Cataratas de Iguazu

We got up this morning at 9am, which should tell you how excited Lindsay and I were to see the falls given our usual wake-up times this trip. After a quick breakfast of coffee/tea and jam on toast at the hostel (I gave bits of toast to the hostel cat who sat hopefully at my feet while I ate), we walked over to the bus terminal. It was much smaller than the terminal in Buenos Aires (which has over 100 gates and full of people and luggage, making it difficult to navigate), so it was easy to find the bus to the falls. For only 60 pesos (about 8 dollars) round trip, it was a deal!

The ride out of the city, through increasingly wild and jungly nature to Iguazu National Park (which was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984) took about 45 minutes. The entrance fee for non-Argentinians was 170 pesos and completely worth it. The crown jewel of this 212 square mile park are the Iguazu Falls, a group of spectacular waterfalls on the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay that range from 60m to 82m in height and are 2,700m long (Niagara Falls are 50m at the highest and 1,039m in length). The name "Iguazu" comes from the Guarani (the native people of the region) words for "big" and "water", making the place aptly named. When we first entered, it tooled a bit like Disneyland: a large map, lots of nice little kiosks selling Iguazu trinkets, and a professional-looking nature museum that explained the flora, fauna and history of Iguazu.

We took the Green Trail from the entrance to the central station. It was packed, and somehow Lindsay and I found ourselves in the middle of a German tour group, the leader of which chided us when we stepped off the path until she realized that we were not in her group and did not speak German. For about 20 minutes, we walked (slowly given the crowd) along a paved trail surrounded by thick green foliage, the trees arching together to form a roof over our heads. It felt very jungly and exciting, and I was straining to listen for the waterfalls to tell when we were getting close. We arrived at the central station, where there was a cafe, a mini-market of indigenous artisans selling crafts, restrooms, and coatíes.  What is a coatí? This adorable animal:

They are surprisingly tame, and we saw them everywhere. They were not afraid of people, to the point where several jumped at plastic bags people were carrying, trying to rip out the food inside. They reminded me of mini-raccoons with longer noses, and they liked drinking spilled soda from the cafe tables:

The coatíes also hung out in trees:

And swarmed over packets of alfajores that people dropped on the ground:

Despite their cuteness, though, coatíes are quite aggressive and will bite you. Several people (especially small children) ignored this fact and tried to pet the little animals, with little success.

From the central station we took the Upper Trail, which lead up to the waterfalls and allowed you to walk over them. Not directly over, but over the river close enough to the edge that you could look down and see the water pouring into the river below. 

First was Salto Dos Hermanas, then Salto Chica.

Next was Salto Bossetti (Bossetti Falls) and Salto Adán y Eva. 

The last waterfall we could closely approach was Salto Gpque Bernabé Méndez, and from the end of the Upper Trail we had a great view of Saltos Mbigua, San Martín, Escondido, Rivadavia and Belgrano. 

In awe but getting tired of fighting the crowds to get a good picture of the waterfalls, we headed back to the central station and then followed another trail to a good cafe for a lunch of empanadas and lemon soda. Then, we took the Lower Trail, which is part way down the waterfalls and affords fantastic views as you can look at them head-on. Mercifully, this trail was also much less crowded than the first and we could walk at a leisurely pace and pretty easily get good pictures (except for the trees getting in the way).

From the beginning and middle of the Lower Trail, we had a good view of the Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo), an incredible U-shaped waterfall that is 82 m high, 150m wide and 700m long. Unfortunately, the river feeding this waterfall flooded a few weeks ago, breaking the bridge that let you get a closer look, so we had to satisfy ourselves with admiring it from afar.

There was one pathway that went very close to Salto Bossetti, so if you were brave and stood at the edge of the platform for a few minutes, would would be completely soaked. Since it was pretty cold (although luckily perfectly sunny), I opted to keep my distance, but Lindsay ran in long enough for me to snap a picture of her in the mist of the waterfall.

I enjoyed the walk back on the Lower Trail, where we had a great view of Salto Dos Hermanas and Salto Chico:

I also loved the path in general, it made me feel like a was walking through a magical jungle, especially the way the light fell through the trees overhead.

In addition to the coatíes, we spotted a beautiful bird. Lots of other animals, like monkeys, jaguars and other smaller wild cats, anteaters and toucans also live in the park, but we didn't see any of those.

To make the day even more perfect, we stopped by the Freddo (a chain of gelato cafes in Argentina) at the central station before we caught the bus back to Puerto Madero. It was my first time there (hard to believe, I know, but the cold weather for this month usually put me in the mood for submarino instead), and I had a dulce de leche gelato-filled alfajor (think Argentine ice cream sandwich), which was absolutely delicious.

We arrived back at the bus station in Puerto Madero with plenty of time to eat a quick meal before getting on the bus for the 18 hour ride back to Buenos Aires.