Jan. 30 Iguazu Falls

Partly cloudy, high 36C 74% humidity 


Today was all about the Argentinian side of the falls. The challenge was in getting there. We had to check out at Brazilian immigration, drive a kilometre and then go through Argentinian immigration. Then Flavio had to check in with the tourism office and pay the tourist tax for us. It took an hour and three quarters to get to the park. Part of that was also due to the 40 kph speed limit in the park. 

No private vehicles are allowed beyond the visitor centre so we boarded a narrow gauge train with open air cars to get to the falls. We were crammed in 4 to a bench with benches facing each other. It was not a particularly comfortable ride in the heat and humidity.


We went right to the end of the line to walk out to the Devil’s Throat. From Brazil, we viewed the Devil’s Throat from the bottom, today we saw it from the top after a kilometre walk on raised walkways over the river. 

What we first noticed as we approached were the hundreds of birds swooping into the mist of the falls. They would spiral down then soar straight up overhead, then head down again. 

It was astounding to see the amount of water roaring over the top of the waterfall. There is something magical about a waterfall, the beauty and serenity when viewed from a distance and the energy you feel from it up close. 


We then hopped back on the train to go to the tops of the waterfalls we had viewed yesterday from Brazil. Just before we boarded the train, our travelling companion got stung twice by wasps and was fretting. She was obviously exhausted from her 23 day Antarctic expedition trip where they did landings once or twice a day. The ship was a small 200 passenger vessel that did a lot of rocking which she was still feeling. She was not particularly fit, and her walking pace kept slowing. 


We did another 1.5km loop to view the Two Sisters, the Bossetti and San Martin waterfalls. Along the way we saw toucans and butterflies. 

The plan had been to do a boat tour from the lower level that would take us to the base of many of the waterfalls and actually go behind one. The only problem was that there were 300 steps down and then we would have to come back up and CaryAnn knew she would not be able to do that in the heat and humidity. We were also somewhat concerned about Flavio. His driving had been erratic and he kept rubbing his neck. I asked him if he had a migraine and he admitted that he was recovering from a stroke (found out later that it was 5 years ago and he had been in a coma for 56 days and had a breathing tube and stomach feeding tube for a year and a half). He said he was just feeling a little off. So to ease things for CaryAnn and Flavio, we decided to forego the boat. 

By the time we got back to the visitor centre, it was 2:30 and time to get some lunch. We drove into Puerto Iguazu to a lovely restaurant where we had a delicious rib eye steak and salad. 

At 4:00 pm, we headed back past the park entrance to the airport to drop CaryAnn off for the first leg of her flight to Australia. It was after 6:00 pm when we got back to the hotel after again clearing immigration in both Argentina and Brazil. 

After seeing the falls from both countries, we decided that the best view in our opinion was from Brazil. At first you see a few waterfalls, then walk through the shade of the jungle and more appear, then more and more until you arrive at the base of the Devil’s Throat. You get more of an idea of the enormity of the falls. 


Time to pack for our next flight to Rio de Janeiro!

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