Iguazu Falls

October 13-16, 2007

So we arrived in Foz do Iguaçu on the Brazilian border of Argentina and Paraguay. People from all around the world come here for one reason, to see the amazing Iguaçu falls. They are a series of about 275 waterfalls that have slowly carved the landscape over 1.5 million years to become the spectacle they are today.

It´s possible to view the falls from the Brazilian side which gives a broad overview of the falls and the Argentinian side which gets you in amongst it all and much clser to the action including the biggest waterfall, the Devil´s Throat (Garganta del Diablo). Most people will tell you it´s best to see the Brazilian side first and that the Argentinian side is better.

We had beautiful weather and were lucky to see some amazing rainbows forming amongst the immense spray caused by the falls. The animals were as big a highlight as the falls themselves. We saw these furry anteater type animals called Coatis, which had a one tracked mind for food. They were unaffraid of humans and would come and sniff your bag in hope to find some loose crumbs. There were colourful butterflies and birds that were loving playing in the spray. There were also gigantic stripey worms.

We crossed the Argentinian border the following day without any dramas and had a day of rest, most of it spent sitting in an undercover outdoor pub, eating empanadas (an Argentine specialty) and drinking Quilmes (brilliant Argentine beer) while we saw Argentina lose to South Africa in the rugby world cup semi finals.

We were now in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina. Seems that the spelling of Iguazu-Iguaçu is a subject of confusion. At least it makes sense that these two forms exist since the Brazilians speak Portugese and the Argentinians, Spanish. But we also came across Iguassu, Yguazu and Y-Guasu, so maybe we´ll make up our own version and call it Igwarzoo for now since that´s the way we pronounce it?

We had pretty high expectations for the Argentinian side given it was meant to be better and we´d enjoyed the Brazilian side so much. It didn´t disappoint. There is a point where you can stand right above the Devil´s Throat and peer over the edge and into the abyss of white spray. Walking towards it is one thing, seeing masses of water disappear over the edge of a huge cliff or crater. Standing there looking over the edge is something else. It was very hard to walk away!

The animals here were fantastic too. Davo was on crocodile and puma watch while Fi was on tucan and armadillo watch. We came away 1-1, seeing a big croc (well, medium sized...) and a beautiful tucan. We saw countless other birds, all shapes and colours, including one bird of prey that we spotted flying very low amongst the spray and waves at the base of the Devil´s Throat. As we watched, it seemed to be sucked in by the water. We waited and watched, but it didn´t resurface. Not sure what it was thinking really...

One thing which made it interesting was that it chucked it down in the afternoon and we got royally drenced. We had wet weather jackets luckily but the worry was our camera that got a little bit moist. It spent the next few days going in and out of a camera coma but it seems ok now (touch wood).

We said goodbye to Iguaçu, Iguazu, Iguassu, Yguazu and Y-Guasu and jumped on an 18 hour overnight, luxury bus with champagne and whiskey to Buenos Aires.