Today we hop the bus for the thirty minute drive out of town to Parque Nacional Iguazu to see the renowned Iguazu Falls, our last item of business before leaving Argentina.
Our flights here with the reliably unreliable Areolinas Argentina go fairly well. No problems coming out of Bariloche to Buenos Aires. From there to Iguazu, things get a bit hairy — our flight gets pushed back an hour, then moved to another gate, then cancelled. Suddenly it's on again at another gate. Wait — not that gate! Line up here and then it's a bus ride to the idling plane only to find a smug couple sitting in our assigned seats. We get the stewardess involved and wait it out patiently until everyone is on board and then point out that no one is sitting in first class.
"You can sit there," the stewardess says.
Sigh. "Well, if we have to.."
Yoo-hoo! It's first class all the way to Iguazu! Although the food is still Sprite and a cellophane wrapped ham sandwich... yuck...
Somehow our bags arrive and we find our way to our hostel only to find that life has evened the playing field for us, upgrading us to first class and then downgrading our room reservation. Try having the front desk girl explain to you in Spanish why your reservation has changed — it's not so easy. Tired and frustrated, we take the room we're offered, and even though the place is quaint and the owners quite friendly, we're not happy with the set up or the springs in the mattress that dig into our sides during the night. We begin to make plans for a change for our remaining nights.
To the Falls — It's a whopping $100 pesos to get in the park plus more if you want to do any of the boat rides up and under the falls (and of course we do!) Composed of over 250 cascades and straddling the border between Argentina and Brazil, the 'Cataratas' are billed as the world's most dramatic waterfalls. Once inside the Argentinian side of the park, there are numerous trails and catwalks to explore that take you all over to different viewpoints and areas of the extensive water network. In fact, there's quite a lot of walking to be done throughout the day, which is good for us after a night of sore hips.
We begin with a good 6 K hike along the Macuco Nature Trail hoping to spot some wildlife. Iguazu is located in the subtropics which means plenty of jungle cats, monkeys and birds. It also means the temps are back up to shorts wearing days!
This is the sign we encounter when doing our hike. Note the bottom portion — just so you know where to walk...
We do manage to see some howler monkeys playing about in the trees. We also spot numerous bright butterflys, leaf cutter ants and the greedy racoon-like coatis.
Just one of the 500 species of orchids growing in the jungle.
The hike ends at a gentle waterfall — nice, but not really what we've come to see!
After the warm up hike, we hop the train to the north end of the park and begin another walk along bridges and catwalks to see The Devil's Throat — the biggest, baddest waterfall in the park. After another ten minutes of walking, I'm not convinced there really are any waterfalls in this park.
And then I hear the low rumble.
We gape at the Devil's Throat for a while. 1800 cubic metres of water per second — watching all that water flow is mesmerizing.
Then we take the train back to the half way point and walk some more to see the other section of falls. Lots of great views here of the myriad of cascades.
It's time to get on the boat and go look at them up close. The park gives you a dry bag for your stuff because you're going to get wet. We're howlng at all the people in front of us coming off the boat, drenched to the bone and wearing their white tops and linen pants. Hello? See through!!
We're smart and bring our own rain jackets. Jenn wears her rain pants too. I'm wishing I had mine at this point...
First they take us up close to the falls, both sides, for photos.
And then the instructions come. "Cameras away. Put everything away."
Into the falls we go! Straight in. The boat gets flooded. We are hit with torrents of water. Jenn screams out. "Is this really legal?" We're in Argentina, sweetie. There are no laws! Of course we sit at the front of el barco for the full experience.
Soaked, we wring ourselves out, get a few more views from some different paths below and above the falls.
And then head home for a shower (the irony) and a good dinner.
I'm still proud of our good old Niagara, but these falls too are quite impressive. And no, apparently no one has gone over in a barrel, although people do get caught in the river's current trying to swim from one country to another and are swept over the falls where the pumas below devour their bodies.
If you believe that...
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