Iguazu Falls
Trip Start
Jan 14, 2008
1
21
22
Trip End
Mar 05, 2008
Iguazu,
Argentina
Thursday, February 28, 2008
We were staying at the Sheraton Iguazu, a place I had booked three months before, as it is the only hotel in the National Park. The trade-off for being in the only hotel inside the park was the expense that came with staying there. It was astronomical what they were charging us, but seeing that we were in an apartment in Buenos Aires, we could rationalize the expense for one night.
Upon reaching the Sheraton, a place that actually looked a little run down, I began to wish we were staying at the Yakutinga Lodge which our friend Udo in Patagonia had told us about... but we were greeted with the most spectacular view of Iguazu Falls in the distance beyond the reception area and I had to let it go! We could not wait to check out the falls, but were dismayed by the fact that our room was not ready yet. When I asked the woman at reception why we were paying so much to stay in a place where check out was at 10am and here it was 3pm and the rooms were still not ready, she simply told us that they cater to their rewards members who can check out whenever they like. After requesting a free beer while we waited, I felt vindicated when it was reluctantly given to us. It was a minor victory in a place where I felt we were being ripped off.
While enjoying our beers, we made our way down the hall to a man who was seated at a table that booked excursions. We had heard that the boat ride under the falls was a MUST and knowing that we would have our hotel room to shower upon our return that day, we decided to opt for the Jungle Explorer Excursion right then and there. The Jungle Excursion would pick us up from the foot of the hotel, take us through the jungle to our boat which would take us up the rapids of the river below the falls and actually soak us in the falls themselves. It was leaving in half an hour, so we made a quick change and were off.
The ride in the open air all terrain vehicle was great, mostly because we didn't have to walk 40 minutes to reach the boat that would take us into the falls. We knew we would be walking a ton the next day, so it was worth it to pay for the ride. We got to the river about 20 minutes later and boarded a large speed boat covered in bees. We put on our life jackets, tried to ignore the hundreds of bees on the boat and after a few minutes of worry and fear of being stung we were speeding up the rapids towards the falls. It was exhilarating. The Falls were just beautiful and being below these massive water falls was so spectacular.
We made our way into a cove to snap a few pictures. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was starting to dip in the horizon. It was still 95 degrees out so when we went around the bend to take our first dip in one of three waterfalls, it felt very refreshing. The water was everywhere and everyone was having so much fun. We made our way back into the cove shortly after taking a couple dips in the nearby falls and prepared to enter an absolutely enormous roaring waterfall. Andrew and I looked at each other with our eyes and mouths wide open when we figured out what we were doing. The driver roared the engine and we were soon fully immersed in the massive waterfall. It felt like one of the hardest downpours you could imagine and a few moments later the sheer force of the fall had pushed us out. We did it two more times and were just drenched. I was up to my knees in water in the boat and everyone around us was clapping, so we too joined in the applause. It was so much fun!
On our wet walk home via the lower trail back to the Sheraton we stopped to look at some of the amazing falls. They weren't the main falls, otherwise known as the Devils Throat, but a mere part of the 275 falls in the system. It is said that after seeing Iguazu Falls, Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "Poor Niagra". Poor Niagra is right as it is almost impossible to describe this place. The amount of water that goes over these falls in peak periods is equivalent to 1.3 Million square feet or 6.5 Million Liters per second. Imagine that! After reaching the upper part of the trail we admired the gorgeous butterflies as there are over 100 different species in the park and encountered some Tapir like animals that are part of the Raccoon family surrounding our trail called Coati. There were at least 20 of these creatures, many of whom were babies that were pretty darn cute.
Upon returning to the Sheraton we were able to finally enjoy our room (certainly not worth what we paid, but fine for the night). We watched part of a crappy Meg Ryan movie before heading to dinner at 9:15pm. When we had asked earlier that day if we would have any issues at the restaurant without reservations and being told it would be just fine... there was in fact a 20 minute wait. We werenīt very hungry, so we headed to the bar for a pizza and a club sandwich and went to bed.
We woke up the next morning ready to tackle the falls. After breakfast we checked out of our room and caught the train that would take us to the magnificent "Devil's Throat," or Garganta del Diablo, which can be seen and heard from a half mile away. After a short ride, we got ahead of the tour groups and walked over the long footbridge over the rivers that feed into the falls and approached the roaring falls that sounded like fifty helicopters taking off and mist that flew 50 feet in the air. It was almost impossible to take pictures as we were getting drenched by the spray. Andrew and I could hardly hear each other, so after standing in awe for about 10 minutes we retreated back to the train. Finding a huge line for the train back, we opted to walk through the jungle by the train tracks. It was still morning, so it was a cool 80 degrees and very manageable.
We made our way back to the lower trail where we took a boat over to San Martin Island to get a vista of the 7 massive fall systems down from the Devilīs Throat. We got a close look at San Martin Falls which was the water fall that had showered us the day before and snapped a few shots of huge Iguanaīs and beautiful birds that resided on the island.
We returned to the Sheraton after a much needed ice cream and Gatorade to check in for our even more needed massages that we had booked that morning. We changed into our swim suits and took a dip in the pool and followed that with a relaxing 50 minute massage. Rejuvenated and refreshed, we had a 5pm lunch and headed to the airport for our flight back to our home in Buenos Aires. Upon getting back to our apartment we had a bite at a local cafe and rested up for final days in Buenos Aires.
