Beauti-fall Iguaçu!

  Puerto Iguazu, Litoral, Argentina
Sunday, September 14, 2008

We boarded the bus to Iguazu at 4 pm in Salta an epic 23 hour bus ride ahead of us! It is funny to think that at the beginning of the trip a 16 hour flight seemed epic, yet now we consider a journey of that length normal. Funny how your brain adjusts to scale so quickly. However, I wasnīt looking forward to 23 hours on a bus. As it turned out the bus was pretty comfortable and both of us slept fairly well. I kept George happy by feeding her empanadas at regular intervals. Seemed to work ok.

We arrived on time in Puerto Iguazu with no major incidents from the journey to report. It was nice to see the earth changing to the deep reddish brown colour again and the vegetation get more dense. We were getting closer to tropical forest again, the cold and desolate Altiplano of the Andes fading in our minds. We wandered down to the hostel that we had booked and the blue skies and warm sun brought a smile to my face. We arrived, a little hot and sweaty at the hostel and were met by a really friendly guy at reception who offered us both a free, ice cold beer on the house! It was only 11.00am but we didnīt have to be asked twice! He showed us to our room , which was nice and clean, and showed us around the rest of the place. There was a really nice kitchen/BBQ area with tables outside, a pretty courtyard with climbing plants and bright flowers, all painted with bright colours.

Time to relax

It was really tranquil and the perfect place to kick back in the sun. It wasnīt long before I was changed into my shorts and sitting outside our room, sipping a cold beer and watching humming birds and butterflies amongst the flowers. It was going to be hard to leave this place!

After relaxing for a while we decided to head into the center of town to get our bearings. This was easier said than done. Even George, with her salmon-like sense for directions, struggled to get used to this small townīs layout. I think it was because we had gotten so used to a grid system that our minds couldnīt cope with the strange a-symmetrical layout. At the centre point of the town is a roundabout with 7 or 8 roads leading from it! Any how we managed. The pace of life here was pretty relaxed, especially as we were here outside the peak season. Shops seemed to open and close at random times and shopkeepers sat around outside habitually sipping their mysterious looking mate (green tea of some kind). It was nice and for such a touristy destination not overly touristy somehow. We had lunch in a cafe in town and headed back to the hostel for some R&R and to plan the next dayīs trip to the star attraction of the area, Iguazu Falls!

I must admit that before starting to plan this trip, I had never even heard of Iguazu Falls. Niagara, Angel, Victoria I had heard of, but never Iguazu. It is odd considering just how spectacularly beautiful and enormous they are! I had tried hard to avoid all photos of Iguazu as I wanted it to be a bit of a surprise. The only time I saw any detail was during the incredibly poor final Indiana Jones film! We woke early(ish), and had carefully planned the order of the day hoping to avoid the crowds as much as possible.

We arrived at the entrance to the park at around 9am and bought our tickets. We had figured that most people would head straight for the main attraction the Garganta del Diablo or Devilīs throat. My book had recommend first seeing the falls from a distance so we instead headed for the lower trail. This would give us sight from a distance and allow us to walk through the forest with the minimum of noise. The path to the beginning of the Lower Walk went through a small section of forest. We were a little surprised that, given the proximity of this path to the main park area, there were signs saying not to feed the animals and to keep children close due to the possibility of big cats! Yeah right I thought! Well within 30m I was eating my words. No big cats luckily, but a rustling in just off the path (jungle training kicked in!) led to the first spot of the day, a Coati!  This was followed by a whole family traipsing past in front of us! It was quite a shock really. So much so  I didnīt manage any good photos. We carried on, lots of bright butterflies fluttering around us. A bit further on another rustling produced some kind of giant rodent thing, not sure what it was but it was a bit more shy than the Coatis. Amazing that we had such spots within the first 300m of the park!

We carried on past the train station (a small gas train transports people around various points of the park) and it seemed our strategy had paid off. The station was packed full of people waiting to be taken to the Devilīs Throat. we smugly walked past and on toward the beginning of the lower trail. At the start of the trail we got our first glimpse of some of the falls at a distance of about a mile or more. At first I didnīt want to look, somehow thinking that this would spoil the surprise. Pretty stupid I guess. When I did look though it was quite a sight. Even from this distance you could see the spray and the sheer size of what was ahead. It brought a smile to my face which grew as the morning went on.

