The South American Adventure, Part I

Elanor Roosevelt is said to have made this remark upon first seeing Iguazu Falls. I can not make a fair comparison as I've never been to Niagra but I will say that Iguazu is impressive. The falls are bordered on one side by Argentina and on the other side by Brazil; to get the complete experience one must visit national parks in two different countries.

Argentina: Tuesday September 18, 2007

We chose to skip the R150 ($75) per person guided tour offered through our hotel and instead took the R2 ($0.66) public buses to and from the falls. This was a little inconvenient as we needed to switch buses at the Puerto Iguazu bus terminal on the way there and again on the way back. We also came precariously close to missing the last bus back across the border from Puerto Iguazu and Foz do Iguaçu (in Brazil) where we are staying.

At the park itself, we started with the upper circuit, followed by the lower circuit, a "Nautical Adventure" boat ride, and the Devil's Throat. This ended up being a good order in which to explore the park because each activity revealed more of the falls than the previous one. The viewing platform at the end of the last trail overlooks the "Devils Throat": the largest and most impressive part of the falls. It is only from this platform that you get a real sense of the massive volume of water going over the falls each second. At the bottom of the cascade the mist is so thick it is impossible to see the surface of the river.

Brazil: Wednesday September 19, 2007

We toured the Brazilian side of the falls on the next day. While the Argentine side offers some light hiking and views of the falls from a number of different angles, the Brazilian side only has one real trail that leads to the falls. The view is no less impressive however. The viewing platform is located below and a short distance downstream from the Devil´s Throat and it provided a beautiful panoramic view of the falls. The weather was also a little nicer and we saw several large rainbows in the mist at the bottom of the falls.

We found out on Tuesday night that Aerolineas Argentinas moved our flight back by several hours. With the unexpected extra time we walked up the road 100 meters or so to the Bird Park after leaving the Brazilian side of the falls. The park was a pleasant surprise; we saw all manner of colorful, rare, and exotic birds. Just don´t eat at the cafe... take our word for it.

Next Stop: Buenos Aires

After the Bird Park we picked up our bags at the hotel and set off for the Puerto Iguazu airport. After a brief stop at the Brazilian and Argentinean passport control offices, we had an uneventful flight and arrived in Buenos Aires at around 8:30 PM local time. We´ll have more updates when we get more time to access the internet.