Iguazu: Witnessing the Majesty of Falling Water
Trip Start
Sep 24, 2008
1
69
76
Trip End
Jul 21, 2009
Puerto Iguazu, Litoral, Argentina
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Arriving in Foz de Iguacu, Brasil
Mary and I arrived in Foz de Iguacu around noon on May 31, a Sunday, after an uneventful and comfortable 17-hour bus journey from Sao Paolo. We hopped on a cheap local bus, where we had to pass through the devil turnstiles with our large backpacks, which was not easy, into town. We checked into the El Shaddai guesthouse (R$40), which was a nice, clean and cheap place, albeit with poor hot water. It was nice to be spending less money again after a couple of days in Sao Paolo.
Given it was Sunday, Foz de Iguacu, which is a town of 250,000 people, was completely shut down. There was one Turkish kebab restaurant open and the only "store" in town was the mini-mart at the gas station. We were not in a rush to see the falls, so we took the day to read and relax, buying bottles of cheap wine from the gas station, eating kebabs and grabbing a pizza for dinner once the few restaurants opened. Mary ran into a British nuclear decommisioning scientist, Jen, that she had met in Santiago, seen again in Peru and who had seen Sarah at the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. It is a small gringo trail world.
The Dominance of Iguazu Falls
Iguazu Falls is a misnomer as it is a series of 275 waterfalls that tumble from the upper to the lower Iguazu River on the border between Brasil and Argentina. The lower Iguazu flows out into the Rio Parana, where there is a border with Paraguay. It is kind of like the Golden Triangle of SE Asia (Laos, Thailand, Burma) with waterfalls instead of opium poppies. There are viewing platforms on both the Brasilian and Argentine sides of the falls, both of which must be seen.
The Falls are some of the world's greatest and are frequently compared with the other great waterfalls of the world. It is like Niagara Falls on crack and in a tropical rainforest. The nearby Guaira Falls were formerly more dominant than Iguazu Falls until they were flooded to build the massive Itaipu hydroelectric dam, second to the Three Gorges Dam in China in terms of generating capacity and that provides 90% of the power to Paraguay and 20% of the power to Brasil. Iguazu is 275 discontinuous falls spread over 2.7km, with an average 65m height (210ft) and max height of 82m (270ft). At peak flow, the surface area of water falling is 1.3mm ft, the volume of water falling is 6,500 cubic m/s and the mist rises 30-150m (100-500ft) above the falls. By way of comparison, Niagara has a surface area of 600,000ft and a volume of 2,800 cubic m/s. The 1.6km wide Victoria Falls in Zambia/Zimbabwe are greater than Iguazu at a surface area of 1.8mm ft, a volume of 9,100 cubic m/s and a mist that rises an astounding 300-600m above the falls! However, Vic Falls don't offer the same viewing pleasure as Iguazu because of the narrowness of its canyon.
But, enough of the stats. I will attempt to describe the Falls and our experience and my pictures will attempt to give the reader an idea of their majesty. However, I have to be honest. Despite taking some beautiful pictures, I am humbled by nature. Just as with the greatest views and buildings in the world, pictures do not do it justice. You have to visit Iguazu, take in the views, see the rainbows, hear the raw power of tremendous water falling and get wet from the mist to really soak (pun intended) in the Falls.
Visiting the Brasilian Side and the Parque do Aves
Foz do Iguacu is a short 30-minute local bus ride from the Falls. Rather than road signs indicating roads and towns, all of the signs around there say "Paraguay", "Argentina", "Itaipu Dam" and "Cataratas (waterfalls)". It's pretty funny as we drove by the Argentina border crossing on our way to the falls on June 1! Given the proximity, we decided to leave our bags at the guesthouse in Foz do Iguacu and would return and make our border crossing to Argentina after visiting the Brasilian side of the Falls. It all sounds much more confusing than it is.
We paid the R$40 to enter on the Brasilian side of the Falls. The first reaction was how huge and massive they are. I had seen pictures of the Devil's Throat, the center of the Falls, but they stretch for two miles around the watery canyon. There were hundreds of falls, some with heart-stopping rapid and thick curtains of falling water and some that were solitary bridalveil falls enshrouded in the rainforest. At times, I felt I was an explorer coming upon some lost falls deep in the jungles. The volume and sound of water falling was simply terrifying in parts, and we hadn't even stepped inside the Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat) yet! The Brasilian side of the Falls gives a good panoramic view of what is on tap, but the main catwalk is pretty far away from most of the waterfalls. We went to the end of the platforms, took pictures and got a great aerial view from the high tower. It was also a cloudy day and we were fortunate to have better weather from the Argentine side.
