Incredible Iguaçu Falls

 

It was a quick trip up the estuary of the Rio de la Plata to reach Buenos Aires overnight.  The water here was again a murky brown, so different than the pretty blues we were used to at sea.  This was our view out off the balcony just before we left the ship, not much of the city, just a bit of the port, a commercial one with lots of shipping containers where we had to take a shuttle to the terminal.

   

Once out of the terminal we caught another bus to shuttle us to the airport for our flight to Iguazu/Iguaçu.  There are two ways to spell the name of the falls, the one with the "ç" is the Portuguese version, while the "z" is the Spanish way to write it.  Since we were lucky enough to go to both the Brazilian and Argentine sides I'll try to spell it appropriately depending on where we were at the time. We got a twofer here because not only is Iguazú National Park in Argentina a UNESCO World Heritage Site but Iguaçu National Park in Brazil has the same designation.  Where else in the world are you going to find that? 

I was surprised at how much patchwork landscape we saw below us as we flew north to our destination.  The nice red volcanic earth was fertile for all kinds of things.

You could definitely tell when we were getting close to the Atlantic Rainforest that surrounds the falls in both countries, as well as Paraguay.  We didn't actually step foot in that last country although our guide assured it was "over there" as he pointed off to the distance.

Once we landed we were immediately whisked off to Brazil so that we could spend some time seeing that side of the falls.  To get there we had to go through border control in Argentina, then change buses once we crossed into Brazil to get on a Brazilian bus before passing through border control in Brazil.  The whole process was kind of convoluted and time consuming but we rolled with it.

Our first stop was to take a boat ride to Iguaçu Falls, not exactly a simple process either as we needed three different conveyances to get us to the rubber boats.  First we got on a jungle tram like the one pictured below on the right.

When the road narrowed some more and got steeper we transferred to what we called a jungle buggy like this one.

Lastly we got on a funicular to take us down to the river to the boat for our epic ride.

We put on these nice wet life jackets and prepped to get into the boat.  I had put on my water shoes before we left the bus as we we assured that the odds were 110% that we were going to get soaking wet.  I had brought a thin poncho but we were told those would end up being more annoying that helpful, and honestly, at that point I was so hot and sweaty that I couldn't wait to get drenched. and cool off

In the photo on the right you can see a bit of our boat as well as our first glimpse of the falls as we motored up the rapids.

These falls were off to our right, roaring away.  The power of the water falling was amazing.

Here we were heading into the falls for the first time, and yes, we went into the edges of the waterfall and got soaking wet, spluttering and spitting water out as we exited, laughing our heads off.  This was a total thrill ride and we had so much fun as we circled and then went through again and again.

Coming out we could see rainbows in the mists thrown off by the falls themselves.

It felt like only moments before we were on our way back to the dock with the falls in our rear.  This ride was only the beginning!

Just a little about Iguaçu Falls, the largest waterfall system in the world at 2700 m (2.7 km or 1.7 mi) in length.  Its 275 individual falls are found on the Iguazú River which forms the boundary between Brazil and Argentina.  Part of the power of the falls comes from the waters of the Paraná River system, the second largest in South America, as it joins the Iguaçu.  The name of the falls comes from a Guarni Indian word that means “great water”.  80% of the falls are on the Argentina side while most of the river itself is in Brazil.   Rainfall at Iguaçu is highest between December and February so that’s when the falls are most powerful, which was good news for us.  It’s also the hottest time to visit so I guess we couldn’t have it all. These falls are described as “jaw-dropping”, “beyond epic”, “indescribable” and they did not disappoint!

I'm going to warn you right now that this post is going to be photo overload.  I'll write a note here or there but mostly I'll share some of the 250 photos that I took, well the 250 that I kept, because I shot a lot more.

All of the following pictures were taken from the Brazilian side as we strolled along the walkway you can see below.  Sometimes there were stairways down or up to platforms for better viewing.

In all honesty, the photos can't do Iguaçu Falls justice, even when they're beautiful.

We were often pinching ourselves that we were really, really there!

I was hoping to see the gorgeous Brazilian butterflies I knew should be in the forest but this was the only one I was able to get a photo of as it sat on a railing.  The tops of the wings are a brilliant scarlet and black.

Waters falling everywhere!  It felt like something out of a Tolkien book, or a Jurassic Park movie, primal and pristine.

A little of the flora we saw as we walked along.  I couldn't find the name of the flowers on the left but the ones on the right are a type of begonia.  Both were delicate and lovely.

