Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Iguazu Falls - Argentina. 30/01/2011

We woke up bright and early (partly due to the time difference from brasil) ready to explore the Argentinean side of the falls. We met up with the others at breakfast then set off on the bus towards the national park. It is a common tactic to see Devils throat first "to beat the crowd", apart from EVERYONE does that. So we took a gamble and did another part of the park and returned later. So far it paid off as for the majority of the morning we had the catwalks to ourselves. We set off into the bush and before we knew it, we were swarmed by a pack of Coatis, racoon like ferrets. These coatis go nuts around food, normally attacking. They often have rabies so it is highly recommended to keep clear of them. We didn't quite realise how crazy about food they were until they ambushed Necane for her bag which previously had an orange in it. Some nice lady got her bag off them and we continued our walk into the bush. We saw the most amazing butterflies, a squirrel and a couple of big iguanas. We finally reached the upper catwalks and made our way along the mouth of falls we were looking at the previous day. The walkways had been built so that you are looking right down the falls, providing amazing views. After we had explored the upper walk ways we made our way down to the lower walk ways to get a different perspective, looking up at them. This was equally impressive. While the Brazilian side had better panoramic views, because they curved around, you also got amazing views of all the falls while being in them from the Argentinean side. We then made our way down to the river to take a boat out into the falls. And by into, we literally mean into. We hopped into the boat and it took close enough to two of the falls to get photos without soaking our cameras. They then told us to put them away into the dry bags and next thing we knew it they had driven the boat right under the falls so we were getting completely pelted with masses of water. While we couldn't see much other than excessive amounts of water, it was so exhilarating to literally  be under the falls. After we dried off in the 35o heat we got some lunch and made our way to devils throat. Our gamble paid off as everyone was now exploring what we had done that morning and now there was no line for the train to Devils throat. A long catwalk stretches across the head of the waterfalls towards Devils throat. There was still remnants of the old walkway which was washed away in a flood. We reached devils throat, and it looked like an insanely big hole sucking millions of litres of water into oblivion. There was so much spray we often couldn't see much, we could only hear the roaring thunder of the water crashing down. It was amazing to look down on what we were almost standing in the previous day on the Brazilian side. Such an incredible site. Unfortunately like much of the falls, it was impossible conditions to get photos that do it justice, but it was more the experience of being there. 
We then returned back along the catwalk back to land and took a boat down river. After the amazon it was a bit too touristic and less impressive as it might be for others but we did see another caiman which we were not expecting. We then made our way back to the hostel after a full and amazing day exploring a truly mind blowing natural wonder. A definite highlight of the trip. 

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