After visiting the Falls for a couple of hours, we made our way across the street to the Parque do Aves (Bird Park), which is a bird preserve established to rescue endangered and harmed tropical birds. There are tons of toucans, parrots, macaws, flamingos, turkeys, herons and other animals from the area. The aviaries are brilliantly set up, so that we could walk openly through them, with the birds flying everywhere. Throughout the park was the incessant and loud chatter of the macaws. In one of the aviaries, this toucan was standing right next to me on the handrail and took an interest in the straps of my backpack and the zipper on my fleece. It was so cool! The toucans are beautiful and their beaks are fascinating; they are so large and so lightweight that they look plastic and completely artificial.
After thoroughly enjoying the Parque do Aves and our first day at the Falls, we hopped on the public bus back to our hostel, made our way across the border into Argentina painlessly and shortly arrived at our great hostel in Puerto Iguazu.
Back to Empanadas, Vino, Parillas and Espanol
We were completely lost in Portugese-speaking Brasil. Portugese is a different-enough language than Spanish, Brasilians speak with a strong accent and they use enough unique expressions that we found it incredibly difficult to understand their Portugese. Thankfully, Brasilians seem to understand our Spanish, so one-way communication was possible.
Needless to say, by crossing an imaginary line, we had returned to Spanish-speaking South America. Additionally, we could once again purchase our beloved Argentine packaged food, the empenada. Finally, cheap Malbecs and huge steaks were accessible. We love Brasil, but it was nice to enjoy the pleasures of Argentina and actually be able to communicate with people for a few days.
One of these pleasures was the parilla, Quicho del Tio Querido in Puerto Iguazu. This place cooked up the best steak I have had in South America; better than the one we had in Mercado de Puerto in Montevideo! Accompanying us was Nuevotiempo, a three-man band of an old man singing and playing guitar and two younger guys on the keyboards. They were slightly heinous, but they loved what they were playing and were good at the tunes they played. They even had a lighted sign with their photos on it in front of the restaurant. We both enjoyed a giant mixed salad (it had been some time since we had a large fresh salad), pepper and mushroom-sauced steaks the first night we were there, along with the requisite bottle of Argentine red wine. Notice I said the first time we went there. We ate there three straight nights while in Puerto Iguazu. We were officially on a steak moratorium once we left town. The second and third time we were there we enjoyed this combo platter for two, which was an absurd and delicious quantity of food. Everything came in large sized form: grilled vegetables (peppers, onions, tomatoes) and two slabs of steak, a platter of creamed spinach (which was unique as most parillas don't offer the sides that a typical US steakhouse offers) and a platter of potato balls. Man, I would fly back to Puerto Iguazu simply to eat at this steakhouse again! The steak special was only ARS84 (USD22) for both of us!
Visiting the Argentine Side of the Falls
On June 2, we visited the Argentine-side of the falls in Parque Nacional Iguazu. This national park is the largest in all of Argentina and would be the fourth one that I had visited (Nahuel Huapi in Bariloche, Los Glaciares near El Calafate, Los Cardones near Salta). The place felt like a natural Disneyland as it is so well organized with pathways and metal catwalks, snack shacks, a little passenger toy train and well-marked signs and trails everywhere.
Our first order of business was taking the toy train out to El Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat), which is the heart of the Falls. It is the main point where the upper Iguazu River meets the canyon that is where God (or someone with very large hands) ripped out a massive chunk of the earth. This is the place with the greatest flow of water, the highest mist, the most deafening sound and a thick curtain of water. The catwalk crosses over the calm Iguazu River, with no sight at all of the Falls. If I didn't know where I was going, I would think was in the wetlands. In the distance, a cloud of mist hovers above the waterline and the low buzz increasingly gets louder and louder. We turned a corner on the catwalk, walked up to the railing and there it was.
My heart nearly stopped. My jaw dropped. I got that fuzzy and funny feeling inside when I see something great, awe-inspiring and humbling. A giddy laughter overcame me and in that moment it was just the waterfall and me. The power of the water thundering down 260ft is simply awesome. The sound is absolutely terrifying. The water disappears into the thick white cloud of mist like the worst San Francisco fog. There is no bottom of the falls as far as the eye can tell. There was a former catwalk, 15ft higher than the current water level, that was previously destroyed in a flood. I cannot even fathom what the Throat must look like in those conditions! At the center of the horseshoe, I could peer through the mist as the canyon widens out and the thick curtain of waterfall turns into individual jungle bridalveils. Staring deep into the heart of the thick and wide curtain of the Falls, in its white and jungle river brown clors, it started to appear surreal, almost like the brush strokes in an Impressionist painting or a magic-eye picture. And we were close. Scary close. Those men who built the catwalks are absolute psychopaths. People have gone over Niagara in a barrel, no one could make it over the Throat and survive. This was definitely one of the greatest natural moments of my life and it surpassed all of the lofty expectations that I held. Every citizen of this world must visit the Falls if given an opportunity.
