is free. It was never really crowded and the walk in general is beautiful. We had went to the supermarket and got four sandwiches a big bottle of water and some crisps for €5 some we were well prepared if we got hungry.

For dinner last night we returned to the same restaurant in search of the meat feast. We didn’t quite get the same but still got one of the biggest feeds we have ever had for about €25. We got two of the local sausages and two steaks each. The sausages were nice and very big and one sausage was basically black pudding. It was as big as half a roll of black pudding. It was very tasty. Its translation here is basically blood sausage and I didn’t dare tell Michelle what it was. Anyway, she didn’t want to know.! The steaks were fit for kings and easily twice as big as at home. It was tasty but not the best and we both polished our plates. Afterwards we went back to the hostel bar and got our first bottle of Argentinean red wine. Malbec was the type and it was really good. There was no kick afterwards and it was very smooth. By the way it was my first taste of red wine so I really don’t know what I’m talking about!

Our hostel was fine but we did have one or two grievances. The shower was either really hot or dribbling cold and a pain in the arse to use. For breakfast it was outside and there were so many bee’s we couldn’t eat there. Everyone was complaining about it and I had to eat my cereal walking! Michelle just put here toast in the bin as it was impossible to eat it with the amount of bee’s. We didn’t even get to have a cup of tea. Poor you, I hear you say! The staff here are friendly and know us by name and that is always a nice touch. We are about to get a 20hr bus to Buenos Aires and have already hooked up to meet some Irish down there for St. Patricks day. Great win for Ireland yesterday. I didn’t get to see it as I had a choice between the waterfalls and the match and I might never be back here again so the Cataratas won. We knew we would see the game next week and it should be a cracker. At the moment I’m half watching England do us a favour and take France out of the running so Wales need to beat us by 13 or more points to win the championship. If they win next week it’ll be some party back home and I can tell you we will try and party hard in Buenos Aires too!

In a bit. DH

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Comments

[Sara Craddock]

Amazing
God i am soo envious of ye, the photos are abso amazing! really wow.. missing ye here in boring Ireland!! oh and Happy Paddy's Day for Tuesday!! x x

[Shar n Brend]

hey guys, happy paddy's day! Apparently, Leeds won at the weekend, i was told to tell ya! Look after yourselves!!!!xxxxx