Waterfalls will never be the same again
Trip Start
Sep 28, 2007
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41
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Trip End
Jun 25, 2008
Puerto Iguazu, Argentina
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Puerto Iguazu is a laid back little town. It is clear that no one ever goes there except to see the falls. Pretty soon after getting off the bus we were back on one again heading out to the national park.
As a must-see attraction, they could probably charge what they wanted and people would pay, so I thought the entry price of US$13 was reasonable, especially as the site was more than big enough to explore all day and it gave you a short ferry ride and allowed you to ride the train. Plus, they allowed you to come back the next day for half price.
There are four main places to see the falls from. Three of them allow you to see the semicircular wall of 80 metre high falls from different vantage points (above them on the upper circuit, and beside and straight on from the lower circuit and the Isla San Martín, a minute ferry ride away).
It really is amazing. I won't be able to look at a perfectly impressive waterfall in the same way again. It looked like a massive white curtain, pulling apart around giant rocks, with more rails of curtains behind and to the side.
Next we took the train and then walked along the boardwalk track to Garganta del Diablo or the Devil's Throat.
There the serene wetland at the top runs out of earth to spread over and tumbles down, creating a frothing pool that rebounds two-thirds or more of the way back up. I doubt that anyone would have come close to seeing the bottom.
Amazingly swifts are happy flying through the spray that creates a continuous rainbow.
Earlier we had seen a large cluster of them nesting on the vertical side of a fall. Also amazing were the lush green plants that thrive in the spray.
The next day we explored the nature trail down to the Arrechea falls. Which was pathetic by Iguazu standards, barely a trickle a metre wide by 40 metres high. You could swim in the pool beneath it and stand under it, but only for a second as the water felt like nails. It was a telling example of the power of falling water, even at a tiny fraction of what was falling over the main falls.
