The Facebook update says it all - "Kate Robilliard is thoroughly gobsmacked after a wet and wonderful day at Iguazu Falls".
The Iguazu Falls lie on the Iguazu river on the border between Brazil and Argentina. Paraguay is also nearby and at one location you can stand in Argentina and spy Brazil and Paraguay across the river. Pretty cool huh!? But its more than that. Nothing can prepare you for the delight of Iguazu. People bandy about figures such as "normal flow is about 2000 cumecs, but we had a flood recently with 12,000 cumecs and most of the park was closed". It means nothing until you walk through the rainforest listening to the falls rumbling in the distance; until you actually stand near the falls and get soaking wet in the spray. Words cannot describe the sheer majesty of the falls and I know this blog will fail dismally to capture the magic of Iguazu. But here goes…
After a 20 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires we were in desperate need of a shower by the time we reached Puerto Iguazu on the Argentinian side of the falls. I felt sincerely sorry for the poor guy who picked us up from the bus station and drove us to our hostel - we stank! Luckily there was just enough time to freshen up before we headed over the border to Brazil for our introduction to Iguazu. If you are traveling to Iguazu, I highly recommend that you start on the Brazilian side. It gives you an overview, while the Argentinian side allows you to get up close and personal.
Buses take you from the park entrance to the starting point on the walking trail. As we walked through the rainforest the sound of the falls grew. Stepping out onto the first viewing platform, we were greeted with the sight of approx. a 500m length of waterfall, emerging from the rainforest and cascading to the rocks below. Pretty spectacular, until you realise that there's another 1.5km of waterfall just around the corner! Iguazu Falls are the longest waterfalls in the world. (The longest drop is Angel Falls in Venezuela, most amount of water goes to Niagra Falls and the longest drop falls plural goes to Victoria Falls in Africa). About two thirds of the falls lie on the Argentinian side of the border, which is why it best to start in Brazil. It enables you to stand back, on the other side of the river, and see the falls in their entirety. The big picture!
The walking trail takes you along the cliff top beside the River Iguazu to a number of look out points where you can see different sections of the falls. After stopping at several lookout points, I couldn't help noticing how one's perspectives change. From several lookout points we could see waterfalls that normally we'd walk hours through thick scrub to see, but were only given a cursory glance on this occasion because they were drowned out by the roar and thunder of the larger Devil's Throat further along the route. Nothing really compared to it, with water cascading over a U-shaped cliff top, sending clouds of spray metres into the air. Our guide was cleverly dressed in waterproof pants and jacket with an umbrella to boot. The spray travels so far that she had it open long before we got close to the falls.
When we did reach the falls it also started to rain! Not only were we getting drenched from the spray coming in sideways, but also from the heavens above!
The Brazilians have built a walkway that allows you to walk out onto the edge of the falls at a lower level, so that you have water rushing over the cliff behind you and traveling under your feet before dropping to the rocks below. I couldn't help but smile! And yes, the engineer in me was pretty amazed at the structure itself!
We spent the second day on the Argentinian side. This was our opportunity to get up close and personal - so we grabbed it with both hands and started the day by walking halfway across the river on a platform to the other side of the Devil's Throat Canyon. We muscled our way through the crowds to the front so we could feel the spray on our faces as it came tumbling up from the canyon below. Again, another masterpiece of engineering, built by the Argentinians this time, which enables the crowd to be involved at Iguazu!
We spent most of the afternoon wandering on platforms that allowed you to stand over, under and beside the waterfalls. We of course came away drenched but that's the beauty of it isn't it?!
The highlight of the day was definitely the boat trip. With a bit of luck and some Spanglish we managed to wangle our way into the second row of the boat. The captain kindly allowed us some time to take a few photos of the falls from water level before announcing "cameras away". What followed was the biggest and best natural shower I have ever had. Like school children we yelled at the top of our lungs, "mas agua, Capitá n, mas agua!". And he duly drenched us some more. Travellers tip: if you do this boat trip, bring a snorkel mask! You will see a lot more.
As the boat drove away from the falls I remarked to Tim, "I'm grinning like the Cheshire Cat, but I can't stop myself". A truly delightful day!