A 17 hour cramped bus journey from Buenos Aires bought us into the small but nice border town of Puerto Iguazu. We decided to stay on the Argentine side of the falls because it is cheaper than Brazil! People we have met on our travels told us visit the Argentine side to be close to the falls and the Brazillian side for the panoramas, so as we are now very short on time (6 days and then we are home!) we decided to visit the Argentinian side of the falls.
The falls are set in a rainforest, which make them unique of the ones we have seen so far. There were beautiful coloured birds singing in the trees, the infamous Coati´s who inhabit the rainforest and have been known to terrorise tourists for food etc etc!
Looking at our map we saw that there were a few different hikes you could do in the park, we decided to first head down on what was called the "Inferior hike"!! It is actually a hike along walkways that have been set up lower down the falls. They are not at the base exactly, but the view is totally different from the view we later saw at the top - much better lower down in our opinion and there were gorgeous views out along the river as well.
After seeing the falls at their best, we continued on up to the "Superior hike" which once again is an wasy walk along metal walkways. This time the perspective is entirely different, you are at the top of the falls looking down on the crashing waters, when we hiked along the bottom we were at times getting drenched by the water spray!
We enjoyed a lunch we had bought with us and then queued up for the train which takes the short journey through the park to the Diablo Gaganta - which translated means the devils throat. You can see why they have given it this name, the roundness of the falls here is shaped like a throat and the waters are so powerful and crashing. We were soaked up here in the spray and the rain, but it was worth it - it showed how powerful water actually is!
So, considering on this trip we have now seen Niagara Falls - Canada, Victoria Falls - Zimbabwe and Iguazu Falls - Argentina, our first discussion over a beer tonight was which is better. We came to the conclusion that they are all different and there is no way we could choose one over the other! Niagara was special because it was winter, the water was turquoise and there was snow. Victoria Falls was spectacular, we could see as it was dry season how the rocks have eroded further over on the Zambian side and we took the most scenic flight in a microlight over the falls. Iguazu was set in a rainforest, its wet season so there is lots of water right now, so much so that the usual river boat that connects to an island cannot run because the water is too high - you see they are all different.
Tonight we are off to eat our last Argentine steak and drink some more wine, tomorrow see´s us take a bus 22 hours to our final destination on this trip (besides the bus ride for a flight).
Will pod again from Rio De Janeiro - Brazil!!!!
We can´t quite believe that it really is all coming to an end.
Hugs
AlinMatt
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