Panorama photo as the sun was just beginning to head for the horizon.  We were walking towards the falls on the left.

A first glimpse of Devil's Throat, more on that spot in a few photos.

A beautiful panoramic view of multiple falls

           

Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo) is the largest of the falls, a thundering mass of water that powers over the cliff.   There's a walk way that goes out around the lower part of these falls where you can again get soaking wet.  You can see a bit of it in the photos above.  Karl went all the way out but the guide would only let me go partway as they were trying to hustle us back to the bus.  I had dawdled taking photos and got to the walkway a little later than everyone else.  The light on this one below shows how the sun was beginning to set on Devil's Throat.

Once we left the Brazilian falls behind we boarded our buses again and went to restaurant where we had a buffet dinner and saw a folkloric show.  Our whole group was so tired by that point that all we really wanted to do was find a McDonalds and the hotel but we stayed through the performance for most of it.  It was lots of dancing and music, good performers but awfully loud for a bunch of exhausted people who knew they were going to need to get up early the next morning.

Just to get to our hotel, which was in Argentina, we had to pass through Brazil and Argentine border control again.  You would think that at 11:00 at night it would have been a quick process but nope, you'd be wrong.  We all had to get off the bus at the Brazil checkpoint to have our passports stamped, then once we went the short distance to the Argentine side the guide took our passports to have them checked.  After about 45 minutes of sitting in the dark on the bus she returned and we were off to our hotel, where they had one night clerk there to process about 20 tired couples.  We lucked out and got to our room pretty quickly.

After our three hours of sleep we were up again, in the lobby at 4:20, into the buses and on our way to the Argentina National Park in order to see the sunrise at Iguazú Falls.  This was a treat that our tour operator, Diego, had arranged, something that no one had done in the 90 years of existence of the park.  It truly was a once in a lifetime experience, even for the guides themselves and my gratitude to Diego knows no bounds for making it happen.  And here comes a boatload more photos!

Sun was coming quickly when we started our walk towards the falls.

This won't be the clearest photo but we did see a couple o toucans up in a tree on our way in.  Early morning is the only time you usually see them we were told.

I just kind of wanted to pinch myself that I was really there for this unique experience.

Here's looking down over the edge as we crossed one of the walkways.

Light on the water and the greenery was just spectacular!

Yep, we were there!

The sun is starting to come up to really light up the sky.

And a little more.....this is one of my favorite photos I took.

Another spot before the water spilled over a cliff.

Light and water create glorious photos, at least it felt like that to me.

We continued on our walk after the sun came up to the make the circuit back to the amphitheater that was in the park.  I loved the designs on the bark on this tree I passed by.

The vultures love to ride the thermals above the falls.  We wondered if the one on the right was drying out his wings after flying through the mists.

And then there were the monkeys.  They were great fun to watch climbing and swinging through the trees.

It was like this little guy looked my way just at the right time.  He's pretty cute isn't he?

Not quite as cute were these critters called coatis, they have ringed tails like a raccoon and wander throughout the parks.  There are signs everywhere that say DO NOT feed them, they bite and showing photos of deep, nasty cuts.  Karl had one run right through his legs at one point when he was waiting for me to come back from a walk.

We were glad to get in this little train to go the rest of the way back to the park.

A type of jay that we saw, one of the few birds we got to see.

Karl's knee was done for the day after our breakfast so he and our friend Chuck snagged seats to wait in while Chuck's wife, Lea Ann, and I went with the guides to take the lower circuit of the falls.  

More and more beautiful views greeted us around every turn of the path.
 

Just so we can show that we were in Argentina here's a view of the Argentine flag. at the falls.

Lea Ann and I at the falls.  We were dragging but at this point we were only about halfway along the pathway....but we didn't know that!

Check out the little baby waterfall about midway down on the left of this photo.  We jokingly called them wannabe falls.

The white spot on the picture below is actually a ginger lily like the one I zoomed in on later.

Towards the end of our walk we came across some owls.  The one below was just sitting there in the tree.  

If you look closely you can see the hollow in the lower part of this tree below, it's the owl's nest.  Look even closer and you can see an owl camouflaged just above it.  I had to point it out several times to one of our other companions before he was able to see it.

One last sunrise photo from our incredible day at Iguazú Falls National Park.  This one is courtesy of Lea Ann, she's a talented photographer.  

Hope this photo journey has given you even an inkling of what we were blessed to experience!  And we even made it back to the ship with 30 minutes to spare!