Everyone we have met who has been to the biggest waterfalls in the world told us to make the effort in taking the 2800km round trip from Buenos Aries - boy, were they right! Once again we were back on the overnight bus for a long journey of 18 hours - thank god for business class buses out here - and eventually arrived in a perfect example of small town Argentina called Puerto Iguazu - the furthest place you can travel north to in Argentina before you hit Brazil and Paraguay, 5km away. The area is called the three frontiers. Everything and everywhere around here is understandably based the Iguazu Cataratas (Argentinian for waterfalls) which are quite literally the biggest thing in South America. We arrived early in the morning, so having sorted out the necessity of a hotel we decided to head straight for the falls on the Brasilian side of the border. Unbeknown to us this weekend is a public holiday (Brasilian Independence Day) so we had to join the throng of Brasilians in the queue for entry to the park - and surprisingly most of the people there were South American rather than the gringos we have seen at the major sites in other parts of the continent. We eventually joined a trail to the first viewing platform for a breathtaking panoranmic view of the falls. Despite everyones protestations that this was a site on a par with Macchu Piccu, as a place to visit, we were not prepared for the view in front of us. 280 separate waterfalls, all massed together, at the peak in the year when the greatest volume of water thunders over each precipice to create a wall of water 3 or 4 km wide covering several beautful sweeps and curves in the rock. For those of you who have seen Niagra falls imagine the same but many times the size, completley encased in subtropical rainforest with the majestic condors of the area flying over head. In fact it makes Niagra look like a leaky tap! One part of the trail allows you to walk across a bridge to a viewing platform right in the middle of the Rio Iguazu where you could get a complete view of the falls which surrounded you on 3 sides. Needless to say we both got drenched - the water comes over each fall in such volume and with such force that the spray that is forced up from the bottom of the river to some 150 m is just taken by the wind like a fine mist of rain to ensure each person is left with a dripping reminder of how unforgiving mother nature can be. We were only thankful that the weather is warm (if humid) and we at least managed to dry out in the main, within 30 minutes. We thought that this could not be topped, but the following day's visit to the Argentinan Iguazu National Parque, just about knocked our socks off. Apart from the fact that the Argentinians are much better organised in general, they have also recognised the falls as a major attraction (in fact it's a world heritage site) and have invested a huge amount of money in their side of the park to ensure visitors have a smooth trip which is nothing less than memorable. Our first venture into the park was on a little train that took us a full 5-6 km into the north of the area to a walkway that takes you into a mirador (a lookout point) to the "Devils Throat". The name itself should have given us a good idea of what we were about to see but once we had taken the 20 minute trek across a a bridge over the Rio Iguazu we found we had set our expectations too low and the site of the Devils throat only 50 m in front of us was both majestic and frightening at the same time. This part of the falls is a giant precipice in the rock that falls 70m into the river below taking with it 1800 cubic metres of water every second, over a 3km curved stretch of rock. We were also fortunate to have had torrential rain the night before, swelling the waters even further and making the falls even more dramatic. The difficulties this gave us though was taking pictures and shooting any video - every 15 seconds or so the river would shoot up a huge spray of mist from the depths of the river below (which was not even visible from the platform due to the tumult of water and spray below) that looked something like a thermal geyser rising from the depths of the earth, only 100 times bigger. However, take a look at the photo albums and you will see some fantastic shots, though none that really captures the full impact and majesty of the falls as a whole - you will have to wait for the video!. Not put off by our two drenchings by the falls so far we arranged to go on a boat into the heart of the falls themselves - I think you would call that being a glutton for punishment. About 20 of us were loaded onto the powerful speedboats that were expertly driven into the very heart of both the Brasilian and Argentinian falls. The force of water beating down on you from 30m above was so strong that you weren't even able to look at the waterfall before you - the best power shower we have ever had! In fact it can only be described as being on a boat in the middle on the Pacific is a force 10 storm. The Park is also a strong proponent of conservation and keenly gives tours and information on the ecology of the area, including the 70 or so indigenous species of animal and hundreds of birds. Unfortuneatly we did not stumble across the stunning Jaguars that prowl wild around the park (They are the third largest cat in the world, behind the tiger and the lion, and the largest in South America) - though we were fully prepared for an encounter with the information given out to visitors by the park which was to stare it out, jump and shout, wave your arms to appear bigger and if that failed and it attacked, the advice was 'to push it away forcefully' - an obvious statement!. However, we were regularly visited by Coaties (member of the raccoon family) and we did see a couple of large toucans in full flight, with their enormous orange beaks and red tails they made us crave for a pint of the black stuff!. So that has been our visit to Iguazu - one of the most impressive things we have seen in South America so far. Now we go onwards and southwards to Puerto Madryn, and into the South Atlantic Ocean looking for killer whales........