Another early start, as we headed off to Iguazu Falls after a scary night´s sleep through the loudest thunderstorm either of us have ever heard.  It woke Rich, which is not an easy thing to do, hence the five alarm clocks he has.  The thunder was within a couple of miles of us, and was followed by hours of torrential rain that we worried may flood us out of our flimsy hostel room.

The Falls are in both Argentina and Brazil, and just up the river is Uruguay.  Unfortunately we only had time to see the Argentine side, but this is the most developed and has the most walks, so we think is the best of the three.

We were the first people in the park, as we had an overnight bus journey planned from 2.30pm (another overnighter, aaahhh!), so we took the first train inside the park and headed straight to the biggest of the falls, La Garganta del Diablo, or the Devil´s Throat.

To get to Garganta del Diablo you have to walk 1.4km across a metal bridge and a number of islands.  After the previous night´s thunderstorm the bridge was not the safest place to be, and we were lucky not to slip and crack our heads on a few occasions. 

Before seeing the Falls you hear the roar, and the anticipation gets you.  Luckily we were the first there, so had plenty of time to soak up the atmosphere.  Soak is the operative word, as we got drenched from the sheer force of the water crashing down and back up to where we stood, overlooking the 80m high Falls. 

From the viewpoint you are surrounded by waterfalls, as Garganta del Diablo is a horseshoe consisting of a number of waterfalls.  In total there are 275 falls in the park. 

After a bit of a soaking we moved on to Circuito Inferior, or the lower trail, which is a 2km walk down to the bottom of the Falls, passing a number of small waterfalls on the way.  The trail leads you down to the boats which ferry you across to San Martin island, which is an island nestled between both Garganta del Diablo and the other huge waterfalls on the other side of the park.

It also leads you down to the speedboats which take you under the waterfalls!

We bought the tickets before we reached the park to avoid the queues that we were told there would be, but as we arrived to the launch we were surprised to see nobody was queueing.  As we waited we found out why, as we saw people leaving the boats with shoes and valuables in a waterproof bag, drenched from head to toe as if they had been stood in a power shower fully clothed for half an hour!

We boarded the boat and took off for the waterfalls, thinking we would brave it with our shoes on but quickly changing our minds as we headed directly for the 80m falls.  The driver we soon discovered was a lunatic, as he showboated and banked from left to right, throwing the few brave (or stupid) passengers around, before then taking us within about ten feet of a huge waterfall.  He hovered around for about a minute, as the current switched and swirled dragging the boat dangerously in and out of the falls. 

After a minute we backed out and surveyed the damage.  Yep, we were soaked, again! 

We thought that was it until El Lunatic sped round to the even larger falls around the other side of the island.  Surely we can´t be going in there we thought, as with the water crashing down so hard you could barely see where it fell, but sure enough he drove us at speed right in there.  Drenched is not the word.  We were wet right through to our undies, and due to the lack of sun spent the rest of the day that way.  Still, it was an adventure.

After peeling ourselves off the seats, we took the Circuito Superior (upper trail) over the top of the falls that we just took a boat into, where there´s a number of viewpoints, before leaving the park a lot wetter than when we came.  These are supposedly the best waterfalls in the world, and we wouldn´t argue.  Niagara was dwarfed in comparison, and with it´s theme park took the emphasis off the natural beauty, which Iguazu has kept spectacularly with it´s walks and viewpoints. 

Next stop Buenos Aires, after a 17 hour bus journey.