Iguazu Falls

A view of central falls from Brazil

After seeing Iguazu Falls Eleanor Roosevelt is famously reported to have said "Poor Niagara". And with apologies to a friend who is from Buffalo NY I have to agree that Eleanor's comment pretty much sums it up. With over 270 separate waterfalls spread over 1.7 kilometres and the highest average flow rate of any waterfall in the world Iguazu is simply awesome.

Part of The Devil's Throat

Overall we spent two days exploring the Iguazu National Park from both the Argentinian side and the Brazilian side. Monday afternoon and all of Tuesday on the Argentine side and Wednesday afternoon (after crossing the border) on the Brazilian side.

The Argentinian side has more extensive access to the falls including to San Martin Island which is more or less in the middle of them. Luckily we went to the Island on the first afternoon because for the next two days the river level was too high for the little boats to ferry people across. A definite highlight was taking the 1.1 km long catwalk across the river which takes you right to the edge of The Devil's Throat, which is the most spectacular part of the falls. It was truly breathtaking to be so close to such a magnificent display of nature. We also ventured along a 3km nature walk (technically closed!) through the rain forest to one of the lesser falls. We saw a number of birds but never a Toucan - we are inclined to believe they are a marketing ploy!

There is much less access to the falls from the Brazilian side but you do get a more holistic "front on" view of the scale of the falls. There is a riverside walk of a bit over one kilometre long, including a catwalk that takes you out in front of one of the falls, for which our rain capes came in handy. The experience of the falls from the two sides is different but complimentary and together they give a complete experience.

A curious Coatimundi...

A butterfly friend

On both sides of the falls there are numerous coatimundi, whole troops of which constantly cased the seating areas around food outlets ready to grab anything that unwary visitors didn't keep a firm hold on. There were also hundreds of butterflies, some of which took a liking to settling on us.

As for other aspects of our stay in Puerto Iguazu (Argentina) and Foz de Iguassu (Brazil). Our digs in the former were really nice with a sumptuous buffet breakfast thrown in. Pity about the nearby dogs and roosters that tended to vie for attention during the wee hours of the morning. We also dined at a restaurant that served steaks large enough for us to share one that just melted in our mouths. The B&B in Brazil was not quite as homely and we didn't get to enjoy the full extent of the breakfast as our taxi to the airport was waiting. A pity the flight turned out to be delayed by an hour!