The Iguazu Falls

Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls

Our last stop out in Argentina was The Iguazu Falls. This is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. My parents had seen it a few years earlier and my Dad had spoken at length of how amazing the volume of water here was and how it churned out this massive line of waterfalls. I had also heard about endless accounts of how amazing the falls were from other backpackers.



Getting looked after well on the Argentinian buses



As it was coming to the last week of our travels, this was one of the final big things to see and I was really looking forward to it. We had just come to the end of our stay in the metropolis of Buenos Aires and the Argentinian back country would be a welcomed release from staring upwards at the Buenos Aires skylines and street names.

After close to nine months, you would think my appetite might have been flagging a bit for new major touristy sights but not so. Both of us ditched our bags in the hostel upon arrival that morning and headed off with a great hunger to see this massive cascade of water. The bus brought us right into the national park which is probably the most tourist friendly national park I had seen on my travels. Rubbish bins everywhere and heavily manicured paths. Even the squirrel like ant eaters called coaties that run along the handrail of the walkways were so tame. It was as if they had been giving lessons on welcoming tourists. The Argentinian government hadn’t spared any of its overinflated change in making sure tourists would be lured to their side of the falls and not the Brazilian side.



 Coaties litter the site

 And the handrail

You could choose various routes around The Falls but we had arrived early to see every inch of them as we would be giving the Brazilian side a miss. We walked down the short route which captures the water just dropping off the lip of the river into the ravine. As the water hits the river on the near side to our walkway it just turns into this white squall. It was immense and after getting some wide angled shots we moved close to capture the power of the water. As you get very close to the drop on the lower side you could almost step into the fall of water. The beauty and incredible power of the water was unreal and left me feeling invigorated. The power of the water also just makes you feel so small and insignificant. It is an amazing experience. We stood back and just let it all wash over us.

 Water water everywhere

 These are actually butterflies and were everywhere adding a whole

"land before time" feel to the place

I couldn’t help thinking where the hell does all this water come from and why is it all in such a rush! But that is the beauty of nature. It is amazingly surprising and incredibly breath-taking. I was in a waterfall trance. We went further up into the falls and took a trip right across into “The Devil’s Throat”. This is basically a whole surround of waterfall with a narrow strip of an opening. We would walk right out almost onto The Falls on one of the walkways. The spray was absolutely soaking everything here. But I didn’t care the sun was shining and all you could do was stand there getting soaked with an incredible feeling of satisfaction.