Edited by Rocky Grove, Saturday, 5 Oct 2013, 12:12
Friday
I am not going to write much about today as I feel my photos speak louder than words. The Iguazu Falls are awe inspiring - the statistics: wider than Victoria at around 3km and higher than Niagara at 90m - though not in a single drop. I have never been to Niagara and only visited Victoria Falls in the dry season, so it's not fair for me to compare personally. I followed a trail along the river bank for about 1200 metres, we kept being presented with ever changing vistas of the falls, I could never see the whole expanse, it's just too wide. At the end of the trail is the opportunity to walk out into the middle of the river on a walkway - they were selling plastic macs I, along with several others, just took my shirt off - my trousers dried quite quickly in the 32 degree heat. Some of the photos have spots on them as I had my camera in a plastic bag. I was only on the walk way 10-15 minutes yet I have slight sun burn on my back!
You travel into the park on open sided but a covered roofed, double decker buses, no cars allowed in. When I started my walk I was greeted by a coati and there were myriad brightly coloured butterflies and birds. I saw a beautiful blue butterfly bigger than my hand. It was busy but the way things were set out you were rarely disturbed by others.
I finished a great day by treating myself to a meal at a churrascaria. You help yourself to salad and then freshly cooked meat is constantly brought to your table and carved for you. Every cut of beef imaginable, plus pork, lamb, fish and sausages plus extras like liver or chicken hearts - which are lovely! I kept on asking for a tiny bit, the waiters could all speak English, but I never got what I would describe as a "tiny bit"! It was cooked to perfection, I don't normally like rare beef but I had one piece which was bright red inside but so tender.
I rounded the meal off with caramel custard and the nicest cappuccino of the trip which is saying something as I would rate Brasil as the best country I have been to for cappuccinos.
Saturday
I travelled from Foz dos Icuazu (Brazil) to Puerto Iguazu (Argentina). A nice little town catering for tourists but not in an overtly commercial way. Very friendly, cheaper than Brazil, not such nice cappuccinos and massive speed bumps - Brazil doesn't have any!
A lovely hostel, good, three star hotel standard.
I had planned to take a moon light trip to see the falls but it was cancelled as it was overcast.
Sunday
I visited the Argentinian side of the falls, not quite so spectacular panoramically but more close up and adventurous. I took a truck trip though the jungle where we saw plenty of birds plus a tapir scooted across the track. Then we took a boat, right into the falls - it was wet but awesome. At lunch we were surrounded by very inquisitive coatti - some even climbed on the picnic tables but were fairly easily shooed away. I then walked out over board walks about 1.5 miles to the ""Devil's Throat - to quote from Wikipedia "The Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo in Spanish or Garganta do Diabo in Portuguese), a U-shaped, 82-meter-high, 150-meter-wide and 700-meter-long (490 by 2300 feet) cataract, is the most impressive of all, and marks the border between Argentina and Brazil." I woudn't argue with that. It was slightly worrying to see a former boardwalk that had been washed away in a flood in 1992. The water wasn't far below and if you had ended up in it - it would certainly be curtains!
Finally I took a leisurely trip along the edge of the upper river. We saw a rare cayman, several toucan, parrots and lots of other birds which I couldn't identify. An exhilerating, tiring, wet but very enjoyable day.
Water, water, everywhere.....
Friday
I am not going to write much about today as I feel my photos speak louder than words. The Iguazu Falls are awe inspiring - the statistics: wider than Victoria at around 3km and higher than Niagara at 90m - though not in a single drop. I have never been to Niagara and only visited Victoria Falls in the dry season, so it's not fair for me to compare personally. I followed a trail along the river bank for about 1200 metres, we kept being presented with ever changing vistas of the falls, I could never see the whole expanse, it's just too wide. At the end of the trail is the opportunity to walk out into the middle of the river on a walkway - they were selling plastic macs
I, along with several others, just took my shirt off - my trousers dried quite quickly in the 32 degree heat. Some of the photos have spots on them as I had my camera in a plastic bag. I was only on the walk way 10-15 minutes yet I have slight sun burn on my back!
You travel into the park on open sided but a covered roofed, double decker buses, no cars allowed in. When I started my walk I was greeted by a coati and there were myriad brightly coloured butterflies and birds. I saw a beautiful blue butterfly bigger than my hand. It was busy but the way things were set out you were rarely disturbed by others.
I finished a great day by treating myself to a meal at a churrascaria. You help yourself to salad and then freshly cooked meat is constantly brought to your table and carved for you. Every cut of beef imaginable, plus pork, lamb, fish and sausages plus extras like liver or chicken hearts - which are lovely! I kept on asking for a tiny bit, the waiters could all speak English, but I never got what I would describe as a "tiny bit"! It was cooked to perfection, I don't normally like rare beef but I had one piece which was bright red inside but so tender.
I rounded the meal off with caramel custard and the nicest cappuccino of the trip which is saying something as I would rate Brasil as the best country I have been to for cappuccinos.
Saturday
I travelled from Foz dos Icuazu (Brazil) to Puerto Iguazu (Argentina). A nice little town catering for tourists but not in an overtly commercial way. Very friendly, cheaper than Brazil, not such nice cappuccinos and massive speed bumps - Brazil doesn't have any!
A lovely hostel, good, three star hotel standard.
I had planned to take a moon light trip to see the falls but it was cancelled as it was overcast.
Sunday
I visited the Argentinian side of the falls, not quite so spectacular panoramically but more close up and adventurous. I took a truck trip though the jungle where we saw plenty of birds plus a tapir scooted across the track. Then we took a boat, right into the falls - it was wet but awesome. At lunch we were surrounded by very inquisitive coatti - some even climbed on the picnic tables but were fairly easily shooed away. I then walked out over board walks about 1.5 miles to the ""Devil's Throat - to quote from Wikipedia "The Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo in Spanish or Garganta do Diabo in Portuguese), a U-shaped, 82-meter-high, 150-meter-wide and 700-meter-long (490 by 2300 feet) cataract, is the most impressive of all, and marks the border between Argentina and Brazil." I woudn't argue with that. It was slightly worrying to see a former boardwalk that had been washed away in a flood in 1992. The water wasn't far below and if you had ended up in it - it would certainly be curtains!
Finally I took a leisurely trip along the edge of the upper river. We saw a rare cayman, several toucan, parrots and lots of other birds which I couldn't identify. An exhilerating, tiring, wet but very enjoyable day.