After seeing the Devil's Throat, we took the toy train back and hiked along the Upper Circuit, for views of the tops of hundreds of falls. We walked along the catwalk over the top of several dried out waterfalls and saw the precipitous rocky drops. I couldn't believe that some of these falls go dry. It was beautiful to see the arch of falls near Isla San Martin and Salto San Martin (the other large waterfall). On our way out of the park, we walked along the Sendero Verde, which is a nice nature trail through the rainforest. We saw South American racoons, look like anteaters with racoon tails, running around everywhere. As we neared the exit, I bought a couple of dark chocolate Havanna cookies for both of us (one of the world's greatest cookies) and we returned to town for some late afternoon empanadas before we headed back to the steakhouse.
The morning of June 3 was our third and final day visiting the Falls. Parque Nacional Iguazu in Argentina allows entry for half the price (ARS30 or USD8) on the second consecutive day visiting the park. We weren't tired of seeing the Falls yet. Honestly, I could spend an hour day everyday of my life! We tackled the Lower and Middle Circuit, which provided us unique vantage points of the bottom of the Falls. With a brilliant sunny day and the mist kicking up from the bottoms of all the waterfalls, there were rainbows everywhere. We probably saw 15 of them and nearly everywhere we turned was a postcard-perfect setting of green trees, rocks, thundering bridalveils and a rainbow cutting across the sky. And on this picture perfect day, I forgot to charge my camera batteries and was down to a little juice on my sole charged battery! Nonetheless, my battery conservation method was successful and we were able to snap photos of every angle we needed.
Once we completed the circuit, we hopped on the short boat ride to Isla San Martin, which is a rainforest-covered island in the middle of the lower Iguazu river and with basically 250 degrees of waterfalls surrounding it. As soon as we disembarked, we went on a tricky rock scramble around the island to specatular and unique views of the thundering Salto San Martin and the other waterfalls. The views reminded me of being a jungle explorer or of scenes from Jurassic Park. Dare I say that these views were perhaps more beautiful than the Devil's Throat? It is an unecessary and unanswerable question. As we left our rock scramble, we were stopped by a national park official who was about to radio us in. We thought we were going to get booted out of the park! He told us it was forbidden to climb the rocks, understandable given the liability, but there were no signs anywhere. We explained that where we came from, unless a park puts up a sign that says no entry, we are allowed to walk where we please. Thankfully, we were let go without any punishment.
We did the quick circuit of Isla San Martin, including visiting the mist-soaked platform that is basically in the mighty Salto San Martin and dried ourselves off under the warm sunshine while eating our picnic lunch on the sandy beach of the island with a panoramic view of jungle-enshrouded waterfalls around us. It was certainly tough being us on this day.
With some time to spare before sundown, we headed back to the Devil's Throat, for one more glimpse of the powerful and thunderous heart of the Falls. The mist was much greater on this day, soaking us after a few minutes on the platform, and providing for a full 360 degree circle rainbow in front of our eyes. I have never seen anything more than a semicircle rainbow in my life. It was magic.
Heading to Rio de Janeiro
On our way back to the hostel, we met a few BU MBA students who were taking a trip after a study abroad program. They explained how maybe 2/3 of their class does not have job placement and explained that things weren't that much better at the elite business schools. Tough time to graduate after spending USD150,000!
We continued our daily routine of enjoying some empanadas upon our return from the Falls and chilled out ahead of our last meal at the parilla. The staff at the restaurant and the band, Nuevotiempo, recognized us as soon as we walked in! In three days we had become regulars.
Our 22-hour bus to Rio left at 1pm on Jun 4, so we took care of some errands in the morning (like buying a little Homer Simpson toy wearing an Argentine futbol jersey and drinking a Quilmes beer). The bus was incredibly comfortable, though expensive and without food, and we watched some good (Valkyrie, though why Americans like Tom Cruise and British were acting as Nazis I do not know) and bad (the latest Indiana Jones) films on the way.
While the bus ride was painless, I had some trouble exiting Argentina. Once again, I had immigration issues trying to leave a country! The Iguazu border is a highly trafficked one and a relatively painless one, yet I was standing at the counter while an immigration official gave me an uncertain look and walked away to a back room with my passport. I remained calm, but had no idea what was going on. Everyone else on my bus quickly filed through without a hitch. I hate border crossings as they can be nerve-wracking affairs as power is completely out of my hands. Eventually, and without explanation, I was given an exit stamp and was on my way. By way of comparison, the Brasilian immigrations officer gave me a smile and a stamp in a matter of seconds, even though it is the much stricter country to get a visa for and to enter and exit. Go figure.
We reached Rio in the morning on June 5 and took a taxi (bad idea, take a local bus, even with bags as it is about 1/10th the cost) over to Ipanema, right next to the beach, to find a hostel. En route, we saw the beautiful coastline of the city, the towering mountains that sprout out of the ground right behind the ocean and the warm embrace of the Christ Redeemer statue. We had arrived in Cidade Marvelhoso. It was time to enjoy the city with the name that gives you goosebumps, Rio de Janeiro.
