We didn't have long in Argentina, so waiting for our Brazilian visas to process at the consulate in Puerto Iguazu was a good excuse to stretch our brief visit out for a little longer. We spent five very relaxing days in this sleepy tropical border town, which is the Argentine gateway to the world renowned Iguazu Falls!

It seemed like way too much effort to track down a Brazilian consulate in Canada and wait two weeks for our visas to be processed, so we were happy to hear about a one day turn around system at the consulate in Peurto Iguazu. Our source proved accurate and a quick 24 hours later our tickets into Brazil were securely glued into our passports!

While we waited, there wasn't a great deal to do except to cook succulent steak, drink wine and swim in our hostel pool... hard life eh! One evening we were a little adventurous and walked to the 'Three Frontiers' with some newfound backpacker friends. From this point the shores of both Paraguay and Brazil are visible, separated from Argentina by the meeting of the Parana and Iguazu rivers. There wasn't much here besides a concrete monument with each of the three countries flags painted proudly on three posts, but it was enough to have us and hoards of other tourists lining up for a photo. For us seeing Brazil so close after years of anticipation had us almost giddy with excitement, but we had a little waterfall to see first...

Our 'Lonely Planet' guidebook fittingly described the Iguazu falls as so powerful that the negative ions generated by the force of the water somehow spark positive energies and happiness in the tourists that visit. This great carataras was truly unreal and from the moment we set eyes on the falls we were bobbing up and down in agreement with our guide. We were told to see the entire park it would only take a few hours, but somehow we found ourselves being ushered out at closing time even though we were some of the first tourists through in the morning! All day we were mesmerised by the infinite volume and absolute thundering force of the water, which suddenly dropped from the tranquil wetland above. The perfect rainbows appearing in the clouds of mist below, the tropical rainforest setting and fellow enthusiastic awe-struck tourists made it even more perfect.

To cool down from the heat of the day, we embarked on the 3.5 km Macuco Trail after lunch to a significantly smaller, swimmable waterfall. Although long, the hike was great and the refreshing swim at the end a nice reward. The only problem was by the time we got in for a dip we left ourselves only 40 minutes to get back to catch the last train out to the Garganta del Diablo, the largest and most impressive section of the 2.7km long stretch of falls. With only minutes to spare we boarded the nearly empty train out to this typically overcrowded highlight. As we followed a boardwalk across the wide, calm upper section of the Iguazu River we were captivated by the abundance of unique South American tropical wildlife around us. There were giant catfish and sunbathing caiman in the waters below us and kaleidoscope of butterflies and strikingly colourful toucans flying above. We were already pretty impressed by the families of Capuchin monkeys and racoon-like coati we had encountered earlier in the day, so everything was a bonus!

As we neared the edge and caught glimpses of the spray from the devils throat we excitedly quickened our pace. By the time we got to the unbelievable cliff-perched platform above the Garganta itself, we only had five minutes to take a few photos and attempt to appreciate the magnitude of the place. But at least we had avoided the crowds! A ranger patiently ushered us out of the park minutes before it closed, and we're grateful that we'll have another chance to see and hear this wonder again from the Brazilian side in a few days time!