The Truly Amazing Iguazu Falls
Trip Start
Jun 12, 2008
1
21
28
Trip End
Nov 20, 2008
Iguazu Falls,
Argentina
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Next day we were up early and headed off to Iguazu Falls. We had done a lot of research the night before and planned our day very carefully so as to try and avoid most of the crowds; very English of us but it paid off! The only mistake we made was not to take our own lunch, the restaurants at the park were pretty expensive. It was great to be back in jungle terrain, although it was obviously not even close to being as dense as th jungle in Ecuador.
Coatis on the path
The whole park has been done really well and has various different trails to walk which have been carefully planned out and give you great views of the Falls.We started off by walking the "Lower Trail" which had good views of the falls from a distance and meant you could see almost all the falls (there are 275 individual waterfalls). Even from a great distance the first time you see the falls it completely takes your breath away. The path through the jungle took us right up to the falls and on the way we saw a surprising amount of wildlife, including Coatis, a bit like badgers, which came right onto the path in front of us! There were also plenty of lizards and I even saw a black and white one in the undergrowth which was at least 50cms long!
As you get closer to the falls you can hear the water all around you and as you get right up close the power of them is totally mind boggling. It was like walking through some enhanced, tropical paradise...or being in a shampoo advert! The morning light meant there were great rainbows and hundreds of swallows were flying in and out of the falls. There are some schools of thought which say that the ions (or something like that) in the water cause people to become happier at the falls; Iīm inclined to believe them because we were like silly excited children most of the time, running around trying to take the perfect photo.
We took a little boat to an island in the middle of the park and wandered around there getting different views of the falls.
Coatis close up
We also went to a spooky place where there were lots of ugly vultures that didnīt seem to be scared of you at all. I just didnīt get tired of looking at the falls and could have easily sat in one place all day watching the same waterfalls. After our overpriced sandwich we decided to go for a walk away from the falls but deeper into the jungle. It was a lovely walk but although we were really quiet we didnīt see much except for lots of butterflies and a rather large rat thing. At the end of the trail you come out of the jungle at the top of a small waterfall and can see the Brazilian rainforest spread out before you. (The falls are right on the border of Brazil and Argentina and you can see the falls in both countries). That was a pretty amazing sight and worth the long walk in the hot sunshine. I took some photos there which I could turn into a jigsaw puzzle that would send my Dad mad!
After our walk we took the little train which runs all the way through the park, stopping in various places, and eventually ends up near the biggest waterfall, The Devilīs Throat. We walked over a series of walkways over the water in the early evening light to this magnificent waterfall. It was truly amazing, it makes you go giddy when you first see it and you can hardly hear anything other than the thundering water all around you. The power of this waterfall was amazing it has a normal flow of 1,300 mģ/s to 1,500 mģ/s (350,000 to 400,000 ga/s). I was looking at the water for ages and itīs quite mesmerising, after a while it feels as if the water is coming towards you...very strange!
We had a great day at the falls and we headed back tired and slightly burnt but very happy.
Back in the jungle (sort of!)
In the evening we met up with Toby and Louise (who we met in Salta) and went for a meal. We went to a very good steak house where the owner insisted on taking Toby and Dom to see the barbecue area and show them how good the meat was! I ordered a steak, I wasnīt quite sure what the cut was but thought I couldnīt go wrong, when it arrived it was about the size of your average steak back in the UK so I thought "great, thatīs fine" and said thanks. But then the waiter gave me 3 more of the same sized steaks!!! It still wasnīt as much as Domīs steak which was the biggest steak I have ever seen! Toby also had a huge steak, Louise is a vegetarian but was very good about the outrageous amount of meat on the table! She had a hard time explaining that she didnīt want meat in her ravioli...the waiter came back once to check if chicken would be ok!The rest of our time in Puerto Iguazu was spent in very relaxed style. The weather was gorgeous and we spent every day relaxing in the sun and having very long lunches. It was there that we decided our next stop would be Buenos Aires, we thought it would be a good idea to rent our own flat for 10 nights. It was only slightly more than a hostel and we really wanted our own place for a while and to be able to cook for ourselves. We managed to negotiate a very good deal because it was very last minute.
Iīve also noticed that Argentinians are huge tea drinkers, I thought the British were the biggest tea drinkers but the Argentinians take it to a whole new level! Itīs a herbal tea (called yerba mate) and itīs drunk from a gourd through a metal straw.
First glimpse of the falls
I think it makes everyone look like wise wizards! Itīs drunk everywhere, people stand in the street chatting holding their gourd in one hand and their thermos flask (to keep topping the tea up) in the other. People drink it on buses, in shops, wandering around Iguazu Falls. I think people either get very attached to their gourd or have their own way of drinking the tea (herb to water ratios) because you canīt get it in restaurants. I donīt think people like to share their tea because we learnt that it is very rude to turn someone down if they offer you some of their tea. Someone at our hostel offered us some; it was ok, I canīt quite see what all the fuss is about, sort of across between camomile and mint tea, but the whole gourd/straw thing makes it quite fun. On our last night we had a parrillada (barbecue) in one of the restaurants, these are hugely popular in Argentina. They bring the grill to your table and all the meat is kept warm over the hot coals. There is a huge amount of meat on there, too much for me and Dom. There was steak, ribs, sausage, black pudding, kidneys and chitling (small intestine)! It was quite an experience and very tasty...even if the texture wasnīt quite to my liking!
So far we were loving Argentina and really looking forward to getting to Buenos Aires and having our own apartment.
