Iguassu Falls
We didn't get off to the best of starts going to Iguassu. First of all there was a 3 hour flight delay because lightning had struck some radar equipment at Buenos Aires domestic airport and caused problems. When we finally arrived at the Argentine airport at Iguassu there was no-one to meet us as booked. Eventually we hired a taxi and the kindly driver took us the 60km to our hotel which was on the Brazilian side of the Falls and so we had to complete all the border formalities ourselves which took time and should have been done for us by our guide who had waited at the Brazilian side airport. Sigh. The Tropical das Cataratas is the only hotel in the National Park on the Brazilian side and was very comfortable with dark colonial furniture and rooms set out along wide corridors through several wings. A few rooms have a Falls View but most face the pool or the rainforest.
http://www.cataratasdoiguacu.com.br/hotel_tropical_en.asp is an excellent website where the Falls, the hotel and the flora and fauna of the area can be found. Iguassu Falls are absolutely magnificent - there is no other word to describe the sheer glory of them. They are wider and taller than Niagara and are altogether different in that turning every corner gives a completely different vista. The waters come crashing down where the Iguassu River joins the Parana River forming the country borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. There are also vast numbers of multi-coloured butterflies everywhere you look, it was wonderful. I have to say that the rainforest climate does not suit me personally. I tend to like dry heat and the rainforest of course is very hot, very humid and very sticky. There are also a lot of flying insects about - who have more right than us to be there - but they bite! There are also poisonous snakes and caimen (crocodile/alligator creatures) and jaguars which could pose problems for the tourist who wandered off the beaten track.
The insects manage to get into the bedrooms despite every effort to prevent them and they get into the breakfast room and enjoy settling on the extensive buffet breakfast. I did fall totally in love with the coatis http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/informat ion/Nasua_nasua.html and thoroughly enjoyed watching these naughty creatures jumping on the breakfast tables and around the cafes to the exasperation of the waiters. They are very tame and very determined to partake of human foods which can cause them serious damage. They seem to know no-one will hurt them and so they play along and taunt the waiters! I later learnt that they carry diseases especially rabies and are quite a health risk so was glad I hadn't touched one!
My husband enjoyed walking the various nature trails around Iguassu Falls but I was still suffering from my insect bites from Uruguay and decided that the hotel pool was the best place for me to get some relief from the itching! Iguassu Falls is well worth a visit for the magnificent mass of falling water - but rainforests will not be for me in the future! __________________________________________________________ More thumbnails ...
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