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Published: July 12th 2006
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Waterfalls n That
Our second stop on our rather brief jaunt accross a little of the globe is the iguassu falls, which is apparently one of the 7 forgotten wonders of the natural world - which i must admit seems like a bit of an afterthought.
The arrival here wasnt the greatest- as i think i mentioned in the last post, i thought that it would be a good idea to go out all night prior to coming here. Although i dont regret the night i have to admit that it made the flight hell, and i spent most of it drifting in and out of a rather uncomfortable sickly sleep. Which meant that innevitably once the hotel was reached a sleep rather than a wander of the town was top of the list of priorities.
Anyway - sleep taken care of we had a wander of the town, which was a lot different from Rio, and maybe not suprisingly seemed to serve little more as a place to facilitate visits to the falls. It was however nice to be able to walk round and completely relax, which wasnt always possible in Rio due to the high crime
rate. I am also very pleased to say that the first meal that we took in the town was at the local Pizza Hut. Its always nice to take in a bit of the local culture, although i must say that it wasnt the best.
On the second day that we had there, we went to the falls for the first time, our first look at them was from the brazillian side, which consists of only one trail but which very much lets you appreciate both the scale and the power of the falls. I havent myself visited any of the other major falls around the globe, so had no point of reference against which to compare them. They were stunning though, and for me personally the scenery around almost more so.
The second day we spent was on the Argentinian side, which is generally (and rightly so) regarded as the superior vantage point from which to view the falls, as there are several trails to explore. The day started by taking a suprisingly easy border crossing from our hotel in Brazil to Argentina and then entering the park. From there we took a narrow gauge railway train
from the visitor centre to the first, and most impressive of the tourist trails, which looked over the the brazilian side that we had visited the previous day. It was most certainly an impressive site as the walkway took you right over the edge of the major waterfall. i couldnt help but feel that we were being sheparded along a bit too much, which i guess is always is going to be the curse of any popular tourist attraction (aprrox 1million visitors a year), and that the only real reason that one is there is to have a quick look- take a few snaps and be on ones way. After that there were a couple of other trails to take, as due to the size of the falls there are more than just the main waterfall to see. Compared to the first these didnt really compare although were of course outstanding in there natural beauty. What did annoy me though was that there were a group of three waterfalls called the "Three muscateers" which i guess is fair enough, but along from that that there was two waterfalls called the "two muscateers" which i did consider to be a rather rushed naming.
After we had finished the walking element of the tour, we took a speed boat to see them at close proximity. The only way i can describe it is as a naural theme park ride- as in that there was loads of speed and a lot of getting wet. It was brilliant thoughe, and amazing exilarating speeding through the most stunning scenery and performing ridiculously tight turns sending water spraying over everyone. The ticket that we bought not only entitled us to the boat trip but also a safari back the point we originally started. To be honest it was more than a little disappointing compared to the boat trip, and to call it a safari was most definitely stretching the truth. It was no more than an open top bus ride down a dirt track on which i can honestly say that i didnt see one animal or anything else for that matter of natural interest. It did however provide a great chance for us to dry of after the riculous "tidal wave" soakings of the boat!
And that was it for Iguassu for us - it was a strange little place with little to do but also boasting some of the most beautiful natural scenery in the world- i can see it becoming increasingly popular over the coming years as south america becomes increasingly accessible to tourists.
Tom
07/06
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