We set off again along the path knowing now what we were getting closer to. As we got closer we could hear the distant roar of the falls. The whole park is made up of over 250 separate falls. As we rounded a bend and a clearing in the trees and our excitement and anticipation rose. We looked down the river and in the distance we got our first decent sight of the Devilīs throat.

fall

What a sight it was. The smile broadened and I snapped away, not able to get over the size of it even from this distance. We carried on until we reached another viewpoint. From here we had an amazing panoramic view of the Devilīs throat and of the San Martin falls between them the Island. It was truly spectacular. The light was amazing and swallows darted in and out of the falls. In the spray bright rainbows, condors circling rising on the thermals. Beautiful butterflies and bright red and purple Begonias (maybe) all around. It made me feel like a child after too many orange sweets! I was a little giddy. For a while it seemed affect George differently. She was quiet and seemed to truly be in awe of her surroundings! It was an incredible spectacle (both the falls and George quiet!)

falls

more falls

We carried on along the trail getting loser to the powerful water all the time. Occasionally stopping to look again and take more pictures, as if you had to prove to yourself where you were and that this was real. We took a small boat to an island between the main falls and walked around. The signs warned to keep on the path in case of snakes. We were so obsessed with looking for snakes that it we were completely unaware that we had entered the realm of the condor.

CONDOR

The first one startled us as it flapped its black wings above our heads, and then we noticed that they were everywhere. Incredibly tame and obliging our photo taking! From the island we got our first taste of the San Martin fall up close. They roar was like a plane landing and spray soaked us as we got near. We stood at the viewing platform, transfixed on the water crashing down. It was quite hypnotic.

fall and birds

rainbow

 

butterfly

We headed to lunch excited and giddy.  It had been worth the wait. Lunch was expensive, and we were annoyed that we hadnīt organised a picnic. In the afternoon we went on a long walk through the slightly disappointing nature trail. We had expected to see some monkeys and other interesting things but all we saw were lots of butterflies. Maybe it was too warm for them who knows?!

After the walk we had one final destination, up close and personal with the Garganta Del Diablo. Our organisation had definitely paid off. We took the little train to the last stop and it was virtually empty. We disembarked and walked the kilometre path across the wide rivers that fed the mighty falls. The roaring sound of the distant fall grew as we approached, an old, destroyed walkway ran alongside ours a reminder of the power of the river during wet season. We were close now, the rainbow-filled spray visible. It was amazing to watch the calmness of the water even within a couple of metres of the huge falls. It had no idea what was about to come. I wondered how many times the same water molecules had fallen over the falls.

When we finally were in full sight of the falls it was truly breathtaking. The spray rose high, he sunlight catching it and forming vivid colours. The roar was load a the power immense but it was somehow calm. Very hard to explain. As before watching became hypnotic. I had possibly the strongest spell of vertigo ever as I leaned on the railings. I started to feel dizzy, and a little queasy and then had the feeling of falling. I even felt my thigh muscles tense slightly and push me up on my toes a little! I took a couple of steps back!

dom and george in the devil´s throat

garganta

Another amazing sight for the trip! A place I didnīt know existed before we planned. In parts it looked like paradise. I hope the pictures do it justice.

d and g

The rest of the time in Iguazu  was spent relaxing, eating and sunbathing. We met up with Toby and Louise for dinner and what was the biggest steak to date!

Argentine meal oh yeah!

George and I ate our first Parrillada of the trip which was quite fun. Basically a mini BBQ is brought to your table plied high with too much meat! Ours included some offal; kidney and chitterlings as well as steak (two cuts), sausage, chicken and black pudding! Ridiculous!

mmm let me at it!

We had to leave this place before we became addicted to the relaxed atmosphere and turned into 300 pound sun burnt whales! It was time to go to Buenos Aires. We decided that we needed to stop somewhere for a while so we decided to rent an apartment and after some hard bargaining we found a place. Buenos Aires here we come!